One terroir, many wines

ON the website for Wes Hagen’s vineyard and winery, you’ll find the usual pictures of family members and pets. But you’ll also find a bonus -- full-color photographs of dirt.

Not just any dirt, but the soil (actually, soils -- there are a couple types) that are found at his family’s respected Clos Pepe Vineyards in the Santa Rita Hills west of Buellton.

Though the vineyard has been planted for just a decade, its fruit has already been made into wine by many of the area’s leading stars, including Bryan Babcock, Greg Brewer and Steve Clifton, Adam Tolmach, Ken Brown and Rick Longoria. In addition, about a quarter of the vineyard’s fruit is reserved for the Clos Pepe Estate label, made by Hagen.

Certainly, there are other vineyards in the red-hot winegrowing area that are at least as well-known -- the legendary Sanford & Benedict, for one -- and others that are just as promising -- Ashley’s, Sea Smoke and Cargasacchi, for example. But Clos Pepe, a 28-acre spread just north of Highway 246, about midway between Buellton and Lompoc, has already carved out a substantial reputation for itself.

“Clos Pepe is the ultimate expression of Santa Rita Hills,” says winemaker Brown, who helped pioneer Central Coast Pinot at Zaca Mesa and Byron wineries before recently opening his own Ken Brown Wines in Lompoc.

“There is a darker fruit expression than you find in Santa Maria. And there is more of a pure fruit expression and more of a tannin structure. I hate to use Burgundian comparisons, but it is more Cote de Nuits than Cote de Beaune.”

That purity of fruit has attracted a fascinating range of talent. This includes brash young guys such as Brewer and Clifton, Brian Loring and Ryan Carr, who craft the kinds of fruit-forward powerful wines so well-loved at wine tastings and by some important critics. But it also includes more traditional Burgundy-influenced winemakers such as Brown and Tolmach, who aim more for grace and delicacy.

But no matter in which style the wine is made, Clos Pepe fruit seems to shine through. Wines from the vineyard routinely score into the 90s from the Wine Spectator magazine and critic Robert Parker. PinotReport newsletter (“For People Passionate about Western Pinot Noir”) ranks Clos Pepe the second-most reliable vineyard for the varietal in the state, behind only Cargasacchi and ahead of such big names as Sonoma’s Dutton Ranch and Hirsch.

The vineyard settles into a south-facing bowl that captures the sun perfectly. But thanks to a geological anomaly -- an east-west break in the California coastal range that allows cool ocean air to flood inland -- temperatures in the Santa Rita Hills are dramatically cooler than they would be otherwise, moderated by constant early-morning fog that regularly burns off to allow bright afternoon sunshine.

This combination allows the grapes to mature fully but slowly, giving the wines made from them a ripe fruit character with a strong acid backbone. The farther west you go, the cooler it is and the more this personality is evident.

Clos Pepe is one of the western-most vineyards in the Santa Rita Hills. The vineyard is a family operation, owned by Los Angeles attorneys Steve and Catherine Pepe and by Hagen, Catherine’s son.

Initially, the vineyard was planted to roughly half Pinot Noir and half Chardonnay. The Chardonnay is outstanding, but vineyard economics being what they are these days, most of it has been grafted over to Pinot. Today, only about four acres of Chardonnay remain.

“I really think this is the best area in the new world for Chardonnay,” says Hagen. “But because Chardonnay is so maligned, nobody takes it seriously. We can get $5,000 a ton for our Pinot Noir with absolutely no problem, but I’ve got to put on a suit and tie and go begging to get $2,500 for Chardonnay.”

Hagen’s obsession with the vineyard is legendary among Internet wine geeks. You can spend hours rolling through the website (www.clospepe.com), learning about soil variations (hence the “dirty” pictures), the kinds of yeasts used in fermentation and the life stories of the ranch pets.

There is a virtual vineyard tour, with photographs of the vines at every stage of the vintage, from dormancy to harvest. And there are the wines themselves -- a full explanation of the winemaking process at Clos Pepe, and reviews and data on some of the many wines from the vineyard that have been made by others.

These outside buyers include hot young stars such as Brewer-Clifton, Siduri Wines and Loring Wine Co., along with pioneering Central Coast winemakers such as Brown and Tolmach, who co-founded Au Bon Climat with Jim Clendenen before starting Ojai Vineyard.

Tasting across the spectrum offers an interesting opportunity to compare winemaking styles. It’s not often you get to taste side-by-side Old World and New World wines made from the same grapes.

Brewer-Clifton, for example, has built its reputation on very ripe, but still carefully detailed wines -- the kinds that seem to be the favorites of tasting panels and powerful critics. Grown anywhere but Santa Rita, where that persistent cool weather allows both extreme ripeness and extreme acidity to coexist, their wines might be clumsy and unbalanced.

