The Vineyard is Growing

Now that it is June here in Walla Walla, summer seems to have finally arrived. We have had a few weeks now of warm weather and the vineyard is loving it. Lots of sun shine and temperatures in the upper 80s has really kicked the vineyard into high gear. It seems like this time of year you can watch the vines growing. By the time we leave the winery in the evening the shoots seem to have grown 3 inches since the morning. All of this quick growth means lots of work for the vineyard crew. This is the time of year for shoot thinning. Even after all of the pruning from the early spring the vines still have a tendency to put out too much growth. The target amount of growth for each vine is two canes per spur on the cordon, so the vineyard crew is out pulling off the extra shoots. They have to work quickly but they do have to be careful with which shoots they remove. They have to keep an eye on which canes are bearing fruit and which canes they will want to use next year, all while trying to work quickly because the vineyard is continuing to grow and there is a fair amount of acreage that needs thinning. It always really impresses me that the vineyard crew can work so fast and be so meticulous at the same time. I know that I wouldn't be able to keep up with them.

Amavi is Moving to the Neighborhood

There has been a flurry of activity along Pepper Bridge Road the last few weeks. Earth movers and road graders have been busy building a drive way and a site for a barrel room. Pepper Bridge's sister winery, Amavi Cellars, is moving to the neighborhood! Amavi has outgrown its current tasting room on 13th St. in Walla Walla. The new location is going to be bigger and of course better. Not only is Amavi going to have a lovely site amongst the grapevines in the Pepper Bridge Vineyard, they are going to have a fabulous view of Pepper Bridge Winery. Well I guess that they will have a nice view of the Blue Mountains too. I know that Patty, Eric, and George will all miss the lovely view of Mill Creek and of course the concrete company that they currently get to enjoy, but I am sure that they will become accustomed to the new location. It is pretty rough working with a view of vineyards, mountains, apples, alfalfa, and blue sky, not to mention all of the wildlife and birds that we have in the neighborhood. I am sure that they will learn to adjust eventually. At Pepper Bridge we are excited because we will finally be able to spy on one another. We have yet to decide whether we will use flags or smoke signals for communication, perhaps we will fall back to e-mail. Either way it is going to be very fun to have Amavi just across the way. Now visitors to Pepper Bridge won't have such a long drive to go and taste the other wines made by Jean-Francois. It is always nice to welcome one more great winery to a neighborhood full of great wines. Thank you Dana Lane for all the excellent photos. Cheers

Released

Spring Release has been released. We started off the celebration with our Bridge Club party, this year being a luau. The weather was absolutely perfect for being outside and playing petanque. The big winners from this year's tournament were Rob and Laurie Sargent. Congratulations on winning the large formats! Between all the food and great wine and sun a fun time was had by all. Saturday was the grand debut for our 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon and the release went smashingly. The Cab is rich and velvety, full of dark fruit with good acidity. For being a baby it is surprisingly ready to drink. For our club members we released the 2006 Pepper Bridge Vineyard, one of the vineyard designate wines that Jean-Francois makes for club members only. For the first time ever the blend is Merlot based and it sure is big and structured for being 60% Merlot. We also poured the 06 Merlot for our many visitors over the weekend. The Merlot has opened up nicely since its release in December and it is drinking excellently. As of now all of the 2006 vintage has been released and it is now time to start consuming it. As a side note we have received a score of 94 points from Wine and Spirits Magazine on the 2006 Seven Hills Vineyard, the wine club release from December. This wine is very smooth and elegant and I do belive that you can taste the Cab Franc in this blend. Thanks to all of the Bridge Club members for a great party and to all the visitors who tasted over the weekend. Also I need to thank Jeff Meyer for all the great photos.

Bud Break in Time for Spring Release

Well the vineyard is officially reawakening from the winter. The stretch of warm days that we had here in Walla Walla a week ago seems to have done the trick, bud break has begun in the Pepper Bridge Vineyard. The little baby leaves have just barely begun to unfold but it is still very exciting because this is the beginning of the 2009 vintage! Of course after all of the sunny warm days that got the plants going, we have since cooled off a bit. We are dipping back into some cold nights and windy days but it is still a beautiful spring here in the valley. The warm weather seems to have gotten more than just the vineyard going. The apple orchard that borders Pepper Bridge is in bloom. The dogwood trees and lilacs in Walla Walla are just getting started and local asparagus is appearing on restaurant menus. In my opinion, spring is definitely the most beautiful time of year in Walla Walla. How perfect for everyone coming to Spring Release Weekend. Not only is it going to be a great wine weekend but a scenic weekend with a forecast for sunny and warm weather. We are very excited to be releasing our 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon. The wines from 2006 are lush and rich and the Cabernet is not exception. Jean-Francois is very excited about the 2006 vintage because it is the first time that he has had Cabernet Franc from the vineyards to add to the blend. The 2006 Cabernet is a first for Pepper Bridge in that it is made up of all five of the traditional Bordeaux blending varietals, Cab, Merlot, Malbec, Cab Franc, and Petit Verdot. We will be tasting the 06 Cab along side the 06 Merlot for the Spring Release. They are both delicious as usual. It should be quite a party.

