Another Year in the Vineyard, Week #13 with Wes Hagen, Clos Pepe

WineMaker Magazine (Another) Year in the Vineyard with Wes Hagen, Clos Pepe Week #13, June 4-June 10, 2010 On the Shoulders of Giants, Another AVA, All Things Green, Clustering and Clucking Welcome back, dear bloggistas, to the late Spring at Clos Pepe Vineyards in the beautiful heart of the Santa Rita Hills of Northern Santa Barbara County.  We’ve chugged through a good chunk of the growing season thus far, discussing every aspect of our viticultural practices.  We discussed budbreak, you shared my anxiety during frost season, and my anxiety during a cold and windy flowering period—wait!  I thought wine was supposed to lessen anxiety!  I suppose because this is pinot noir, all bets are off.  One aspect of growing pinot that I’ve tried to bring home to the readers is that the best wines are grown on the razor’s edge, the periphery of madness, where danger lurks and only the brave dare to dwell.  Today we’ll back up a bit from the details of vineyard management and look at how the vintage is progressing and expressing itself, and also discuss