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Newsletter: Spring 2006
Clos Pepe Estate Santa Rita Hills, Santa Barbara County, California 2006 Vintage, The year to date: 
March and April have been wonderfully soggy here at Clos Pepe. Vintage 2006 has officially arrived after a long wait for budbreak. The cold and drizzly conclusion of Winter kept the vines in a dormant state, and we are almost a month behind in the vineyard where we were last year. Interestingly, we are still a month early as compared to places like Burgundy or Oregon, and the vines will quickly catch up. Even though harvest may be a bit late this year, we expect the longer dormancy to have no negative impact on the vintage. (But of course we'd say that...) December and January were very dry, and we were quite worried early on that we would be stuck in another drought cycle. But then the jet stream dipped and all the rain that has been battering Seattle to San Francisco dipped down and we got our share..to the tune of about 10 inches over the last 8 weeks. That's great news, as rainwater flushes salts from the roots and is vastly superior to the health of the vines as compared to irrigation. Now we can get to farming! Well..as soon as we can get the tractor back in the field. Producers Getting Clos Pepe fruit for 2006: Loring Wine Company (115 and 667 Pinot Noir) A.P. Vin (115 Pinot Noir, and maybe some 777 if he plays his cards right) Ojai Vineyard (Pommard 4 Pinot Noir and Dijon 76 Chardonnay) Ken Brown Wines (Pommard 4 Pinot Noir) Brewer-Clifton (Pommard 4 Pinot Noir) Siduri Wines (115 Pinot Noir) Diatom (Greg Brewer's Stainless Steel Chardonnay program, Wente Chardonnay) Copain/Roessler: (115 Pinot Noir and Wente Chardonnay) Estate: (115, 667, 777 Pinot Noir, Wente Chardonnay) Vineyard:  Late Budbreak: Vines were a bit hesitant to wake up in 2006 We are out in the vineyard this week knocking 'sucker shoots' off the trunk and base of the vines, and getting ready to start removing shoots.We will take the number of shoots per vine from around 22-25 down to about 18, or 9 per side, each shoot spaced out about the width of a human hand. This reduces the crop level and makes the remaining shoots on either side of the trunk grow evenly and produce an even amount of fruit per vine so ripeness evolves in a uniform fashion. Giving each shoot its own space in the trellis also guarantees excellent exposure to the sun, and keeps clusters from nesting on top of each other. Once the shoots are long enough, we will tuck them into the shoot positioning wires, wait for them to flower, then remove the leaves around the clusters for better airflow and sun-flecking. This will promote high toned fruit character and keep the wines from having vegetal or herbal nuances as they age. Once the leaves are pulled, we continue spraying to keep the fruit clean, and after the fruit softens and changes color we'll throw bird nets on, carefully monitor ripeness and irrigation, and wait for the magic day of harvest. 2005 Vintage: 2005 Clos Pepe Estate Pinot Noir: 2005 is finishing malolactic fermentation in the winery, and is shaping up to be a knockout vintage. The crop load was around the same as 2004, around 2-2.5 tons per acre, but the wines were a bit darker and full bodied than the 2004. The Pinots seem to have a little more richness, or what I call baby fat, that was evident in the 2002 and 2003 vintages. We picked the Pinot Noir in 3 lots.... 777 (25% of final blend) Lower ripeness pick--final wine is around 13% alcohol, highly stgructured with great acidity, red fruits and sweet baking spices. 115 (50% of final blend) Moderate ripeness, around 13.7% alcohol. Plush, black and red fruits, great concentration, wonderful, heady fruit aromas, great balance in and out of the blend. This is the 'heart' of the blend. 667 (25% of final blend) High ripeness (at least for us), a wine flirting with 15% alcohol, sappy, dense, dark, fat and brooding. A Parker-esque monster that will add some weight and high toned fruit to the blend. These will all be blended together to make the final blend. The idea here is that using 5 different yeasts on 3 basic fermentation lots, and using varying levels of ripeness, we hope to achieve a new level of balance and complexity in the final blend, while maintaining the 'Clos Pepe Estate' house style...low to moderate ripneness with a strong emphasis on food friendliness. 