Reviews From PinotFile V.7. Issue 17 (Prince of Pinot)
"...the name Clos Pepe Vineyard on a bottle has become synonymous with quality. Think California Grand Cru quality."
2007 Clos Pepe Estate Pinot Noir Review in Pinot File:
"A marvelous drinking experience beginning with the clean and fruity nose hinting of spice and minerals followed by a delicious sappy black raspberry and blackberry core that explodes in the mouth and saturates every taste bud. Ridiculous! Modest tannins, deft use of oak and perfectly harmonious."
2006 Clos Pepe Estate Pinot Noir Review in Pinot File:
"...Beautifully composed, juicy, vibrant and alive with dusty tannins and a spark of acidity."
2005 Clos Pepe Estate Pinot Noir Review in Pinot File:
"...Plenty of pinot singing here. This wine reminded me of a 2005 Esmonin Hospices de Beaune Mazis Chambertin [Grand Cru]. The Clos Pepe was every bit as good."
Here's a video taken April 23, 2009 describing why the Santa Rita Hills and Clos Pepe are a perfect climate for growing wines that perform at table and in the cellar. Check out the whole tasty blog at http://www.theneighborhoodvine.com/
TOURS are now booking for late Spring and Summer. If you plan to be in the Santa Barbara area, please send Wes an email with dates that you'd be available for a two-hour education on the Santa Rita Hills, Pinot Noir, and the relationship of man and grapevine. Tours start at 10:30 am.
New Ewe Lamb Born at Clos Pepe: 4/4/09
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2007 Vintage Wines Are
Now in Bottle,
On Sale Now!
Don't miss out on the exceptional 2007 Estate wines from Clos Pepe! The pinots are plummy, luscious and structured (and only 14% alcohol!)These wines and oil are released and shipping until it gets too warm!
"We strive to produce wines that represent a time and a place. In a landscape where critics heap praise on 'heavy metal' wines more akin to fortified wine than a beverage for table, we believe that wine should integrate into a meal--we hope our customers discuss the flavors of wine and food and how they combine to make an experience. Great craft impresses not with an insistence that it be the sole focus of a room, but instead by its ability to integrate. I like to make wines that tell a story: a story of wind, fog, sunshine and the hard work of our crew. This vineyard has as much potential for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir as we are willing to imagine and draw from it with passion and labor. In this sense I want the wines to be 'jazz' over 'heavy metal'--a reflection of craft embedded in an ever-changing environment instead of a homogenized attempt to kowtrow to the gods of concentration." --Wes Hagen, February 2008
Environmental sustainability: No herbicides, no insecticides, no restricted materials. Integration of livestock and animals for diversity and organic pest control: sheep for weeding/fertilization, all green materials composted and reapplied in the vineyard, owl boxes/raptor perches for rodent control, retired greyhounds for rabbit and coyote control.
Pinot Noir shoots, Clos Pepe: April 2, 2009
Social sustainability: We believe sustainable viticulture is meaningless without a similar concern for the people that work on the farm. We think it's a shame that some farmers are more concerned with their compost than their people. Less chemicals means a safer environment to work in, it's true, but we also offer our permanent field workers medical benefits for them and their families. It's an expensive farming practice, one that's almost unheard of in agriculture, but we think its worth it. When we pour Clos Pepe wine, we can feel comfortable knowing that everyone who touched the vines, the fruit and the wine were respected.
An Invitation to Visit Clos Pepe
We do things a little different and a lot slower out here at Clos Pepe. No tasting room bar. We don't believe you can understand what we do here without spending a few hours with our vineyard manager, our winemaker, our sheep, our climate and our family. This is how they do it in the Old World--maybe a dozen people per week go through these tours, which is more meaningful to our business than turning and burning a thousand through a tasting room turnstile. Try it and see.
You may have heard that it's a difficult feat to visit Clos Pepe for a tour and tasting, but if you're willing to plan a few weeks ahead and be here promptly at 10:30 am we'll guarantee you a few hours of wine and vineyard education that you will not soon forget. What do you need to do?
