Author: Judi Scherrer

Along with the burgeoning springtime growth, a person’s thoughts turn to…our 2003 Zinfandel futures
release, and other spring releases. Well, maybe not entirely. One must have priorities, I suppose.

Be it agriculture, baseball, music, marketing, comedy, or winemaking, it’s all a matter of timing. When you: plant your crop, swing the bat, set the tempo/attack the note, roll out the product, deliver the punch-line, or pick/punch-down/press, it’s all about the timing. No vintage illustrates this concept better than 2004.

This summer, we were offered a lease on the rest of the building… We are currently preparing the additional space and moving in. Hopefully, we will be well-situated by the open house. However, this doesn’t mean a continued increase in production. The past years’ increases have met my physical limit at this point. Instead, it means barrels will be stacked closer to the ground and I can think more about winemaking, less about shuffling.

We tend to handle our wines sparingly, aging them a little longer in barrel than most producers. We also find a real reward with some additional time in bottle. So, while our bottling and release schedule may be inconsistent with many other wineries, we find this consistent with what our wines want. Some of life’s pleasures, including food and wine, are best undertaken and enjoyed at a slow pace…don’t you think?

The fall is always a double edged sword in the wine industry. The change of the season is beautiful and, of course, it also means the grapes are ready and the winery is on call. This is it: time to make sure that all the growers’ hard work invested in the vineyards these last many months is reflected in the new wine.

We began our label with wine produced solely from my dad’s vineyard in Alexander Valley in 1991. Since the late 1990’s, we have included cooler-climate loving varieties from sites in the Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast.

At the open houses and on the telephone, many of you have related the reasons for this: value, consistency, age worthiness, etc. We appreciate the feedback as much as your interest in and support of our wines and hope to continue to earn a place in your cellar and table for many years.

Somehow, it doesn’t seem like a decade has passed since our first Zinfandel futures offering. Yet the changes that have occurred could have hardly taken less time than that. We look back at this project’s history and evolution with great appreciation for the support we have received during the past decade. Thank you.

Over the past year or so, the winery has grown to the point that I am unable to cover the business side effectively. But there is hope. Along with the demands of our two young children, I have been able to convince my wife and longtime friend, Judi, to give up her well-paying professional position for a more civilized position with the business end of the winery. I am very excited about working with her and will have more time to support the family in the vineyard, and explore some ideas I have not had time for.

Many of you have told me that you are afraid to tell your friends about our wine, and that you have mixed feelings about seeing great press, because it will mean that the wine will get harder to find and insanely expensive. This past decade, we have been fortunate to have had a good match between supply and demand. In the event that demand should ever greatly exceed supply, I have a plan, or at least a dream.