Tasting 2005 Reserves

One of the many fun perks that comes with working at Pepper Bridge is all the great wine that we get to taste. We get to sample all of the fantastic wines that Jean-Francois makes, of course, but we do get the opportunity to taste wines from other producers and other regions too. The PB staff recently had a tasting of 2005 Reserves from various producers in the area. 2005 was such a great vintage for Walla Walla and Washington in general, lots of wineries decided to make special blends. Pepper Bridge produced a Reserve in 2005 as well, only the second time that Jean-Francois has made a Reserve. So we tasted the Pepper Bridge Reserve along side the Reserves from Abeja, Leonetti, Five Star Cellars, Canoe Ridge Vineyard, and Boudreaux Cellars. It was a very interesting comparison of wines that have alot in common while still being very different from each other. All of the wines are Cabernet Sauvignon based blends with Merlot, Malbec, Petite Verdot, and Cab Franc making appearances. The Abeja and Boudreaux being the monsters with 100% Cab. Pepper Bridge, Leonetti, and Five Star are 100% Walla Walla Valley fruit while Abeja and Canoe Ridge are 100% Columbia Valley, and Boudreaux is a mix of both. Of course I am not going to spill the beans on who was the big winner, that is a staff secret. I think that it is safe to say that our staff does have a bias for Walla Walla fruit, but that is probably due to our volume of consumption. I will say that all the wines were delicious even though most of them are built to age and are still very tight. It would be loads of fun to taste these wines again in 5 years and see what has happened. I will schedule it on our company calendar for April of 2014.

Spring!?!

It is now about half way through April and is it spring? It has been trying to be spring here in Walla Walla for the last two months but it has not had much luck. The vineyard is pruned and ready to start growing, it has just been waiting for some warm weather. The vineyard crew has been hard at work since January pruning the vines and preparing for the 2009 growing season. All their cold, early morning work is finished and so we are just waiting for the vines to come alive. There is the littlest bit of white fuzz on the buds here at Pepper Bridge Vineyard, and I did notice a few vines weeping on the driveway the other day, both of these being signs that bud break is on its way. It will be very interesting to see what happens when we do get bud break. We had a chilly couple of days in December when we dipped a little below 0, which is not great for the vineyard. We were lucky that the cold came with a blanket of snow which may have insulated the vines a bit. Sections of the Pepper Bridge Vineyard may have experienced some bud damage none-the-less. So this year the vineyard crew left more buds on each cane just in case some of the buds are damaged. The only catch being that if there isn't damage then Arturo and Gustavo will have a busy time thinning out all the extra growth. Each year has its own variables in the vineyard, but that is what keeps things exciting right? We will keep our fingers crossed that it will be another excellent summer here in the Walla Walla Valley. If we can just get a few more warm days we can commence with the 2009 vintage!

Bottling 2007 Merlot

After a very gray, long winter, spring seems to have finally arrived in Walla Walla! And what announces the arrival of spring in Walla Walla more than seeing the bottling truck pulled up to Pepper Bridge? Every spring, like the return of robins or the blooming of daffodils, it is time to bottle wine in Walla Walla. After spending the last 18 months resting in barrel, the 2007 Merlot is in the bottle and ready to go. Well, not really ready to go. It will have to stay put in bottle for another 6 months before we have a chance to start drinking it. We will have to be patient, but it is going to be difficult. I have been hearing rumors about the 2007 vintage since 2007, whispers and hints that it is the best vintage yet. When Jean-Francois tells you that a wine is going to be great it is best to take his word for it. Still, as a non-winemaker it is exceedingly difficult to gauge how a wine is going to taste when it is brand new and two years away from being a finished product. I do much better at tasting the finished product, and let me tell you the finished 2007 Merlot is delicious. For the most part I don't care for tasting wine as it is being bottled. When the wine passes through tanks and hoses and into the bottling truck and into a bottle, and then you taste it right away, for me it tastes an awful lot like all of the above, tanks, hoses, bottling truck. I prefer to wait until the wine as had a chance to chill out and recover from bottling before I taste it. However, the 2007 Merlot tasted amazing even through the bottling. It is rich and earthy and complex. I can't wait to taste it again. I thought that 2005 was my favorite Merlot but I think it has been dethroned by the 2007. The only trouble being that we have another 6 months to wait till we get to start drinking it. Patience...