Tasting Room

Walla Walla Valley

Pepper Bridge Winery produces Bordeaux-style wines from its mature estate vineyards. The family ownership of Norm McKibben, Dennis Murphy and Jean-François Pellet are trailblazers in the wine community. Winemaker Jean-François Pellet blends his unique viticultural and winemaking skills with science and art to create distinctive, terroir-driven wines with a focus on quality and commitment to sustainability. Using traditional winemaking techniques, 100% French oak and 100% estate fruit from the Walla Walla Valley AVA, Pepper Bridge wines are collectibles that showcase complexity, structure and balance. Combining old-world philosophy with modern innovation, the brand has become an industry leader in crafting ultra-premium wines.

United States

Washington

Pepper Bridge Winery

Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Sauvignon

Malbec

Merlot

Petit Verdot

Sauvignon Blanc

Sémillon

Director of Winemaking / Partner

Born and raised in Switzerland, Winemaker Jean-François Pellet is a third-generation wine grower. Working alongside his father, who has managed the same vineyard for 30 years, Jean-François always knew what he wanted to do with his life: make world-class wine.

Jean-François supplemented his experience by earning degrees in both enology and viticulture. As part of his studies, he interned in Switzerland, Germany and the Napa Valley.

After graduating, he managed vineyards and made wine in Switzerland and Spain. Along with making wine in Spain, he was responsible for managing 500 acres of vineyards, designing a new winery and developing a market for the product.

His experience and reputation for meticulous winemaking brought him to the attention of Heitz Cellars in the Napa Valley, where he worked for four years. Pepper Bridge Winery then recruited him, so he moved to the Walla Walla Valley to become that winery’s creative force. His success at Pepper Bridge (where he is still the winemaker, as well) allowed him the opportunity to join the Amavi partnership and to apply his winemaking skills to different grape varietals, particularly Syrah and Sémillon.

“This is a great adventure,” says Jean-François. “Walla Walla impressed me right away as an extremely unique grape-growing area. Distinctive climate, soils and geography make it different than anywhere else in the world, and now we have the chance to incorporate the latest winery design and techniques with the very high-quality grapes.”

In addition to being winemaker, Jean-François plays a key role in the management of the winery’s estate vineyards. He is also a founding member and current vice-president of the Walla Walla Valley’s sustainable agriculture organization, VINEA.

Jean-François Pellet

We have crafted a Cabernet Sauvignon every year since our inception in 1998, and it is most definitely a flagship wine for us. With each unique vintage, winemaker Jean-François Pellet utilizes a blend of Bordeaux varietals, styled to highlight the beauty and intricacy imparted by our area’s Cabernet Sauvignon fruit.

1999 marked the first production of our estate Merlot. With each vintage since, we are continually awed by the delicate intricacies our estate vineyards consistently bestow upon this beautiful Bordeaux varietal.

White

After producing only red Bordeaux varietals for over 15 years, we are proud to introduce you to the first white wine ever to be offered by Pepper Bridge Winery. In honor of old-world tradition while embracing new world style, Winemaker Jean-François Pellet chooses to ferment this wine in oak and concrete egg.

Red Blend

The word ‘trine’ (it rhymes with ‘wine’) is defined as a close group of three, and this wine pays homage to the families of Pepper Bridge: the McKibbens, the Murphys, and Pellets. As with our Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, Trine showcases the best of our Walla Walla Valley estate vineyards. However, it allows Winemaker Jean-François Pellet more freedom of expression since it is a creative blend rather than a varietal-based wine. Each vintage will contain a unique combination of Bordeaux’s traditional five red grapes.

Trine

Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Just ten miles south of Pepper Bridge Winery on the edge of the Walla Walla Valley Appellation, you’ll find Seven Hills Vineyard. The original couple dozen acres of plantings date back to 1981. Now the vineyard boasts more than a few hundred planted acres of premium wine grapes. Wine & Spirits Magazine profiled it in its Fall 2004 issue as one of the ten great vineyards of the world.

This wine is crafted exclusively for our Wine Club members to highlight this special estate vineyard. It is a blend that changes every year but is always 100% Seven Hills Vineyard fruit.

Seven Hills Vineyard Blend

Merlot Blend

Pepper Bridge Vineyard is one of our estate vineyards located in the Walla Walla Valley Appellation. The original 10 acres were planted in 1991. Since then, the vineyard has been expanded to almost 200 acres. Pepper Bridge Vineyard has gained an outstanding reputation with winemakers throughout the state of Washington and especially the Walla Walla Valley.

This wine is crafted exclusively for our Wine Club members to highlight this beautiful estate vineyard. It is a blend that changes every year but is always 100% Pepper Bridge Vineyard fruit.

Pepper Bridge Winery

United States, Washington

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