We are getting so very close to the beginning of the 2009 Harvest here in the Walla Walla Valley! It is a very exciting time. Our managing partner,
Norm McKibben, estimates that we are at 80%
veraison in the vineyard.
Arturo and the vineyard crew have begun putting up the netting to keep the birds from eating the ripe grapes.
Just a few more weeks to go and the grapes will be ready for picking. This means that assistant winemaker, Tim Kerrigan and cellar master, Horacio Enriquez have been hard at work making room in the winery for the 2009 wines.
We have two barrel rooms here at Pepper Bridge, one for the most recent vintage and one for last year's vintage. Since the 2007 vintage has been bottled, it is time to move the 2008 vintage to make room for 2009. This also means that it is time to assemble the final blend and rack the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon. For the 2008 Cab there are two vineyards, Seven Hills and Pepper Bridge, there a 18 separate blocks of grapes, 5 different varietals, put into 105 barrels from 8 different coopers. It is a lot of wine to keep track of.
Our wine maker, Jean-François, and Tim have spent the last year doing blending trials. That means tasting samples from all of the barrels and all of the varietals and building blends out of all the different components. It sounds like a dream come true I know but it is actually a very difficult job. It is much like building a recipe, adding a dash of
Malbec to the Cabernet and seeing how it tastes, then maybe adding two dashes of
Cabernet Franc and tasting again. Blending is really quite artful and displays a wine maker's palate as well as their organization. Don't forget that for the 08 Cab we had 105 barrels of wine, each with a different flavor profile. Once the final blend has been assembled, it is time to rack the wine.
Racking is basically a filtering process. As the wine ages in barrel, sediments in the wine, called
lees, will fall to the bottom. Tim uses a racking wand to pull the wine out of the barrel, being careful not to disturb the lees. When all the wine is out, they will clean all the sediment from the barrel with hot water and ozone and then put the wine back.
Typically the wine will be racked twice to three times in its two years in barrel.
This process removes most of the sediment from the wine. Now that the 08 Cab has been blended and racked, it is being moved to the second barrel room where it will rest until it is bottled next July.
Taking the Cab's place in barrel room number one are daily deliveries of new
French oak barrels that will be filled with 2009 wines!
We are getting so very close to the beginning of the 2009 Harvest here in the Walla Walla Valley! It is a very exciting time. Our managing partner, Norm McKibben, estimates that we are at 80% veraison in the vineyard. 
Arturo and the vineyard crew have begun putting up the netting to keep the birds from eating the ripe grapes. 
Just a few more weeks to go and the grapes will be ready for picking. This means that assistant winemaker, Tim Kerrigan and cellar master, Horacio Enriquez have been hard at work making room in the winery for the 2009 wines. 
We have two barrel rooms here at Pepper Bridge, one for the most recent vintage and one for last year's vintage. Since the 2007 vintage has been bottled, it is time to move the 2008 vintage to make room for 2009. This also means that it is time to assemble the final blend and rack the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon. For the 2008 Cab there are two vineyards, Seven Hills and Pepper Bridge, there a 18 separate blocks of grapes, 5 different varietals, put into 105 barrels from 8 different coopers. It is a lot of wine to keep track of. 
Our wine maker, Jean-François, and Tim have spent the last year doing blending trials. That means tasting samples from all of the barrels and all of the varietals and building blends out of all the different components. It sounds like a dream come true I know but it is actually a very difficult job. It is much like building a recipe, adding a dash of Malbec to the Cabernet and seeing how it tastes, then maybe adding two dashes of Cabernet Franc and tasting again. Blending is really quite artful and displays a wine maker's palate as well as their organization. Don't forget that for the 08 Cab we had 105 barrels of wine, each with a different flavor profile. Once the final blend has been assembled, it is time to rack the wine. 
Racking is basically a filtering process. As the wine ages in barrel, sediments in the wine, called lees, will fall to the bottom. Tim uses a racking wand to pull the wine out of the barrel, being careful not to disturb the lees. When all the wine is out, they will clean all the sediment from the barrel with hot water and ozone and then put the wine back. 
Typically the wine will be racked twice to three times in its two years in barrel. 
This process removes most of the sediment from the wine. Now that the 08 Cab has been blended and racked, it is being moved to the second barrel room where it will rest until it is bottled next July. 
Taking the Cab's place in barrel room number one are daily deliveries of new French oak barrels that will be filled with 2009 wines!
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