Blended with small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Malbec, and raised in nearly half new oak, the Pepper Bridge 2009 Merlot is dominated by candied cherry, its full body accompanied by a rather glassy feel, and with smoky and dryingly tannic contributions from barrel in the finish. I’m skeptical that time in bottle is going to bring complexity or tame the tannins.
Norm McKibben planted the first 10 acres of vines on Pepper Bridge in 1991; in 1994 he acquired and annexed the oldest stand of vines in Walla Walla, 24 acres planted in 1981 that formed the basis for Seven Hills Vineyards; and less than a decade but two investment partners and scores of additional acres later, a portion of Pepper Bridge fruit – by then renowned, at least in Washington wine making circles – was diverted to the first estate bottling. The amiable Swiss Jean-Francois Pellet was hired as winemaker within a year of bonding and remains, as a partner, at the helm viticulturally as well as in the cellar. (In 2001, McKibben began developing Les Collines Vineyard, the fruit from which – along with shares of Pepper Bridge and Seven Hills – serves as the background of sister winery Amavi Cellars, whose wines are reviewed separately in this report.) The viticultural regimen here, Pellet explains, involves composting for soil nutrition and resort to fungicides only when deemed absolutely necessary. Since adopting this approach, he says, pH levels of the musts have ceased ever being problematically high or putting him a position where he felt he needed to acidulate as he once did regularly. There is an interesting project going on here, incidentally, with a young vineyard on its own root stock and another as control, which Pellet says is thus far pointing to greater vigor yet riper-tasting fruit and less need for water in the former. Like so many vintners nowadays, he maintains that he is at pains to express the nature of his sites in vinous medium, but notes that it took quite a few years before he was convinced that this was possible at Pepper Bridge, much less that he had the relevant knack. I must confess that despite the enormous reputation and critical praise that accrues to these wines, I have been underwhelmed, and that sentiment remains after tasting some of the wines I review here twice. Generally speaking, I find lots of superficial or jammy berry sweetness but with little accompanying textural allure and often finish-drying or even gum-numbing tannins and ill-integrated flavors from barrel.
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