Clos Pepe Pinot Tasting

Saturday, March 14, 2015

I have been planning this tasting for over a year. I have all these wines that have sourced their fruit from the Clos Pepe vineyards. I thought it would be an interesting, insane tasting to brown bag them and rate them

So there was 14 wines, 3 years, 8 winemakers and all Clos Pepe Pinot Noir fruit. Took awhile to get a date that Wes Hagen from Clos Pepe and I could agree on. Worked out perfectly because of the Playground dinner last night.

The really big dilemma was the invite list. I wanted to keep it to 8 people sitting at the table. Not wandering around drinking. Tasting notes and discussion of the wine were important. So after agonizing for months over this I decided to keep it to single invitees. No couples. With Wes, I and Jolie, who donated two wines that left only 5 seats. I also wanted to keep it to people that were fans of Clos Pepe. As it was Wes knew everyone at the table. All but one have been at the big house for events and tastings. We were all knowledgeable about Clos Pepe fruit. 

As it is I am sure there will be people that hear about this and feel they should have been part of it. But it was a really tough decision  of who was in and who was out. I had to set strict criteria and stick to it once I had made up my mind to what it was.

Unfortunately Wes had to leave early. Oliver, his wife's service dog took a turn for the worse and is not  expected to live more than a few days at the most. So Wes came in early and tasted most of the line up before the others arrived. Stayed for about 45 minutes after everyone arrived. He kept detailed notes and left them for us.

It was real interesting to read his notes because I threw in a "ringer" A 2009 Huber Pinot Noir. Huber is just across the road from Clos Pepe so should have some similarities.

 He did not indicate which wines he thought was his but he did make a note about "probably B-C" which is Brewer-Clifton and he was right.

I had bread and crackers for the tasting to keep the palate clean. Then I put out a platter with sausage's, salami's, cheese's, pate's, smoked salmon and lamb chops.

Event started at 2:00 and the last two people left a 9:00 - I think by the comments it was a huge success.

Another revelation today was that this is the last year Clos Pepe will be bottling under their own label. A vineyard management company will be coming in to take over the vineyards and Kathryn Hall wines has a 15 year lease on the vineyards (not all the property). The contracts with the other winemakers will be honored. Wes will be moving off the property and looking for a job. That will not be too hard for him to find. Steve and Cathy will continue to live in the big house, the family corporation still owns it all but Steve and Cathy want to completely retire. They are my age and I can't blame them