But Brewer-Clifton’s 2004 Clos Pepe Pinot Noir is solidly structured and unified, full of bright, fresh, spicy fruit grounded by a dark, earthy shadow. The first thing you notice about its 2004 Clos Pepe Chardonnay is an acidity that is at once almost searing yet lemon-creamy, fleshed out by the lightest touch of oak. It is well-integrated, but extremely minerally and detailed, especially for a California Chardonnay.

Actually, Clos Pepe Chardonnays seem to do best with the least wood. In fact, Hagen makes a stainless steel-fermented version he calls “Homage to Chablis.” Next year, Greg Brewer plans to keep Brewer-Clifton’s allotment of Clos Pepe grapes for himself to use in a new project to be called Diatom, made in the same oak-free manner.

Those same varietals made by Tolmach are markedly different. The Ojai Vineyard’s 2003 Clos Pepe Pinot Noir is textbook Burgundian in style: dark-fruited and minerally, and silky in texture despite a firm tannic structure. His 2003 Chardonnay, while it shares that same lemon custard character with Brewer-Clifton’s, is a little oakier and fleshier.

But perhaps even more interesting than the differences are the commonalities, which may offer hints as to what may eventually become a recognizable vineyard personality, or terroir.

Most wines from the Santa Rita Hills seem to have deep, concentrated fruit character with high acidity. It also must be said that they usually have high alcohol, though this rarely seems out of balance in the hands of good winemakers given the wines’ ripeness and structure.

Santa Rita Pinot Noirs seem to tilt to black fruit rather than red, with firm tannic structure. Clos Pepe seems to yield wines that are well-rounded and harmonious rather than dramatically aromatic. Often, there is an elusive scent of something like blueberries or rose petals.

It’s possible that sense of terroir is even more noticeable with Chardonnay. Most Santa Rita Hills wines lean more toward tart citrus than opulent tropical fruit. Clos Pepe is an extreme example, with a telling laser-focused lemon-cream character.

At least that’s the way it seems right now. Though Clos Pepe is one of the more mature vineyards in the Santa Rita Hills, it is still only 10 years old. Usually it takes a grapevine three years to produce its first crop and seven years to begin to hit its stride. But a vine isn’t considered mature until it has been around for 15 years or so. These vineyards are only now entering their adolescence.

“I would like to think that in 100 years we could sit down like they do at Clos Vougeot in Burgundy and have a really specific discussion about what Clos Pepe’s terroir is,” says Hagen. “But right now I think we’d be doing a disservice by making specific comments and trying to pigeonhole such a young region.”

Then, sounding just like someone who might have baby pictures of dirt on his website, he adds: “I think it’s a lot better to let the vineyards grow up a little before we start deciding that they are all going to become doctors and lawyers.”

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A Clos Pepe tasting

Last week, The Times tasting panel met to taste wines from the Clos Pepe vineyard; here are our favorites. Note that most wines from the area are released in small quantities and some may be very difficult to locate. Also, our bottle of 2004 Clos Pepe Estate Pinot Noir was corked and so was not included. Joining me on the panel were food editor Leslie Brenner, restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila, staff writer Corie Brown and Chris Meeske, owner of Mission Wines in Pasadena. Wines are listed alphabetically.

Chardonnay

2004 Brewer-Clifton Chardonnay. Elegant, well-integrated and laser-focused, with a hint of vanilla oak in the nose, lemon-butter flavors and detailed minerality. Available at Duke of Bourbon in Canoga Park, (818) 341-1234; and John & Pete’s Fine Wines & Spirits in West Hollywood, (310) 657-3080, about $40.

2004 Clos Pepe Estate Chardonnay. Restrained nose; again, the great acidity gives it a laser focus. The flavors and texture are not unlike good Champagne, without the sparkle. Slightly short finish. Available at Du Vin Wine & Spirits in West Hollywood, (310) 855-1161; Duke of Bourbon; and John & Pete’s, about $25.

2003 The Ojai Vineyard Chardonnay. Noticeable oak in the nose; rich lemon-cream flavors and bracing acidity; light tropical fruit in the mouth. Available at Twenty Twenty Wine Merchants in West Los Angeles, (310) 447-2020; and John & Pete’s, about $44.

Pinot Noir

2004 Brewer-Clifton Pinot Noir. Very bright, almost candied red berry fruit with hints of sassafras and jalapeno; moderately tannic and slightly silky; perhaps a little short. Mailing list only, about $46.

2003 Ken Brown Wines Pinot Noir. Deeply colored and concentrated; loamy, earthy scents and flavors; hints of blueberry/rose petal; long finish. Available at Flask Fine Wines in Studio City, (818) 761-5373; and Duke of Bourbon, about $45.

2004 Loring Wine Company Pinot Noir. A little sulfur on the nose with hints of baking spices; dark fruit; chunky, powerful tannins. Available at Wades Wines in Westlake Village, (818) 597-9463; and Twenty Twenty Wine Merchants, about $46.

-- Russ Parsons