2005 Clos Pepe Estate Chardonnay 'Homage to Alsace' As you may have heard, we are trying something quite different with the Chardonnay this year, the logical conclusion of the 'Homage to Chablis' progarm we've been developing for 6 vintages. There's a lot of winemakers in the New World that are trying to push ripeness to ridiculous levels. The new recipe for a high scoring wine is to pick it VERY late and ripe, and add water and tartaric acid granules to the fermenter to attempt to recapture the balance that was lost to extreme hangitme. I hate trendy wine styles. European table wine is my model--wines of pedigree, balance and culinary friendliness. So, to move against the grain (we have enough sheep already) we crafted the 2005 Chardonnay in a very low-alcohol, high acidity mold. While picking Chardonnay above 25 degrees Brix is common here in the Santa Rita Hills, we picked our Chardonnay this year at around 22 degrees. That gives us a final alcohol level around 12.5% This could be a wine you can take to a restaurant, drink, and still think about red! Even though the wine is 100% Clos Pepe Chardonnay from the Wente clone, the acidity, minerals and white peach/grapefruit aromas remind me of Pinot Gris or Pinot Blanc from Alsace. This will be a totally unique wine in the sea of predictable Chardonnay. It takes the Homage to Chablis program to its natural endpoint, and we will see how the wine matures in stainless cask, and how it performs out in the real world. This will help us make ripeness decisions in the future. If acidity were caffeine, this would be one hell of an energy drink. Previous vintages: I've been tasting through a lot of Clos Pepe Estate wines as we reorganize our family cellar at the new house. Here's a list of suggested drinking windows from our previous vintages: 2000 Pinot Noir: Drink or Hold. May have 2-5 years left in it, but it's drinking very silky and mature right now. For those who like younger wines, drink. For those willing to risk the hold for further maturity, we think you'll be rewarded. The VS may have an extra year or two of life in comparison. 2000 Chardonnay: Drink. It has developed a wonderful complex nuttiness. I don't think this is going to improve much more, and is a lovely drink now. Grab some oysters or cheese and get busy! 2001 Pinot Noir: Drink or Hold 1-4 years. This has some life left in it for sure, but it has turned a corner and is drinking wonderfully. If you haven't popped a 2001 in a while, it's worth visiting again, but if you only have 1 left, I'd wait 2-3 years. VS is drinking great too, but may have the stuff to go another 2-6. 2001 Chardonnays: Drink up on the 'BF' 2001, and the 2001 Homage is drinking nicely and quite complex, but may still be able to hold out a few more years for those looking for further maturity. The 2001 Sweet Farewell was a knockout with Melisse's Pear and St. Augur Blue Cheese Tart. It will last forever, but has a nice smoky, honeyed apricot essence now. This wine is still available in limited quantities. 2002 Pinot Noir: Hold. Losing a bit of its baby fat, may be in a dumb phase as it makes the transition between a youngin' and a mature young man. Try it at the BBQ and we'll decide together, but I think this wine has a nice life ahead of it. 'VS' still has some oak that needs to integrate. 2007-2010 will be my best guess for optimal drinking on the 2002 PN. 2002 Chardonnay: Drink or Hold. Drinking quite nicely. I have no problem with drinking this sooner than later, within the next 2 years is my best suggestion. It may surprise me, but the 3-5 year window seems to really show the Homage wines at their best. 2003 Pinot Noir: Hold. The wine is still burly, dense and young and needs some time to settle and rest in the bottle. Another 2-5 years should leave this wine in a very nice place. 'VS' has some oak that needs to marry, hold it an additional year or two. 2003 Chardonnay: Hold or Drink. I really like this wine. It is certainly enjoyable now, but for full maturity I suggest another 1-3 years of cellar age. Good acidity and nice balance may allow this wine to age even longer. Family and the New House: 
Steve and Cathy's new Villa is 95% done, they've moved in, and the BBQ will utilize the new facility. The new house is 'done' and Steve and Cathy have moved in. The pool still needs finishing, and the landscaping is still in progress, but the move has opened up Steve and Catherine's previous abode to Wes and Chanda and the hounds, which triples their living space and has enabled Chanda to begin her new career as an interior decorator. It was amazing how quickly we excorcized the Martha Stewart demons from this place and made it our own.Wes splits his time between vineyard, winery, golf course, playing music and computer games. Rob, Stacy, Jen and Nicole have been coming up from Cota de Caza often and spending time in the new house. Jen and Nicole enjoy using the upstairs 'suite' for rehearsing dances and plays for the adults, and the new wood-burning pizza oven has become Steve's new BBQ--we've become addicted to cracker-crust style pizzas, and we're getting better at it all the time. Expect some goodies from that oven at the BBQ! Steve continues to run the Clos Pepe office and help make wine (he was in the field for every minute of harvest and was in the winery almost every day as well). Cathy has found a new avocation as the Events Coordinator for the Santa Rita Hills Winegrowers Alliance, and is planning our June 9-11, 2006 Wine and Fire Festival. Steve and I agreed that it's good for her to keep busy, for when left to her own devices she is likely to make more work for us, or start completely repositioning all the knick knacks in the big house. Pets: 
