Well, another spring release has come and gone.  This, however, was no ordinary spring release.  It started out Friday with yours truly doing a little charity work with one of our local elders, Marvin Wood.  I had heard that he was a Petanque fan and that he was interested in helping out with this years tournament.  I assumed he was a retired gentleman just looking to get out of the house and mix up his normal routine a little. WRONG, the old goat is actually a shark.  He thrashed Horacio and I in multiple games, including one game that ended in a 13 to 0 beating that has Horacio paying him off with his next 3 paychecks, after which he showed me a special little trinket reserved for those who have just taken a 13 to 0 beating.  Shame on you Marvin.  But I'm not bitter.

After the morning lesson in Petanque, I figured the day could only get better.  And I was right.  It started out with beautiful weather for our bridge club party.  This is a party we put on to thank those folks who have joined our wine club and have been great supporters throughout the years.  Sarah Guerin cheffed us up some wonderful lamb sausages and pork loin along with an array of delicious salads and deserts.  We wined and dined for an hour or so with our 2007 Riesling that we made from a small block of Riesling vines above the Petanque course.  We only make a few cases for special events and hot days.  We also poured our 2005 Pepper Bridge Cabernet that was the wine we released this weekend.  All in all, a great success. 

After lunch, we got down to business.  The Petanque Tournament.  This is serious stuff folks.  It started out with 40 people, 20 teams, 10 courts and a lot of balls.  Within an hour, we had it narrowed down to 8 people, 4 teams and only 2 games left.  The first game decided 3rd and 4th place.  Not a big deal you say?  Not for 4th place, but 3rd place wins a prize, which is always better than not winning a prize.  And believe me, Lisa puts together a great assortment of prizes.  The last game was a close one, but Gary Hammond and Gordon Wicher pulled it off.  This is the second year in a row for Gary.  Cheers Gary.  Carrol and Bruce Becker came in second, and Mike Marshall and Robert Pintar came in third.  Everyone else had a great time.  And thank you Horacio and Marvin for your help with crowd control. 

On Saturday, we opened up the winery to the  public.  It was a great turnout.  Probably the busiest release weekend on record.   Horacio and I poured 2005 Pepper Bridge Merlot and 2005 Pepper Bridge Cabernet until we couldn't lift a bottle any more.  With all those people coming and going, it never got overly crazy, it was just a constant stream of guests. Horacio and I had plenty of time to answer questions and chat.  No one had to wait for a sample.  It was a perfect day, until Marvin's (the Petanque shark) wife and daughter showed up to pour a little salt in the wound.  But there are no hard feelings, in fact Marvin is bringing over his buddy next week to give Horacio and I another shot at winning back a little dignity.  And if we lose, Horacio and I will just write it off as volunteer work.  You know, like The Big Brother program.  I will keep you posted on the outcome.  Thanks for reading.

As I sit here and look out the window, it seems that spring has finally arrived, except that it is only 40 degrees out side and the hills have a fresh layer of snow.  April has been a crazy month here in Walla Walla.  But, despite the frigid temperatures, the rain, hail, snow and wind, April has brought us a couple of treats.  I am talking about our 2006 Merlot and our 2006 Seven Hills Vineyard blend.  That,s right, we bottled up two wines earlier in the month.  We started off with about 1500 cases of our 2006 Merlot, which is one of the two wines at Pepper Bridge winery that we release to the public.  The 2006 Merlot is 100% from our estate vineyards here in Walla Walla, it has spent about about 18 month in 100% French oak barrels.  This wine will be released towards the end of the year.  We also bottled up a blend that comes entirely from our Seven Hills Vineyard.  This is a Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cab Franc, also aged 18 months in 100% French oak.  This wine will also be released around December, but, only to our bridge club members.

Now that the month of April is almost over, what's next?  Well, usually it's May.  And we all know what happens in the beginning of May.  That's right, spring release weekend.  The winery opens its doors to the public and allows folks to get a view of the inner workings of Pepper Bridge, and taste some of our wines, including our 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon which has not been released yet.  We will be starting off the weekend with a party and a Petanque Tournament for our Bridge club members on Friday.  What is Petanque?  It is a game, no, a sport, of skill, finesse and cunning.  A little luck has been known to help also.  Petanque is simmilar to Bocce Ball.  Basically, its marbles, for adults.  Big Marbles.  The best thing about Petanque is that you can play it with a wine glass in one hand.  It can be done with a wine glass in both hands, but we don't recommend it, because you usually end up spilling most of your wine.  If you are a club member and have not made it to one of our release weekend parties, shame on you, you are missing out.  If you are a club member and have made it to our party, and plan on coming again, we will see you next weekend.  Cheers. 

