Winemaker's Notes
Vinifying small lots from particular sites year after year, one comes to know and expect certain personalities or profiles as a standard by which successive vintages are compared to. We have the fortunate position of fermenting very small batches, then assembling them in a deliberate way during ageing, and finally bottling according to the wines’ own schedule whenever they are ready. Sometimes we have fermentation lots that do not fit the typical profile because of variations in the vintage character. That was the case with the recent ‘Zinfandoodle’ where we combined two different vintages of Zinfandel that fought the usual harmony of the OMV. In 2003 we had some Cab lots from my dad’s vineyard that did not fit perfectly into either of our Cabernet Sauvignon bottlings, but were delightful as a separate bottling. Calling it simply ‘Vin Rouge’ (red wine) does not begin to do it justice, but those of you who scored on the 2000 Vin Rouge already understand. 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, 100% Scherrer Vineyard.
