Pepper Bridge Winery: Helping Shape the Wines of Walla Walla

Jan and I have been visiting Pepper Bridge Winery almost as long as we’ve been coming to Walla Walla. Returning recently to taste three vintages from two of its celebrated vineyard sites felt like catching up with an old friend. It also gave us a clear way to understand why Pepper Bridge matters to the region.

Pepper Bridge helped shape Walla Walla wine in two connected ways. Norm McKibben expanded the valley’s vineyard footprint through Pepper Bridge Vineyard and Seven Hills Vineyard, while Jean-François Pellet learned to translate those sites into distinctly different wines. Pepper Bridge Vineyard, at approximately 900 feet, is known for bold, structured character. Seven Hills, ten miles south at around 1,100 feet, tends toward a more aromatic, elegant, and refined expression. The contrast offers a useful lesson for anyone choosing Walla Walla wine: the vineyard can matter as much as the grape or the winery name.

Long before Walla Walla became the internationally recognized wine destination it is today, a visionary named Norm McKibben was helping expand its vineyard landscape. And when Swiss-born winemaker Jean-François Pellet joined him in 1999, they began a partnership that would help shape not only Pepper Bridge Winery, but also the character and reputation of Walla Walla wine itself.

Sitting down with Jean-François, winemaker and partner in Pepper Bridge Winery.

A Vision That Went Beyond One Winery

When Walla Walla’s earliest winemaking pioneers began establishing the region’s reputation, Norm McKibben saw an opportunity to help build something much larger. An engineer and entrepreneur by background, Norm hadn’t originally come to Walla Walla to make wine. His first agricultural interests included apples, and his earliest attempts at growing wine grapes weren’t entirely successful. But he recognized the potential of the land.

In 1991, he planted ten acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot on what would become Pepper Bridge Vineyard, south of Walla Walla. The grapes soon attracted the attention of the region’s early established wineries: Leonetti, Woodward Canyon, and L’Ecole No. 41. Rather than simply creating a vineyard for his own future winery, Norm helped develop a valuable source of premium fruit for the growing Walla Walla wine community.

His ambitions extended farther south. In 1994, he acquired an interest in the historic Seven Hills Vineyard, whose first vines had been planted in 1981. Working with other industry pioneers, including Gary Figgins and Marty Clubb, he helped expand vineyard development in an area that would become increasingly important to the valley’s identity. By the time Pepper Bridge Winery was established in 1998, Norm had already helped create much of the vineyard foundation on which it would stand.

To us, this is where Pepper Bridge helped add both breadth and depth to Walla Walla: breadth by expanding the vineyard landscape and helping other wineries gain access to exceptional fruit, and depth by developing distinct sites capable of producing wines with their own recognizable character.

But realizing the full potential of those vineyards would require someone who understood both how to grow exceptional grapes and how to translate their character into wine.

Norm McKibben planted the first ten acres of Pepper Bridge Vineyard in 1991 with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

Two Vineyards, Two Personalities

Jean-François Pellet grew up in a winegrowing family near Geneva, Switzerland. His career took him through Germany, Spain, and eventually Napa Valley, where he worked at the renowned Heitz Cellars. When Norm invited him to visit Walla Walla, Jean-François knew little about Washington wine. What he discovered surprised him. Tasting wines from the region’s pioneers, he recognized both their quality and the rare opportunity to help develop a young wine region. He accepted Norm’s invitation, initially expecting to stay just two years. More than 25 years later, he is still here.

Jean-François’s background in viticulture has profoundly shaped his approach. For him, winemaking begins long before the grapes arrive at the winery, with an understanding of the land, the vines, and the subtle differences between vineyard sites. Our recent tasting brought that philosophy beautifully into focus.

Pepper Bridge Vineyard, at approximately 900 feet elevation, produces wines known for their bold, layered structure and darker fruit character. The winery affectionately calls it The Architect. Farther south, Seven Hills Vineyard sits around 1,100 feet, where greater exposure to wind and different growing conditions contribute to wines often described as more aromatic, elegant, and refined. Its nickname is The Ballerina.

Two distinct places, each expressing its own personality through wine.

Our tasting also explored how the extraordinary heat of 2021, the cooler beginning to 2022, and the favorable ripening conditions of 2023 shaped the wines. The 2021 was wonderfully aromatic, with grippy tannins slowly revealing concentrated dark fruit. The 2022 was more elegant and reserved, almost shy in its expression. Then came the luscious 2023, with layers of dark red and blue fruit and beautifully polished tannins leading to a long finish. Still young, yet already offering a full concert of flavors.

For wine enthusiasts, this is one of the most rewarding ways to experience Walla Walla: discovering how both place and season leave their fingerprints on a wine.

Seven Hills Vineyard sits ten miles south and approximately 200 feet higher than Pepper Bridge Vineyard. Jean-François calls Seven Hills “the Ballerina” and Pepper Bridge “the Architect.”

The Next Chapter Is Already Growing

Perhaps what impressed us most during our conversation with Jean-François was that, after more than a quarter-century at Pepper Bridge, he still speaks about the vineyards with the curiosity of someone only beginning to understand their full potential. And his winemaking philosophy continues to evolve.

Over the past two decades, the team has invested heavily in improving soil health, adding compost, encouraging biological activity, and refining vineyard management. As the vines mature and Jean-François develops a deeper understanding of each site, his ambition is not to make bigger wines, but more complex, nuanced, and refined ones.

Native yeasts live on the grapes in the vineyard at Pepper Bridge Winery.

One particularly significant change came in 2019, when Pepper Bridge began fermenting its wines entirely with native yeasts rather than routinely adding commercial yeast cultures. For Jean-François, this was an important step toward allowing the vineyard and fruit to speak more clearly, something he didn’t believe would have been possible earlier in the winery’s development.

That evolution reflects a broader philosophy: grow healthier vines, understand each vineyard more precisely, and intervene as little as practical in the cellar. Yet Jean-François is no romantic idealist about winemaking. He recognizes that nature presents challenges and that a winemaker must sometimes intervene to protect the quality of the wine. What remains constant is his pursuit of quality and the recognizable Pepper Bridge style.

As we listened, we couldn’t help reflecting on the extraordinary journey of this winery, a journey we’ve been fortunate to witness over the years. And that is what makes returning to Pepper Bridge so rewarding. We aren’t simply revisiting a familiar winery; we’re tasting another chapter in the continuing story of Walla Walla.

Jean-François hosts a masterclass on regenerative viticulture and Pepper Bridge’s move to native-yeast fermentation.

Taste the Two Vineyard Personalities

If you want to experience the contrast for yourself, look for Pepper Bridge Winery’s vineyard-designated Pepper Bridge Vineyard and Seven Hills Vineyard wines. The winery currently lists both through its official shop.