Named for an important local bridge that once helped settlers along the Oregon Trail, Pepper Bridge Winery was founded with the courageous goal of producing premium wine using Bordeaux grape varieties in Washington's Walla Walla Valley. Although today it has blossomed into one of Washington's most important winegrowing regions, the Walla Walla Valley was for a long time largely devoid of high-quality commercial viticulture. Walla Walla wine pioneer Norm McKibben was notably one of the first individuals to believe in the area's potential for producing premium quality wine and in 1989 he planted his first test vineyard in the region. After near-immediate success he expanded in 1991 with new plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and other Bordeaux grapes, and by 1996 Norm possessed over 200 acres of vineyards in the Walla Walla Valley and was finally ready to start his own winery.
Pepper Bridge Winery was officially founded in 1998 when Norm joined forces with a handful of strategic partners and opened up shop. Together the team determined that their goal was not just to make good wine, but rather to make great wine that was on par with the world's very best. Norm and crew spared no expense setting up Pepper Bridge, and they soon recruited and hired winemaker Jean-François Pellet from his place at Heitz in Napa Valley to lead efforts in the cellar. It did not take long until the Pepper Bridge team began crafting wine of absolutely spectacular quality and their reputation has since become cemented as a world-class Bordeaux-style house.
Although Pepper Bridge was keeping quite busy focusing on Bordeaux varieties Norm and his partners couldn't help but notice that the Walla Walla Valley also began to show tremendous potential for growing Rhone grapes. In order to explore this potential while also maintaining the focus and integrity of Pepper Bridge, Amavi Cellars was founded in 2003 as a sister winery. Led by existing partner Ray Goff, Amavi would go on to specialize specifically in the exploration of Walla Walla Valley Syrah.
We recently were able to spend time exploring some of the most important wine regions of Washington State, and during our time in Walla Walla we naturally chose to visit the pioneering operations of Pepper Bridge Winery and Amavi Cellars to get a feel of the true heartbeat of the region. We began our expedition at Pepper Bridge and were lucky enough to enjoy an intimate visit led by the legend Norm McKibben himself. Norm took great care in explaining the history of Pepper Bridge to us including how the operation got started and many notable moments along the way. He was extraordinarily humble and was quick to credit his team for Pepper Bridge's remarkable success.
When asked about the most challenging aspects of growing wine grapes in Walla Walla Norm shared a wealth of valuable information with us. He noted that while the soils of sandy loess resting atop basalt bedrock found in the Walla Walla Valley are similar to many other nearby stretches of Washington's wine country, vineyards here had to be planted and farmed slightly differently. Due to the region's cold winters early spring frost can be a major issue in Walla Walla, and Norm explained that cold air from higher elevations near the edges of the valley can creep down and decimate vineyards in the valley's bowl-shaped center. To combat this his team developed a technique of leaving additional canes on the vine during pruning and burying them until the weather is sufficiently warm as a safeguard against a bad frost during budbreak. Using this technique a damaged vine may still produce around 90% of its normal crop load instead of potentially losing its entire crop due to the frost damage, which could mean be the difference between a successful vintage or total failure.
While winters in Walla Walla can be prohibitively cold we discovered that summers in the region are anything but. Daytime temperatures at the peak of the growing season can frequently reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit, yet every night temperatures drop dramatically allowing for the retention of precious acidity within the grapes. This produces wines that are simultaneously ripe and structured that still have wonderful elegance and restraint, and we found that Pepper Bridge's wines brilliantly express these unique regional characteristics. We were able to taste through a series of Pepper Bridge single-varietal offerings including a Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot plus their flagship Bordeaux blend dubbed "Trine". Each of the wines we sampled were incredibly polished and poised while displaying incredible pent-up energy and tension. Although we thoroughly enjoyed the entire lineup it was actually Pepper Bridge's Merlot that was the biggest surprise for us, as the Walla Walla Valley’s distinct terroir had helped shape a wine of incredible verve while still exuding Merlot's textbook chocolaty plushness. It is perhaps one of the USA's most ageworthy examples of the variety and it absolutely oozes elegance and class.
After a wonderful time spent exploring and enjoying Pepper Bridge we made our way over to Amavi Cellars for the second half of our visit. We were fortunate to be greeted there by founding partner Ray Goff who graciously led us into the vineyards and then tasted us through a series of wonderful wines. Ray's knowledge was invaluable in helping us understand the subtleties of the various unique Pepper Bridge vineyard sites across the Walla Walla Valley, and he even was willing to get his hands dirty showing us some of the farming techniques that Norm had briefed us on earlier. When we sat down with Ray to taste through Amavi's wines we were again impressed and understood exactly why it was created as a sister winery. The Amavi Cellars Walla Walla Valley Syrah was a major standout for us, and its fruit, herbal, and savory characteristics seemed to grow in complexity with each passing minute. It became clear that both Bordeaux and Rhone grape varieties are completely at home in the region.
At the conclusion of our experience we finally understood the hype surrounding Walla Walla for ourselves. Despite being relatively off the beaten path in eastern Washington this quaint little town is home to some absolutely outstanding wineries and a plethora of amazing wines with Pepper Bridge and Amavi helping lead time charge. We had an incredible time on our visit and look forward to spending more time in the Walla Walla Valley very soon.