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WINEMA k ING Rick Middleton Norm McKibben Jean-François Pellet from 24 acres to more than 200 acres, making it Walla Walla's largest and best-known vineyard. He now oversees more than 600 acres of vineyards in the area. In 1999 McKibben founded Pepper Bridge Winery to focus on ultra-premium production of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Jean-François Pellet, the general manager and a partner in Artifex, is a third-generation Swiss winegrower who trained and worked at wineries in Switzerland, Spain and Napa Valley, including four years at Heitz Wine Cellars. In 1999, McKibben recruited Pellet to become the winemaker at Pepper Bridge. Two years later Pellet became the winemaker for McKibben's Amavi Cellars. After some experience making wines for other companies at Pepper Bridge Winery, McKibben and his partners formed Artifex in 2006. Pellet, who has directed the building of four winemaking facilities in Walla Walla, manages day-to-day opera- tions. Artifex processed its first harvest in 2007. Throughout the Northwest Artifex caters to clients making ultra-premium wines from grapes sourced throughout the Pacific Northwest. It offers complete winemaking production services to 18 clients ranging from small boutique wineries to medium-sized brands. Its services include everything from receiving fruit through bot- tling and packaging the finished wines. The facility operates mostly under alternating proprietorships with wineries, with each having its own winemaker who is as- sisted by the Artifex staff. Pellet says the facility caters to three different types of wine companies: • Newcomers, but "there aren't many these days," he noted. • Wineries that want to expand but don't want to invest the capital. • Out-of-state clients. Originally, business came mostly from bigger companies that contracted to sell wine to Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, Washing- ton's largest wine company. Now typical clients produce 3,000 to 6,000 cases. "They get to control their winemaking and lower their overhead," Pellet added. "Many wineries look to custom crushing in a weak economy." By contrast, at another major custom facility in the general area, Fidelitas/Vinaceus in Benton City, Wash., winemaker Char- lie Hoppes said he controls the winemaking. "Our contracts are pretty specific," Pellet said. "The lot size is important, and our minimum lot is 3 tons (about 180 cases)." The smallest client makes about 500 cases. Using a former cannery Artifex took over and renovated a huge, disused cannery owned by the Port of Walla Walla, the local economic development agency. In effect, it built a building inside the building, creating Wines & Vines JULY 2012 41 WILLMES The future since 1918 General manager Jean-François Pellet added sliding hopper-funnels to make introducing grapes into the press consistent. three barrel rooms that can each hold 1,000 barrels—two for new vintages and one for aging. The area has inexpensive electricity and the soil is not condu- cive to caves, so aboveground refrigerated storage is the norm. The rooms are heavily insulated and can be kept at different temperatures and adjustable humidity. The facility also is chilled with night air almost year round. The winery can process 600-650 tons of fruit, about 40,000 cases—typically 250 lots. It was designed to produce 90% red wines, but it turns out that 30%-35% of the demand is for whites. Since Artifex doesn't make its own wine, Pellet claimed that no client gets preference. "No one gets better treatment," he said. Perhaps reflecting Pellet's Swiss origin, sanitation is a big prior- ity. "Sanitation is huge for us," he admitted. The winery is set up MERLIN Plus+ Thanks to its patented pressing system, the MERLIN operates gently and efficiently. Whether fermented red wine mash or processing the entire grape, you will get the best and purest juice.