Another Year in the Vineyard, Week 20 with Wes Hagen, Clos Pepe

Another Year in the Vineyard, Week #20 July 23-29, 2010 With Wes Hagen, VM/WM Clos Pepe The Vintage Tiptoes Forward: At dinner the other night I ran into my first interns, Ariel and Angela Lavie from Lavie Vineyards.  We hadn’t touched base for a while, so we chatted for a while.  Ariel was echoing the sentiments of a lot of winemakers I’ve talked to lately, and a sentiment I hear many years around this time:  ‘Will it get warm enough to ripen the pinot noir this year?’ It has been really cool.  Summer’s been in effect for over a month, and the warmest day I can remember was about 77 degrees, and most days have topped out in the low to mid 70’s, with a few days not even breaking 70 degrees at all.  There are days that my wife never takes off her heavy jacket.  In the Santa Rita Hills the vintages are almost always cool in July and the beginning of August, and are punctuated by Santa Ana wind conditions in September and October that rapidly accelerate the