Balletto Vineyards

During a recent visit to the Russian River AVA we wondered into Balletto Winery. This new tasting room (2006) is a nice spot for a visit and tasting.

The family has been farming in the region for a very long time – growing more than 70 different vegetables on over 700 acres. In 1998, they expanded the small section of vines (originally 35 acres of Chardonnay) by adding Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris to the mix. The first wine was made primarily for the family consumption with most fruit being sold to wine makers throughout the valley.

Tasting a bit of wine on a Saturday was very enjoyable - we took home a couple of bottles.

With the creation of the tasting room and a larger production facility, Balletto Winery was opened to the public. Production is not huge but there is quite a range of wines being produced: Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Gewurtzraminer, Pinot Noir, Rose’ of Pinot Noir, Zinfandel and Syrah.

Vines very much awake and growning. A beautiful day in the vineyard.

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WesMar Winery

Palate Pleasing Pinot

WesMar is a small winery in the Russian River Valley located in an old apple processing plant. The owners, Denise Mary Selyem is the daughter of Ed Selyem and both her and her husband Kirk Wesley Hubbard worked at Williams Selyem for several years before the winery was sold in 1997. They hand craft their wines using old traditional methods with a soft touch and an elegant style. They have no employees – doing all the work themselves to craft small lot Pinot Noir.

This two person team seem to want to make great Pinot Noir and are not out to chase scores only recently have they gone out and to show their wines at any of the many Pinot Noir events around the state. No, they are a modest couple who seem to want to stay out of the spotlight and let their wines speak for them. Kirk and Denise lover to interact with their loyal and growing fan base of consumers and are very personable and receive visitors to their modest 1,500 square foot winery on an appointment bases only.

The primary way to get their wines is to sign up on their website and join their mailing list - virtually all of their wine is sold from the mailing list or from their web site. There are two distinctive hallmarks of WesMar (pronounced Wes-Mare as in MARy) Pinot Noir. There is a consistency from one vintage to the next and from bottle to bottle and the bottling's from each vintage are all unique. They strive to make wines that are unique but with very similar levels of richness and depth. The wine making is slow and focused on caring for the fruit the entire process. No pumps, all labor done by hand. Pressing is done with an old incarnated bladder press once used for apples, fermentations are in five ton, double-wall, rectangular open top stainless steel shipping milk shipping containers and all punch downs are done by hand. Picking is done based on taste of the fruit but usually with a much lower sugar level (Brix) than a lot of producers in the area. Aging is in Francois Freres oak barrels and there is no fining or filtering done as the wines are lovingly tendered in small lots and constantly monitored for stability.

Recently, Kirk and Denise purchased a small farmhouse on ten acres just outside the town of Sebastopol that previously grew apples. Over time, it is their plan to plant Pinot Noir and produce an estate bottling. The 2010 wines will be released in the Fall, and there is still some of the 2009

Recently I had the pleasure of visiting with Kirk and Denise and taste through the current release. They have long term relationships with a number of vineyards and work closely with the grower to get the best fruit. Most of their wines are vineyard designates but they do have a very good blend too. The Pinot Noirs include, 2009 Pinot Noir from Sonoma Coast, Hellenthal Vineyar, Russian River Valley, Salzgeber Vineyard, Balletto Vineyard and Oehlman Vineyard

Wes Mar Winery mailing address is P.O. Box 810, Forestville, CA 95436. Tasting is available by appointment by calling 707-829-8824. The website is www.wesmarwinery.com. The wines are sold through a mailing list with very little retail availability.

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Clos Pepe
Vineyard and Estate

Recently a group of friends descended upon Lompoc California to sample Pinot Noir and Chardonnay being produced by several vintners in the region.  One of the stops was to visit with Wes Hagen at Clos Pepe Vineyard.  This is a family-owned vineyard and winery set in the heart of the Santa Rita Hills of Santa Barbara County.  Their vineyard covers 28 acres planted in vines, 24 acres are Pinot Noir, and 4 acres in Chardonnay.  Their passion is Pinot Noir of which they only make between 8 and 15 barrels yearly with the remaining fruit sold to other producers (Ken Brown Wines, Brewer-Clifton, Loring Wine Company, Testarossa and others).  A small bottling of Chardonnay is produced in the Chablis-style without any new oak consisting of about 4 barrels. 

Wes Hagen is winemaker assisted by his wife, Chanda and they are also are responsible for the full year-round management of the fields and farm with an eye for detail and sustainability.  Working closely with the winemakers who purchase their fruit, they are constantly working the vines to the requirements of many masters.  Each section of the vineyard is designated for a particular buyer and buyers can have their ‘vines’ trimmed to a specific requirement.  This makes for lots of passes through the fields during the year.

During our visit, Wes walked us through the vines and pointed out where some original plantings from in 1998 where grafted from the original Chardonnay to Pinot Noir. 

Tasting some Clos Pepe at the "Big House"

With a limited production for the Estate Wines, roughly 1,000 cases annually, Wes is able to hand craft his wines in a burgundian style.  After touring the fields, we moved to the dining room (there is no real winery or tasting room yet, although sometime in the future that may happen) to sample the 2004 vintage released in January 2006 along with several older vintages from his library.

The Chardonnay was a pale straw in color with a complex nose with a nice finish throughout.  This medium-bodied Chardonnay is very much in the Chablis style and not at all like the more common California Chardonnay's.  Wes feels the Santa Rita Hills may be the best spot for Chardonnay in all of California (of course he is a little bias on the situation.

The Pinot Noir held wonderful color, ruby with purple highlights.  The samples we tasted were all very young but held the promise of great things to come as the wine comes together over the next few years.   Pinot Noir from the Clos Pepe vineyard consistently rank in the high 80’s to low 90’s on both Robert Parker and Stephen Tanzers ratings and the wine Wes is making is no exception.

If you run across a bottle of Clos Pepe Estate or from any of the other producers using their fruit I would recommend taking a moment and sampling the product.  I’m sure you too will find it quite enjoyable.