Wishing for unremarkable times, again.
What a remarkable time of volatility we live in. Alliances, investments, education, health care, food prices, etc. are all in a state of massive flux. This includes the wine grape market. Unfortunately, the grape market in our area has softened significantly over the past couple of years with pretty much every grower I know suddenly having unsold fruit this year. Many wineries that have contracts have been trying to renegotiate for smaller quantities, opting not to renew, or have cancelled contracts outright. I hear from grower friends that some wineries have still not paid for last year’s grapes and a couple of those wineries have filed for bankruptcy. Some blocks of our family vineyard’s grapes have been sold to a large winery for the last 35 years. About 5 years ago they honored my Dad at a large company meeting as their longest running grower of high quality fruit. However, this Spring, they ended the wine programs we’ve been part of and, for the first time in three generations, we have some fruit without a home. Our winery unfortunately can’t absorb it all as distributors in many of the states we used to sell wine to have either gone out of business or narrowed their focus on ‘larger brands’. Sadly, in the case of Canada, our inventory there was ‘put on hold indefinitely’ with the ongoing turmoil of uncertain tariff levels and the governmental theatrics that accompany it. So, wholesale cash-flow really doesn’t allow for expansion on our part. I think back to the days when things were pretty stable and we could really focus on the small bits of uncertainty and geek out on the small levels of vintage variation without existential concern for those around us.
While there is some bad news, there is some good news. The California distributor we worked with for 15 years closed its doors late last year. In mid-May we started up with a distributor that is like-minded, appreciates our style and is excited to spread the word about Scherrer to wine shops and restaurants. Between the old school folks still in the business and the newer ones, the response has been joy and astonishment after, in some ways, being out of the market for a time. Our hope is that you may see more restaurants and small wine shops carry our wine in California. As an upside, we are seeing the opportunity to do more wine dinners to support this market and individuals that we so love.
Many people have asked how the season is progressing so far. The 2025 growing season has started off very promising. We had a nice, above average level of Winter rainfall followed by a reasonable transition into Springtime conditions. For our Zinfandel vineyard, budbreak was a bit uneven and spread out once again. The Russian River Valley sites I work with were more uniform and on a traditional time-frame with the promise of a normal to slightly generous crop in those locations. By contrast, when bloom occurred in our Alexander Valley vineyard there had been a few rather warm days that may have been the cause of a lighter than normal ‘set’ (number of flowers that turn into grape berries). Add to that a generally lower cluster count per shoot and we are looking at a smaller than usual crop this year there.
For the last several years we have focused on the renewing and replacing of old, unhealthy permanent wood on our Family’s 50-113 year old vines and we are seeing some great success. I’ve done most of the ‘major surgery’ myself while our son Ryan has been doing most of the removal and burning of the diseased wood on top of the tedious repair of the trellis wires that have to be cut during this ‘surgery’. Looking at the vineyards after all the work we have done, the trellis is much more evenly dispersed with healthy shoots appropriately spaced out rigorously by handwork. The past several Winters and Springs have required a big commitment to this and we look forward to having a little more time to other projects needed in future years to keep this legacy going forward.
You may notice that there are fewer new releases than usual at this time. While we were quite bullish on, and successful with the 2020 vintage overall, it wasn’t seamless. The Rhone varieties we work with had a more challenging vintage for several reasons. Some of the sites were located in areas where high levels of smoke contact occurred and we agreed with the growers not to harvest. Other sites were simply no longer available. Sadly, Otis Holt of Calypso Vineyard removed the majority of his small vineyard we had been working with collaboratively on since 2006. Kick Ranch at that same time decided to keep the portion of Grenache I had been working with for their own while their replanting project initiated. The result is that we have no 2020 Rhone varietal bottlings. The good news is that there is much to look forward to in 2021 and beyond!
Zinfandel Futures
2024 was a gentle, even growing season in the North Coast. It was pretty much a trouble-free year with average crop levels. Harvest conditions were about as ideal as one could ask for, with no significant heat or rain, and no logistical challenges This is a truly lovely vintage with great balance and energy as evidenced by the 2024 Rosé.
Scherrer Winery | 2024 Scherrer Vineyard ‘Old & Mature Vines’ Zinfandel Futures
The name ‘Old & Mature Vines’ means it is made from old vines planted by my grandfather in 1912 as well as mature vines he, my dad and I planted in the 1970’s. Nearly 100% Zinfandel, harvested at the right ripeness level, can be strikingly elegant and age worthy which we have demonstrated for decades. And that isn’t as easy as it sounds. Zinfandel grape clusters are inherently variable. Each Zinfandel grape cluster has variability from green under ripe berries through the full ripeness spectrum of raisins. Wineries that don’t truly understand this grape will wait for the green berries to ripen. Unfortunately, that means the rest of the cluster moves even more over ripe towards raisins which leads to over ripe and over extracted wines. Fortunately, I’ve grown up with Zinfandel and I know how to work with it to let it quietly sing it’s own sweet, harmonious song.
