Oktoberfest at Clos Pepe Winery

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Took off early this am to wander up the highway. I was invited to an Oktoberfest party at the Clos Pepe Winery in the Sta. Rita Hills. Lots of fog on the coast driving up. I had arranged to meet Tom Stolpman of Stolpman Vineyards at the tasting room to taste the new releases. Picked up a couple of cases of his wines, which are among my favorites. Made a quick stop at Dierberg Winery before heading over to Clos Pepe shindig. If you have not stopped at Dierberg I would suggest you do. Very nice wines and their Pinot made Wine Spectators top 100 wines for 2008.

I arrive at Clos Pepe and the party was in full swing. It was Steve Pepe's 65th birthday and he was in his realm grilling sausages to go with the sauerkraut, ribs and potato salad. Plenty of wine and beer flowed. The kids had a costume parade and Chanda gave a demonstration of how her sheep dogs work herding. This winery uses Babydoll sheep to keep the weeds down.

I sat at a table with Norman and Traudel Huber of Huber Cellats and Norm Yost of Flying Goat Cellars. Food was good and the conversation was great. I drank beer today seeing as it was Oktoberfest. Need to stay true to the tradition.

When the Hubers got ready to leave they invited me to their house to taste Normans new Pinot Noir and a Dornfelder port he was making. Theye lived right across the road from Clos Pepe. They left their gate open for me (its a closed winery) and I proceeded to the house. Was greeted by Heidi, another sheep dog.

We went into Normans playroom and had a glass of Pinot and then a glass of the Dornfelder Port which turned out to be 20% alcohol. It was really great and when he gets approval for the label he will be able to market the wine. Traudle gave me cookies to try and counter the port as I was driving home that evening.

2 hours at 45 minutes to drive up and 4+ hours to drive back. The 405 freeway had an accident blocking 3 lanes so the masses stayed on the 101 just like I did and it became a parking lot. Very long day. But I had another wine function on Sunday so I did not want to spend the night. It was a good day but tiring.