A few weeks ago, two members of our Off the Charts wine club and myself decided to go on a wine-tasting road trip through the Santa Ynez, Los Olivos and Santa Maria areas. During the week before our trip, I was trying to plan ahead on my articles and called Wes Hagen, vineyard manager and winemaker at Clos Pepe Vineyards of Santa Rita Hills fame, about a future article.

I have always wanted to visit Clos Pepe because I love its pinot noir and other wineries' pinots with its grapes. He mentioned he had three openings the Saturday of our road trip for his tour and tasting. I signed the three of us up.

Comparing this experience to all the other wine tastings I have attended would be the equivalent of a person who had watched B movies his whole life viewing "Citizen Kane" for the first time. The three hours I spent at Clos Pepe were the best wine-tasting experience I have ever had. It was fun, educational and elegantly down to earth.

We arrived at Clos Pepe before the 10:30 a.m.-sharp instructions, and 14 other guests joined us. We were met at our car by a herd of sheep, two dogs, Hagen and his wife, Chanda, who gave us a sheepherding demonstration.

We moved into the vineyards, where we were all riveted to the viticulture, geography and history lesson he gave us.

The Clos Pepe philosophy is best summed up by a Hagen quote on its Web site; it reads in part: "We strive to produce wines that represent a time and a place. In a landscape where critics heap praise on heavy metal' wines more akin to fortified wine than a beverage for table, we believe that wine should integrate into a meal."

Hagen told us that what happens in the vineyard is what determines a wine. He told us to not put too much stock into the winemaking itself, as he could teach anyone to make pinot noir in 30 minutes.

We then walked up a driveway to the beautiful home of Clos Pepe owners Steve and Catherine Pepe. We were seated in their formal dining room and presented with baskets of bread and plates of cheeses. The house was elegant, but Hagen's down-to-earth style made the atmosphere feel homey.

Hagen then started pouring wines. He started off with a 2006 chardonnay, then a 2005 chardonnay. Clos Pepe makes chardonnay with little oak influence, and it was very balanced in true Burgundian fashion.

We then moved on to the highly rated Clos Pepe pinot noirs, which also are produced in a Burgundian style, starting from French yield-per-acre requirements to the final produced wine.

We started out with a barrel tasting of the 2007, which will be released in February. We moved on to the 2006, which was great but will be much better by 2010. We then tasted the 2005, which earned a gold medal at the L.A. International Wine Competition and received 92 points from RedWineBuzz.com.

The conversation turned to the other winemakers who use his grapes: Brewer-Clifton, Ken Brown, Siduri, Loring Wine Co., AP Vin, Diatom, Ojai Vineyard, Roessler, Tyler and Copain. This impressive list nudged me to ask Hagen which winemaker he thinks does the best job with his grapes. He said that although he appreciates all the efforts, he believes Ken Brown's pinot noirs best exhibit the vineyard's depth and complexity.

Hagen said the highest-rated wine from his grapes was a 2002 Loring. He then asked if we wanted to try it. He poured this 95-point wine, topping off our great experience. As we exited and started visiting other wineries, all we talked about the rest of the day was our three-hour experience at Clos Pepe Vineyards.