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Cassie S. said: "If you are in Walla Walla, you must stop by Basel Cellars! The winery is stunning, the wines are incredible and the staff is very informative and friendly. You could easily spend an afternoon enjoying the views and tasting their…" read more »
8 reviews for Pepper Bridge Winery
8 reviews in English
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Review from Calvin C.
Bellevue, WA
5/8/2011
I just went to this winery in Walla Walla because it was storied as one of the best, and I had tasted their wonderful wines at their Woodinville tasting room. The visit went better than I had expected.
To get to the tasting room, you have to wind through their estate vineyards, which was like dangling a carrot in front of me. It was absolutely gorgeous to drive through their vineyard and drive up to their tasting room. The tasting room sat atop of a small plateau, which allowed me to look at the expanse of Walla Walla valley from a 360 degree view. If you are lucky to go on one of those sunny days, it is breathtaking. If you are from the western part of the state, the feeling of the sun beating down on you during such a nice moment will make you want east.
The tasting room was spacious, classy, and inviting. Unbeknownst to me until later, several of the winemakers were standing around the tasting room when I walked in. I was fortunate enough to meet Tim, one fo the winemakers. Tim generously explained to me the history of the winery, the philosophy behind the winemaking, and of course, the details of each wine I tried. Most impressively, however, Tim gave my girlfriend and I, and our 6 other friends, a fantastic tour of thei facilities. We saw everything from their machines to their tanks, and most notably, their caves, where they age their wines in oak barrels. At the end of the tour, we all walked away feeling pretty fortunate to have stopped at one of the most premiere wineries in the state of Washington. The wines were to die for, and after spending 7 years in the bay area and drinking Napa Valley wines, I can say that Pepper Bridge's reds can go toe to toe with anything you can find in California.
Needless to say, stopping here is a must if you are ever in the Walla Walla region. My only regret was that I could not get their winery dog to let me pet it. -
Review from Tim R.
Los Alamos, CA
1/2/2012
My girlfriend and I visited several wineries in the Walla Walla region this past weekend and unfortunately Pepper Bridge was the least impressive. The gentleman working behind the counter made the experience extremely un-personable and he was almost snobby. Reminded me of being in a Napa tasting room (except lacking the quality of product). The wines were decent...nothing i would pay that price for. There are much better cabs and merlots out there for half the price.
The property is beautiful, but if i want to see beautiful properties, I go to Napa. We were in Walla Walla for the wine. Coming from both my girlfriend and I who are in the wine industry, I would forgo this place and hit up some of the other gems in this area (Dunham Cellars, Woodward Canyon, Grammercy, Reininger). -
Review from Brian K.
7/7/2011
Pepper Bridge is one of the more known labels in Walla Walla. I have had them at many dinner parties. They make a good bottle of wine.
BUT - they prices are way too high for the quality. Walla Walla is a value wine region, where a $40 - $50 bottle of Cab or Blend is top notch (in my opinion comparable to a $80 - $100 Napa bottle (when drunk within 5 years from vintage).
The grounds are nice, the cheese plate was nice, but not blown away. Go for some of the gems! -
Review from Chris F.
Los Angeles, CA
8/20/2008
I wish I could write this review in French; it would sound so much cooler. Or more cool. What ever. There's quite a few nice wineries to visit while you're on the south end of town (see my list) and this is definitely one of them. Beautiful setting. Rustic tasting room. Friendly, personable staff. The wines are consistently elegant, earthy, and complex. I get a bit of tobacco off them. The winemaker - Swiss, by the way - finds pencil lead. Five stars if they offered more wines for the $8 tasting fee or lowered the fee to the more prevalent $5.
Thad has written a great review. Unfortunately, the tasting room employee who poured for him tainted his experience. That's unfortunate. I've been in several times and have always found the staff to be savvy and polished yet unassuming, just like the wine. -
Review from Julian H.
Seattle, WA
4/16/2009
(Disclaimer: This review is stale, we visited almost two years ago.)
I never really got to know you, Pepper Bridge. Your tastings weren't that spectacular, the staff wasn't that informative, and your prices kept me from taking a gamble on seeing how you age. Maybe next time. -
Review from Thad W.
Seattle, WA
7/24/2007
There is something really special about being at an estate winery. You get to see where the grapes are grown and the wine is made all in one place. This is what Pepper Bridge affords each visitor, a grape-to-glass experience several miles south of downtown Walla Walla.
On my way to the winery, I passed acres of vineyards along winding roads until coming to a set of buildings at the top of a hill. My excitement grew as I approached the place, seeing the rows of budding vines, parking next to the gravity-flow winery, and then walking into the detached tasting room.
Inside, the Pepper Bridge tasting room is a well-appointed, roomy space, with views looking out across the surrounding vineyards. I was immediately greeted with a friendly "hello!" from the woman working this Tuesday in early April. The tasting room bar is large enough to accomodate a sizable crowd, but small enough to provide direct contact with the person pouring.
I had heard that Pepper Bridge charged for tastings, therefore was already prepared for this aspect. But I hadn't anticipated paying $8 for only 3 wine tastes, which included their '02 and '03 cabs and the '04 merlot. Granted, the tasting room fee is waived for wine club members and is refundable with a purchase of wine. However, considering the price of their wines are $45 to $50, I doubt many folks are motivated to try to recoup that fee.
Once we agreed to a taste, I was poured the first of three reds and was treated to a good overview of where the grapes came from and their style of winemaking. The person pouring was not only very knowledgeable about Pepper Bridge wines, but very enthused about their product.
Unfortunately, just as I was enjoying myself, learning about their wines, and making a connection to the winery, things went astray.
Suddenly, she started citing points, medals and other accolades their wines had received. There was a comment about Robert Parker awarding their cab ninety-something points and another about it being tied with Leonetti as "best cab" in Washington. Without skipping a beat, she just kept going on about how great everyone thought their wine was.
To be honest, her emphasis on ratings, points, reviews and medals completely turned me off from their winery. It was as if she took the spit bucket next to me and dumped the entire contents over my head. I was already enjoying the wine and was close to splurging on a bottle. In fact, I made all of this known in between sips of their wine.
To sum it up, I arrived excited and enthused about Pepper Bridge, but left disheartened and dismayed. The tasting room experience just seemed a bit too "high-brow" for my taste, even though I enjoyed sampling their estate wines in such a beautiful setting.
With that said, I would recommend a visit to Pepper Bridge, for the location and setting alone. There are a variety of nearby wineries to see as well, therefore you need not make it the only stop when visiting this area south of Walla Walla. But the view from that hill alone is definitely worth the detour. -
Review from J K.
Seattle, WA
5/27/2009 4 photos
I visit Walla Walla at least once a year, and make a point to come to Pepper Bridge every time. The vineyard is absolutely gorgeous and picturesque. Pretty much every winery in WW that I've been to uses Pepper Bridge grapes in their Merlot and/or Cab. Pepper Bridge wines speak for themselves - they are exquisite. I've been fortunate to get a tour of their operations and it is immaculate. Reviews below seem put off by their tasting fee. I think its worth it, personally. The pours aren't stingy, for one. For two, they have a deck you can sit outside and soak up the sun and a view of the vineyard. Plus, I recommend you put that $8 toward a bottle. I'm sitting on their '04 Merlot, '05 Cab, and '06 Merlot.
Oh, and my boyfriend just proposed here, and they helped set the whole thing up. So maybe I'm biased, but I don't think so. -
Review from Da H.
Olympia, WA
11/7/2010
Solid winery with good wines; but the pricing was high - prices began at $40 and went swiftly up. The tasting room charged $8 per person - the highest we saw in Walla Walla.
