Winemaker's Notes
This is probably the tightest-structured vintage we have had for this wine. It is most like 1997, but with less reliance on acidity and more on full, ripe tannins. Fortunately, it possesses some perfumes like the 1998. With such concentration, this wine had remained relatively closed during its usual gentle handling and minimal racking, thus it required more lengthy barrel aging. It was bottled without filtration weeks later than normal (just about in time for the open house). It has loosened up a bit, revealing plum, black pepper and blueberry flavors with a spicy cedar nuance. The release to restaurants and wine shops has been pushed back a couple of months when the wine will be more composed from any “bottle shock.” No worry, this should ultimately be one of the most satisfying vintages of this wine.
Judi Scherrer –
Wine & Spirits – December 2001
Wine growers often talk about the Alexander Valley character of cabernet sauvignon, but I’ve rarely found that terroir expressed as eloquently as it is here in Scherrer’s old-vine zinfandel. It starts with a green peppercorn scent, then leads right into a plump fruit set into the kind of firm acid and tannic structure Alexander Valley cabernets rarely satisfy as completely as this zin. The oldest and most mature of Scherrer’s vines date back to 1912. Open a bottle, and open a view to the best of the Alexander Valley. 93 points. Joshua Greene