Himalaya blackberries, red plum, hibiscus and white tea on the nose. Very juicy entry with hibiscus taking the lead. Sneaky persistence on the palate, never pushy, just present on the palate with retro-nasal aromas echoing it all while the mouth waters in anticipation of a bite of food and/or another sip. Delicacy. Inner-mouth perfumes, continuity, angles and rounds in balance, fruit and non-fruit balanced. This is what Zinfandel can be: multi-faceted and mouth-watering, food-friendly and age-worthy.
Estimated release price: $42 per bottle. Futures price: $310 per case to be released April 2026 | Purchase here
Scherrer Winery | 2024 Scherrer Vineyard ‘Shale Terrace’ Zinfandel Futures
Very little clay and lots of fractured shale in this small section of our vineyard planted in the early 1970’s yields a wine of particular delicacy and unique profile. The tide and flow of growth is different than the rest of the vineyard due to the different way water and other nutrients get to the plant: More of a generous supply upfront when growing earlier in the season and less generous later on. This affects berry size, tannin levels and flavors produced.
Stone fruit, cherry pie, perfumes of grape flowers in bloom (as one who has their face close to these things at bloom late May), an unusually suave texture all converge to make what is my favorite representation of this unique site at this stage of development.
As this is a small portion of the vineyard, there is never very much. We have honored peoples’ past support of this wine and give those that purchased Shale in the past (even just a bottle) ‘first crack’ and orders received by August 31 will be processed first in the order they are received while the futures allocation lasts. Those who have not bought Shale before may place an order which will be placed on the ‘wish list’. Those orders will be filled in the order they are received if there are still futures available after the first-crack August 31 deadline. And if you are not on ‘first crack’ for this, do not fear. We also hold back a bit of the Shale from futures so we will have some available at release next April so those not in the ‘first-crack’ offering can have a few bottles.
Only about 120 cases to be produced. Release price $42 /bottle. Futures price: $310 per case to be released April 2026 | Sold out
New Releases
Scherrer Winery | 2021 Hallberg Vineyard Pinot Noir
As fans of Hallberg know, this is a special clone privately brought in from France a few decades ago. I’ve worked with it since 2004 and fell in love with it immediately. It has very bright natural acidity – more so than any other clone of Pinot Noir I have encountered. It has been an important energetic core of our Russian River Valley bottling for two decades and when that blend does not need every barrel of this to be optimized, we bottle some separately. Fortunately, there has been enough to showcase as a solo act for a number of years.
Hibiscus, cedar, madrone blossoms, red & black cherry conserve and a hint of orange peel on the aroma. It has a nicely structured framework with balancing plushness, it glides through seamlessly from front to back, from entry to finish with a haunting, clean persistence that invites yet another sip. Antonio Galloni, wrote it is “a rich and heady wine. A blast of dark red fruit, cedar, incense, espresso, and new leather soars from the glass. Readers will find a Pinot of uncommon depth and pedigree. Time in the glass brings out tons of freshness and citrus nuances. I loved it. 95 points”.
114 cases produced. $82 per bottle | Purchase here
Scherrer Winery | 2021 Platt Vineyard Pinot Noir
I was lucky to be brought into the initial planting of this fine site a quarter century ago. Much effort in assessing temperatures, soil changes and knowledge about rootstock-soil interactions was applied to the development of this vineyard. I feel lucky to have been a small part of this quantum leap in viticultural understanding and execution.
The 2021 vintage was quite spectacular in many ways. It was rather drought-affected and the concentration of the wines in all sites I work with is quite evident. For this site, it really played into the strengths of this expression of Pinot Noir. When you look at the structure and concentration of the grape material and juxtapose it with our lengthy time in barrel on lees which returns much of this grape material the yeast removes when alive, it makes so much sense. It’s like a full-circle of plant material.
If color had an aroma, light purple is the first thing that comes to mind. Then there are so many layers to the aroma and flavor by mouth. It’s beguiling because the many scenes float past, some of which are savory/herbal, but they are all enmeshed with fresh and dried fruit elements and flowers as well as a tiny bit of freshly caught salmon flesh. Texturally, this is also beguiling [written before Galloni’s review, below]. How can something be so substantial, yet finish so cleanly with such delicacy? Sadly, this is our last vintage of a great 15 year run with this fine site. “The 2021 Platt Pinot Noir is one of the most compelling wines I have ever tasted from Fred Scherrer. Aromatic, deep and beguiling, the 2021 has so much to offer. Dried herbs, cinnamon, leather incense, tobacco, and wild cherry all build in the glass. The 2021 is distinguished in this range by its intensely savory, coastal character… 96 points. Antonio Galloni.”
83 cases produced. $82 per bottle | Purchase here
Prefer the full printable version? Wishing for unremarkable times, again.
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