Amavi Cellars and Pepper Bridge Winery have opened their latest tasting room in Vancouver, WA, where guests are treated to an exceptional seated tasting experience. The full portfolio of wines are pristine, stylistic and reveal true dedication of the craft from vine to bottle.
Pepper Bridge Winery is the collaborative effort of three families—McKibben, Goff and Pellet—producing Bordeaux varietal wines using estate fruit in the Walla Walla Valley.
Amavi Cellars, founded in 2001, is set up similarly, with input from all three families to form a 100% estate winery focused more on Syrah and Sémillon varietals. The common thread to both wineries is the creative energy of Jean-François Pellet (nicknamed JF), partner and director of winemaking.
The two wineries operate separate tasting rooms in Walla Walla, with a shared tasting room in the Hollywood District in Woodinville. Now they have joined forces to debut their latest joint location in Southwest Washington.
“After visiting the Vancouver waterfront and feeling the vibe there, we felt it would be a fantastic opportunity for us to open a tasting room and not only be a part of its thriving community, but to make our wines more accessible to our many Vancouver and Portland-based club members,” says Jean-François.
Visit: $15 tasting fee, refundable with bottle purchase; 677 W Columbia Way, Vancouver, WA; check website for hours or call (360) 726-6119, www.pepperbridge.com and www.amavicellars.com
Below are releases we currently reviewed:
Pepper Bridge 2016 WWV Trine, $65
Editor’s Choice – Outstanding, 93 pts.
Impeccably structured, masterful and refined, with scintillating aromas of raspberry, blackberry and sage. The concentrated red and dark fruit flavors carry over on the majestic palate, moving in tandem with expressive layers of cassis, pencil lead and espresso. The prolonged finish shows a tug of loam and mineral notes.
Pepper Bridge 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon, $60
Editor’s Choice – Outstanding, 93 pts.
Dense and expansive at once, with ample power fueling the powder fine tannins. Waves of cocoa powder, leather and alder notes bounce along a taut, juicy frame of steeped blackberry, dark plum and cassis, embedded with a loamy-edged finish with extended depth.
Amavi Cellars 2017 Syrah, $33
Editor’s Choice – Outstanding, 92 pts.
Shows a suave and sophisticated side, backed with plenty of power and a well-knit mix of blackberry preserves and dark red fruit accented with stony minerality and brilliant tarry edges. The flavors hum gracefully along the spice-laden finish framed by firm tannins.
Amavi Cellars 2018 Sémillon, $25
Editor’s Choice – Outstanding, 91 pts.
This white Bordeaux varietal wine is a perennial crowd pleaser, delivering unctuous, rich flavors of honeysuckle, apple chutney, lemon citrus and white peach with an underlay of river rock and lanolin notes. Complex and finessed, with a lingering aftertaste.