The Babydoll Southdowns are born! This is Matilda. She'll be here in June with Althea and Henley. Sheep update: All three of our sheep have been born in West Petaluma, seem healthy, and are on schedule to arrive in June. We are ready for them! While the crew couldn't get in the vineyard due to the rains, we had them build a large three sided shelter (large enough for a dozen sheep), and fenced the whole olive orchard so they have a few protected acres to graze when not in the vineyard. Rosa has been sniffing the enclosure and wondering. Yes Rosa, you will have a job soon and the frisbees of the world will breathe a long sigh of relief. We're meeting with a dog trainer this Friday in Santa Barbara to discuss how to get Rosa ready for her new reponsibilities. If Rosa lacks the protective instinct, we may look for a herd protection dog that we would get as a puppy and allow to grow up with the sheep so it believes it is one of the flock. The sheep will be used for weed and grass management on the property. Their job will be to turn weeds and grass into fertilizer. Both Steve Pepe and ex-Sanford winemaker Bruno d'Alfonso insist that any lamb that does not pull its weight is doomed to the BBQ, and even though the idea of miniature rack of lamb sounds tempting, we suspect the experience will most likely tame our hunger for lamb products. (I mean, DAMN, look how CUUUTE! YOU tell that precious little face that it's lunch.) 
This is Trillian, our new ex-racing Greyhound from Tijuana. She is our first bilingual hound, and won 4 races in her professional career! She's named after a character from 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'. The hound pack has grown! That gorgeous black hound has stolen our heart. She came here as a foster, and in less than a week we permanently adopted her. She's very shy, gets along with all of our dogs except Rosa (they've had some tousles over who is the dominant bitch on the property), but her socialization and training are improving daily. Winston the pug will soon turn 15, and besides being mostly deaf, blind and paralyzed still seems to have a good time going on backyard adventures, sleeping in the sun and barking for his dinner. Indi is still our Alpha male greyhound and rules with a kind and generous paw. Oliver continues to help Chanda as her certified Psychiatric Service Dog. He goes everywhere with us, and works much better than drugs for preventing panic attacks, especially while driving. Oliver is the rock star among us, and it is becoming increasingly common that people say hello to him before acknowledging us. Tiva (greyhound-whippett mix) is still living with Diana and Jim Mikkelsen (Chanda's Mom and Stepfather, and two of our best supporters) and loves being the King Dog of the household. Samson is still his grumpy old self, and we hope he will start recognizing us and our cars. Over five years on the property and he still doesn't know who we are. Ahhh...Dalmatians... And Rosa is still the Miracle Dog. She has outlived her prognosis of death at 2 (by heart failure) by 5 years and counting, and seems to function quite well on the vineyard with her multitude of congenital heart defects. We figure if she's still around, we can take off the kid gloves and give her a real job, and she's excited about the late Spring arrival of the lambs. BBQ: The Clos Pepe August BBQ is already in the planning stage! New West catering will once again provide delectables (they catered the first event in 2001 and last year's) and we will be enjoying the new Big House with a protected courtyard, grill, pizza oven and full kitchen. That means the caterers won't be limited to a kitchen in a double-wide! We will be calling for RSVP's soon, and are splitting the event into two dates: back to back Saturdays: August 5th and 12. On the advice of our attorneys, the skeet shooting and pinot-soaked t-shirt contest have been cancelled :-( Critical Reviews and Available Wines: Clos Pepe Pinot Noir Santa Rita Hills 2004 93 points | $45 | 800 cases made Clos Pepe Estate Chardonnay 2001 'Sweet Farewell': Ordering Wine: There's a few ways to order Clos Pepe Estate wines: |
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