Send us an email and tell us when you'd like to come (2 weeks in advance is suggested, but feel free to drop us an email to see if we can't fit you in on shorter notice). Include a cell phone number and how many in your party.
Follow the directions in the return email.
Respect our property by showing up on time, driving safely and leaving pets and children at home. (Rarely we can make exceptions, but with livestock and a pack of dogs on the property we ask this for your protection.)
Relax and let our winemaker/vineyard manager Wes Hagen lead you through 10 million years of geology in the Santa Rita Hills and 10,000 years of the natural history of the grapevine. From there we will sit at table and enjoy the current releases, and perhaps some older wines, nibble some cheeses, and likely finish with home-roasted coffee.
You will have the opportunity to purchase wine and/or olive oil (if available) to take home with you (or have it shipped), and this tour participation is currently the only way to be added to our Allocation List.
Thinking About Scheduling a Tour? Check Out This Review:
"Comparing this experience to all the other wine tastings I have been to would be the equivalent of a person who had watched B movies his whole life viewing "The Godfather" or "Citizen Kane" for the first time. The three hours I spent at Clos Pepe were the best wine-tasting experience I have ever had. It was fun, educational and elegantly down to earth." --Russ Briley, Wine Writer Ventura County Star.
Cool,windy weather has prevailed in the Spring of 2009
Virtual Video Tour: Check out a shortened version of our Clos Pepe tour/tasting HERE. Thanks to John Lordi for the video production! It will take a while to load, but if you can't make it to the vineyard, this will give you the overview of who we are and what we do up here. Not to be missed!
Clos Pepe Wins a Green Award! Santa Barbara has awarded Clos Pepe Vineyards with one of only 4 Green Awards for 2007. Read more HERE.
Not Getting Your Allocation Discount? If you log in and don't get your Allocation Discount (for previous customers and those who've signed up previously), send me an email! Discount are also available for those customers in the wine trade.
Awards!: L.A. County Fair's 'Los Angeles International Wine Competition' (the largest and oldest Fair wine competition in the U.S.) released its results this weekend, and we did very well: GOLD MEDAL was awarded to our 2005 Estate Pinot Noir and BEST OF CLASS: Domestic Medium was awarded to our 2006 Clos Pepe Estate Olive Oil. The Olive Oil has been sold out for months, but the 2005 Pinot Noir is still available at the store, by phone or by order form. The 2005 Pinot Noir just received 92 point rating from redwinebuzz.com as well. 2006 Pinot Noir received 91 points from Allen Meadows, the Burghound.
Rather Order by Fax? If faxing an order form seems easier than ordering online, just send Wes Hagen an email with a request for a faxable order form. Send your request to: wes@clospepe.com .
Temperature Study for Clos Pepe Vineyards 2005-2008
Degree days measure all temperatures above 50 degrees F throughout the growing season on an hourly basis. A constant 51 degrees for 24 = 1 degree day,or a 74 degree temperature for 1 hour = 1 degree day. Thanks to Richard 'Brock' Brockmeyer for the data.
All four years can be considered very cool vintages, and the warmest and coolest years are still only about 6.5% different in DD accumulation.
'Burghound' Allen Meadows Reviews the
Clos Pepe Estate 2006 Pinot Noir: 91 Points
There's not a lot of critics I expect to impress by making wines meant to age and put at table. Allen Meadows is the US authority on Burgundy wine, and has only recently started to review California Pinot Noir. To me, he 'gets it': pinot is not meant to impress with weight and extract, it's meant to show a time and a place--earth and restraint over muscle and extraction. We're really stoked he dug the 2006 Estate Pinot Noir! Many of the 'cult' wines got taken to task in this publication for their clumsy, overripe style, and we're excited to see a critic who sees through the flash and recognizes producers concerned with balance, elegance and food friendliness.