The 2007 harvest here in Walla Walla was awesome.  Great weather and great fruit have created another great vintage.  The fruit we received from our Seven Hills Vineyard was incredible. On February 8th, a few of us got together to see just how good it really was. 

As you know, Seven Hills Vineyard is one of our Estate Vineyards and is a major part of our wines.  For those of you who are in our Bridge Club, you know that when bottled separately, this Vineyard produces an incredible wine with finesse and elegance.  We here at Pepper Bridge Winery only use a small portion of the fruit from our Seven Hills Vineyard.  The rest is sold to wineries all over Washington and Oregon. 

A few years ago we started an annual tasting that consisted of wineries that have purchased blocks from our Seven Hills Vineyard.  The first year there was about twelve of us.  This year there was close to eighty people.  We tasted our way through the wines we had made while discussing some of the differences or similarities that we saw. Very educational.  Its always amazing to see two distinct wines, made by two different wineries, with fruit that may only be few yard apart.  

How can this be?  Well, here is a quick and very basic explanation.  First and foremost is each wineries vineyard practices.  This includes pruning, irrigating, harvesting etc.  After harvesting the fruit, it is delivered to the winery. Some will crush and destem while others will only destem the fruit.  Some may choose to ferment in whole cluster instead.  The next step is fermentation, and this is where i will stop with fermentation, because the methods are so diverse and numerous.  After fermentation you have barrel aging, which is a whole other story. 

So, to make a long story short, it was a total success.  Everyone who attended agreed that the 2007 vintage was excellent. Everyone also agreed that the vineyard itself, seems to be getting better every year.  Knowing this, just imagine what kind of wines we will be producing 20 or 30  years down the road.  Very very exciting.

Well folks, it's that time of year again.  The time of sleep deprivation, weight loss and family neglect.  That's right, it's harvest time.  Woo Hooo.  The precious beginning of another Vintage.  This 2007 vintage will be our tenth vintage here at Pepper Bridge Winery and we are all very excited.  It feels like yesterday that we were putting on the final touches during construction, waiting patiently for the first grapes to arrive.  Checking and double checking new equipment so there would not be any supprises when the first grapes arrived.  That feeling of anticipation has not faded throughout the years.  We still check and double check equipment, while Jean Francois starts lurking around our Vineyards inspecting and sampling our 50 different lots.  That's right, 50.  That's a lot of sampling. 

The 2007 vintage started off on Sept. 13th with a Champagne toast and a few tons of Merlot grapes from our Seven Hills Vineyard. On the 15th we got some Cabernet from our Les Collines Vineyard.  By the 16th we were up and running.  For the first time ever, we had 3 different Varietals from our three different vineyards in the first week of harvest.  They usually are a bit more spread out, but by the 18th, we had 65 tons of grapes through the door which is about 1/4 of our annual production.  Our hands are purple, our feet are wet and our spouses are lonely, but we're all still smiling because so far it looks like another incredible vintage.

The weather has cooled down a bit these last couple of days allowing for a little more hang time and a little bit of catch up in the winery.  The first grapes we brought in are fermenting nicely and tasting great.  By the end of this week we should be bringing in more fruit, so I will keep you posted.  If you are in the area and have never seen our crush pad set up the front pad, I suggest stopping by.  Its quite the operation.  Next time I write I will give you a little explanation on what goes on between vine and barrel.  Until then, have a wonderful day.

Well folks, it has been a busy month.  After 21 months in barrel, the last of our 2005 vintage has been bottled.  We started off with our 2005 Pepper Bridge Cabernet, which is a blend from our two estate vineyards, Pepper Bridge and Seven Hills.  We also bottled our 2005 Pepper Bridge Vineyard blend.  This is a Bordeaux style blend of Cabernet, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot, exclusively from our Pepper Bridge Vineyards.  Remember, this wine is for our Bridge club members only, so if you want this wine and you are not a bridge club member, you need to call Lisa Schmidt immediately.  For those of you who are not Bridge Club members yet, I have some good news, we just bottled our first ever 2005 Pepper Bridge Reserve.  This is the first reserve ever released by Pepper Bridge Winery to the public.  This reserve is 55% from our Pepper Bridge Vineyard and 45% from our Seven Hills Vineyard.  This blend of Cabernet, Merlot, Malbec, and Petit Verdot was put together to showcase the very best our Estate Vineyard has to offer.  So be sure to come by next year and give our 2005 vintage a try.

     Now that all the 2005 wines are safely aging in bottle, it is time to get ready for the 2007 harvest.  So far things are looking great.  We have had a nice hot and dry summer and we are expecting another great vintage.  We are busy in the cellar tying up loose ends and getting the caves organized for the new vintage.  New barrels have already started coming in from France.  It's hard to believe that we could start getting fruit in just over a month.  Time flies when you're having fun.  So please stay tuned for a harvest update here in a week or two.