We had the opportunity to meet
Wes Hagen, winemaker at ClosPepe vineyards at the World of
the vineyard's open house after the Santa
Barbara Vintner's Festival in Lompoc. Clos
Pepe is only open by appointment and the wines are allocated .
When Wes invited us to attend the open
house we were honored to attend and take our worldwide readers with us.
Clos Pepe is a family-owned vineyard and winery set in the heart of the Santa Rita Hills of Santa Barbara County, California. They have about 29 acres planted in vines. 25 acres are planted in Pinot Noir, and 4 acres in Chardonnay. Pinot Noir is what Clos Pepe is know for and make about 800 cases of Estate Pinot Noir each year. They also produce about 100 cases of Chardonnay that is aged without the use of any new oak. The vineyard is well known sell grapes to other wineries.
Wes believes that great Pinot Noir and Chardonnay is an expression of hard work in the vineyard and was named Central Coast Winegrower's Association Grower of the Year 2001-2002 and is also the winemaker.
His wife Chanda is also the assistant winemaker. The open house was amazing. We had driven by the large locked gates on many previous visits. On this visit we drove up the long driveway through the vineyard to a home that is beyond description. Wes welcomed us and gave us a tour. He also showed us his wood
burning oven where they were making custom made flat bread pizza at pool side.
burning oven where they were making custom made flat bread pizza at pool side.
Another interesting fact is that Wes was burning old french barrel stays in the oven. At those prices that probably made for some of the most expensive firewood in history. Cloe Pepe is
a well known winery and many vineyards purchase fruit from them. The Clos Pepe 2000 Chardonnay has held up just fine as well as the 2000 Pinot Noir.
Wes and Clos Pepe have an fantastic website that can be found at www.clospepe.com You can watch a great video presentation about his winemakeing and the vineyard. We raise our glass of Pinot and say Cheers ! to Wes, Chanda and the entire Clos Pepe staff for a job well done.
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