From Burghound #28, October,. 2008
"2006 Clos Pepe Estate Pinot Noir – Sta Rita Hills: (bottled at 14.5%; $56). A wonderfully complex and beguiling nose features ripe but very fresh aromas of cranberry, raspberry, earth and subtle spice notes that introduce precise, intense and balanced middle weight flavors culminating in a vibrant, precise and beautifully persistent finish that displays a hint of youthful austerity. This is really impressively pure and quite refined and I particularly like the balance and drive with absolutely no sense of undue weight or heaviness, indeed the only nit that I can point out is a slight trace of backend warmth. 91 POINTS /Drink until 2012+"
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Steve Heimoff (Wine Enthusiast) Writes About the Santa Rita Hills AVA and Wes Hagen:
"Today, I think it’s safe to say that SRH stands as one of the greatest places in the New World to grow Pinot Noir (and they do a great job at Chardonnay and Syrah and Pinot Gris and perhaps one or two others).
And they got there on their own — not with fancy marketing packages and press kits and events with celebrity auctioneers. Not with spin and hype. Not by luring in big spenders with resorts and great restaurants and golf courses. They did it the old-fashioned way: They earned it. (I can still hear John Houseman saying those words.)
They earned it through the dogged efforts of people like Richard Sanford, who was there (with his partner, Michael Benedict) when everyone else thought they were crazy. They did it through the pioneering of guys like Brian Babcock …through the vision and hard work of a younger generation of idealists, like Greg Brewer, Steve Clifton, Wes Hagen and Kathy Joseph. They put the Santa Rita Hills on the world wine map for the most fundamental reason of all: the quality of the wines.
It’s an important lesson for California’s other wine regions (there are more than 100 AVAs, with more on the way). Quality comes first. Figure out what you do better than anyone else, and then do it. Fame will surely follow."
Clos Pepe Estate Wines Wes Hagen (Vineyardist/Winemaker) Has Tasted Recently:
2006 Pinot Noir 'Vigneron Select' (Sold Out) : Tight and oaky with great purity of fruit and impeccable structure. Needs at least 3-5 years to fully integrate--a few years longer than the regular 2006 because of higher French Oak tones. SOLD OUT
2006 Pinot Noir : If you have to commit infanticide on this one, decant overnight! The longer the bottle stays open, the better this wine gets. Nose is beautifully expressive, even this early. Blackberry, strawberry and blueberry with lots of baking spice. Great acid and some fine tannins. No middle to speak of yet--needs 2 years of cellaring to start strutting it's pedigree. One for the cellar!
2006 Chardonnay (No Oak, Sold Out) : My favorite 'Hommage to Chablis' to date at release. A bit riper than the 2005 and a bit more of a balanced mouthful of minerals, fruit and acidity. Fresh, apple-pear characters and loads and loads of structure. Drinking nicely, but needs a few years at least to let the mid-palate emerge and the minerals/acid to be balanced with the richness. This is as tight as it will ever be.
2005 Pinot Noir: (Sold Out, Written 7/2008): “The 2005 Clos Pepe Estate Pinot Noir is beginning to live up to my hopes for the 2005 vintage. There are years when the growing and the winemaking is effortless…when the crew gets the work done on time, the weather cooperates, and the wines ferment and age without a lot of fuss. I’ve been waiting three years to start tasting what was hidden below all the primary fruit and the hint of French oak. The wine is turning a big corner this Spring and Summer—developing some wonderful earthy notes in the nose. The blackberry and strawberry are turning toward dusty black cherry and forest floor. The midpalate, relieved of its diminishing baby fat, is beginning to speak about soil and fog and winds—and dedicated craft in the field and in the cellar. The wine rocks with anything game—those critters we eat far too rarely—venison, elk, antelope, quail, duck, pheasant. It’s delicate enough for poached salmon and rich enough for a simple preparation of lamb. Also delicious with more tangy and vibrant cheeses—Bosina, Rochetta, and less ripe Tomme de Savoie have been nice matches I’ve enjoyed recently. Dark, rich garnet color, nice mineral mouthfeel with good fruit and complex length in the finish…great acidity as always. No water, acid or enzymes —100% Clos Pepe pinot noir fruit, farmed sustainably without herbicide, insecticide or restricted materials. Blend of 115, 777 and 667 Clones from hillside plantings. 14.4% alcohol and 1/3 new French oak barrels for 11 months. I see no reason why this wine can’t go another 5-10 years in a proper cellar—but most will be consumed gleefully in the next 2 years.”
