Portland Prime | Wine Room

Location: 121 SW 3rd Avenue, Portland, OR 97204

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$125 Members, $145 Non-members
Limit 24

Pepper Bridge Winery is listed among the Great Growths of Washington. Member Dr. Mark Lindau has arranged for an unforgettable evening with Winemaker Jean-Francois Pellet. What impressed Dr. Mark most about this winemaker is that he harvests by taste instead of scientific numbers.

The Winemaker: 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. He 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. While 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.

“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.” Jean-François plays a key role in the management of the winery’s estate vineyards and is a founding member and current vice-president of the Walla Walla Valley’s sustainable agriculture organization, VINEA.