by Tom Hill

A self-admitted wine geek, Tom lives in Northern New Mexico and works as a computational physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory doing numerical neutron transport & large scale code development. He has been tasting wines since 1971, participates locally with a couple of large tasting groups in his area, and is practically a fixture at most California wine festivals, such as the Hospice du Rhône, Rhône Rangers, and ZAP. Other interests: Tom is heavily into competitive sport fencing (foil & epee), biking, cooking, basketball, skiing, backpacking, mountain climbing.

On the way up to Hospice du Rhone 2002 this year, I stopped to visit Wes Hagen at Clos Pepe. I had met Wes in CyberSpace several yrs earlier on WCWN, where he often has a lot to add to many of our discussions there. He also runs an excellent WebSite (www.clospepe.com) that contain a lot of information on Clos Pepe. I've followed it from the very start and have learned a lot from it. So I was really looking forward to meeting Wes, see what he's doing, and try his wines for the first time. I had his Chard grapes from AdamTolmach/Ojai and was pretty impressed with it.

Clos Pepe is located waaaay out on the furtherest western edge of the SantaYnez Valley, in the newly declared SantaRitaHills appellation. Santa Rita  Winery in Chile is fussing at them about corrupting their good (?) name by their usage of it, so this new appellation's name might not hold up and have to be changed. Also joining me for this tour was Larry Archibald, Mike Mooney, and Eric Anderson. As is typical on many winery tours, the first thing you get to do is meet the winery dogs.. the four legged kind. There was a bunch of them, all very friendly, covering the range of the canine varietal spectrum (all available for viewing on the WebSite). I usually have the forsight to take some doggie treats w/ me when visiting wineries, but, alas, I forgot to stock up ahead of time this trip. Also there was Wes' wife, Chanda, tending the garden in front. And later, Brian Loring (Loring Wine Co) showed up as well to join us.

I always find it quite valuable to get a better feel for a wine by walking the vnyd from which the grapes originate. So Wes took us out into the vnyd to give us a bit of the lay of the land. He described a bit the SantaRitaHills appelation for which Wes was to prime mover&shaker in getting approved. The SantaRita wnry in Chile as agreed for them to use the abbreviation Sta.RitaHills, but with such persnickety limitations that the SantaRitaHills name may be abandoned. Part of the appellation is the Purisma Hills, and Steve Beckmen (owner of Purisma Mtn  Vineyard near LosOlivos) has agreed to their usage; so that may become the name. Probably the right move, because this is going to be an area famous for their Pinot and Syrah in the near future and no use having the SantaRita Winery in Chile besmirching their name!!!

Wes described a bit the difficult growing conditions they have out this far West, the afternoon winds that come whipping thru the area. He talked about some of his trellising, his vnyd practices, and the various clones he has planted. All quite informative.

Wes makes a bit of ho-made wine there on the property for himself, so he samples us first on that:

1. Clos Pepe Ho-made Chard 2001: Three samples from barrel, 30% ML, 50% ML, and 75% ML; all very similar in the nose, the 30% being very tart & lean, and the 75% much richer & fuller; very low key oak in the nose, lots of very bright/spicy/Chard/ bit melong fruit on the nose; crisp/ clean very spicy/minerally melony bit tropical fruit flavor; I really liked the tart/crisp/ lean character and was quite struck by the minerally/Chablis-like character of the wine.
2. Clos Pepe Ho-made Pinot Noir 2001: Made w/ natural yeasts; Med.dark color; big full-bore bright cherry/black cherry/cola little oak very perfumed nose; tart very spicy bright cherry/black cherry loads of fruit flavor; a big/rich/full no-holds-barred Pinot. and from bottle:
3. Clos Pepe Pinot Noir 2000: Med.dark color; lovely very fragrant/perfumed strawberry/cherry light pencilly/Fr.oak nose; tart/crisp bright/zippy strawberry/cherry quite spicy slight earthy flavor; lots of Pinot fragrance and a purity of fruit uncluttered w/ strong oak; lovely bright Pinot.

And then we all got into a cars and headed back towards Buelton to taste at the new location Wes is now making his wines. It is a modestly-sized facility that is owned by Kahn  Winery for making  their wines. Brian Loring plans to also move his winemaking into the facility as well. So next we try:

1. Clos Pepe Chard 2001: From the Wente clone; two samples, one totally in stainless and one that was barrel fermented; the stainless was much tarter/cleaner crisper, the barrel-fermented more soft and round on the palate; Med.light gold color; very perfumed/fragrant/spicy light tropical fruit/pineapply light earthy nose; tart/crisp very perfumed/spicy tropical fruit/Chard flavor; very attractive Chard w/ that same minerality shining thru.
2. Clos Pepe Pinot Noir 2001: from three different barrels, slightly different oak on all three; Med.color; very bright strawberry/cherry pure Pinot some floral/violets almost Nebbiolo-like perfumed nose; tart very bright/zippy strawberry/cherry fragrant/floral very spicy flavor; very long/tart finish w/ some tannins; beautiful bright Pinot.

It was a very informative visit and helps me greatly to understand the wines Wes is making. The Chard really impressed me with its lean/crisp style; one of the more Chablis-like Chards I've had from Calif. But I was most taken by the Pinots. They show a purity of Pinot fruit not often seen, and not cluttered up w/ a lot of oak, a light hand on the oak. They reminded me a lot of the Brewer-Clifton Pinots w/o all the oak those sometimes show. They also reminded me quite a bit of some Oregon Pinots in a great year w/ their very perfumed/fragrant character and crisp/clean character on the palate. This is a winery I'm looking forward to following closely in the future; both w/ Wes' own wines and what other winemakers do with those grapes. I fully expect Clos Pepe Vineyard to be attracting the kind of attention in a few yrs we now see with the Pisoni and Garys' Vineyard up in the SantaLucia Highlands. Wes's efforts to make sure his grapes are going to some extremely talented winemakers will reap great benefits down the road. It's pretty clear that Wes is very passionate about growing the grapes; that counts for quite a lot.

After the visit was over, I rode back to the vnyd w/ Wes & Chanda to retrieve my car. This gave me the opportunity to quiz Wes on some of the other vnyds out his way. From his comments, and those w/ Diana Lee and others; the Carrgassachi (sp?) is a vnyd to keep your eyes on. Not a lot of vnyd expertise yet (Diana described how Peter Cargassachi washed off the Syrah grapes afore he picked them!!) but a grower w/ a passion and a very special location that promises to deliver great Pinot and Syrah fruit down the road.

TomHill