2004 Pinot Noir (Sold Out):This wine is slowly coming into its prime. From a hot, ripe vintage the wine was generous early and may not have the capacity to age like the 2005 and 2006's (cooler vintages). Expect a mouthful of spicy black-cherry fruit, amazing complexity in the mid-palate and a fresh, structured finish. Secondary bottle-aged notes begin to emerge--earthiness, sage-like underbrush, cola-nut and a hint of cherry sweetness in the finish. A hint of heat in the finish will remind you of the sunny warmth of the 2004 Fall.
2003 Pinot Noir (Sold Out): The last two 2003's I've tasted have been very different, and this wine is very susceptible to bottle variation--especially bottles that have not been stored correctly. At best the wine is really beginning to show beautifully--mature armoas of dried cherry, quite intense, with smoky minerals, great length and both fresh and mature. The other bottle was a bit barnyardy and flat to me. If this wine is in your cellar, take one out and give it a try!
2002 Pinot Noir (Sold Out): Approaching maturity--big, expressive and delicious. Definitely in the 'drinking window', and I suggest it will be drinking well for at least anothe 2-5 years.
2001 Pinot Noir (Sold Out): Another wine to pull out and try, a beautifully balanced and elegant wine that is really showing gorgeously at table. In the drinking window for sure..will benefit from a few more years, and it may be a wine that will last 10-15 years if properly cellared. Try one with duck confit or some Epoisses cheese.
2000 Pinot Noir (Sold Out): A wine in its prime. I keep thinking it's going to fade, but it keeps impressing me with its longevity, balance, complexity and freshness. I'm really in love with this wine, and given the chance to have any wine I've made at a good meal, this one wins the prize as of January, 2008.
Shipping: Where are the wines I ordered? Simply put, we are very picky about when we ship wine. With as much time and craft invested in these wines, the last thing we want to do is have them bake in a hot truck. So--we have mostly stopped shipping for the Summer. We check weather each Monday just in case, but if you have a pending order you can expect it to ship after harvest when things cool down significantly. I expect most orders will be shipped by the end of October unless we're still pressing wine. If we choose the time to send your wine it is guaranteed to arrive in sound condition. We are always willing to ship on your request, but we can't promise the wine will arrive in the same condition in which it left the cellar. I was perhaps a little late in releasing the 2007 Rose' and some of the 2001 Library releases, as I fully expected to be able to ship them for this Summer's enjoyment. The Spring heated up fast throughout the country, and I have erred on the side of caution on most orders. Again, if you want it sent, send me an email, but we recommend Fall.
Pick-Up Policy: Picking up your wine may sound easier than it actually is, and that is why we recommend you have your wine shipped. The pick-up option is more for locals and those that visit often, as we find that a full 10% of pickup orders are never retrieved and take up more space than we can sacrifice. We are willing to cellar your Clos Pepe purchases for on-site pickup up to one year from release. That means we will hold your order to be picked up here at the vineyard for one full year from the February release date. We send out at least one email alert for pick-ups each year and offer two to three events yearly for easy pick-up: SBCVA Vintner's Festival Open House in April, and the Sta. Rita Hills Winegrowers Event in June. These events make sure that you have a chance to come and nibble and sip here at the Clos, and have an excuse to come and get your wine. It is your responsibility to set up a pick up, and wines older than three years past vintage date in February will be put back in general inventory. (For example, 2006 wines are held for pickup until February, 2009.) To avoid missing this deadline, we do recommend having your wine shipped on release, in the cool of February.
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