2012 Merlot Estate

Just as the wines here seem to gain in class with each passing year, owner Marty Clubb continues to search for promising new vineyard land to expand his estate. He was originally a 20% owner of the Seven Hills vineyard, dating back to 1980, and with the same partners purchased the huge parcel of land (2,200 acres, with water rights on more than 1,500 of them) in 2004 that became the SeVein project.

Each of the four original partner families (including Gary Figgins, Norm McKibben and the Rupars, owners of Nelson Irrigation) carved out 80 acres, including 42 with water rights. Clubb's parcel, which he named Ferguson, is situated at an altitude of 1,450 to 1,500. He planted 17.2 acres to Bordeaux varieties in 2008 and 2009 (plus a bit of Syrah in the windiest spot) and will plant additional acreage to new and different clones of all five Bordeaux varieties in 2017. He also expects to plant four or five Rhône varieties.

The soil at Ferguson is very thin windblown loess over fractured basalt (which includes some red clay), above the flood line. Budbreak is early here because the thinner soil warms up quickly, but the harvest is two weeks later than at the adjacent Seven Hills. The longer growing season, says Club, yields wines with "a darker, richer minerality." The Seven Hills fruit comes in early and the wines tend to be silky and velvety and pretty but without big tannic structure, says Clubb, while Ferguson yields dense, dark fruit, with a lot of acidity, minerality and structure from the basalt. The early wines made from Ferguson fruit make it clear that this site has outstanding potential.

Clubb's production is now around 45,000 cases a year, with 65% of the fruit coming from Walla Walla Valley.