Clos Pepe Estates Release Party

Saturday, August 2, 2008

We left about 7:00 in the morning for the drive to Buellton (about 45 minutes above Santa Barbara). The wineries do not open until 10:00 for tasting and our arrival time at Clos Pepe was 1:00 pm.

We arrived in the town of Solvang a little early so we parked the car near the "Trio" tasting room and headed to the Christmas store. This store is open all year and devotes itself to Christmas ornaments and Nativity sets. I bought a few angel ornaments for the great-grandkids. Had their names painted on them. Kids are into things like that. Makes them feel special.

By time we messed around in the store Stolpman's wine tasting room was open. Stopped in and tasted a few new wines, and bought a mixed case of Stolpman wines. Our friends who we were going to meet a little later walked into the tasting room. It is interesting how we wino's gravitate to the "good" wines. Time was starting to catch up with us, so we boogied over to Trio and tasted wine there. These wines are made by Kris Curran and Bruno D'Alfonso. I will say for some reason I was disappointed in most of the wines that were poured that day. I will have to go in there again in October when I am in the area and take a second look at them. I have had their wines before and enjoyed them, so I'm not to sure of the off day.

It was time to leave for Clos Pepe as we were running a little late. We all piled into one car and headed down the highway towards Lompoc. Clos Pepe is between Buellton and Lompoc in the Sta. Rita Hills. Outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The party was in full swing when we arrived. Several people were there that I had not seen for awhile and I saw a few additional friends. After tasting the 2007 releases and making my futures purchase I headed for the table of library wines. This table is always packed with people. I like to taste the older wines so I can see how mine are aging without opening them. This release party is by invitation only and to qualify you have to be a long time allocation member and buy $500 or more of wine each year. Keeps the number of people low but makes for a great time. Also keeps the "free loaders" out

Inside the house (house is an understatement) they had a table full of older french wines. I tasted several but I was not taking notes so the only one I really remember was a 1988 Lafite Rothschild

They had a large table set up with cheeses and crackers. New West Catering was making gourmet pizzas in the outdoor pizza oven, along with great grilled shrimp and beef kabobs. I pigged out which was a mistake since we were all going to the Stolpman vineyard later in the day for "Dinner in The Vineyard".

About 4:00 pm we said our goodbyes and headed back into the Santa Ynez Valley to have dinner at Stolpmans.