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Our Wines
The following comments summarize Fred's winemaking philosophy and approach:
"The red wines are typically destemmed, not crushed (sounds like a James Bond Martini) and fermented in simple open top fermentors and manually punched down. They are barreled very shortly after pressing and allowed to rest on their lees (sediment) for many
months before first being racked (transferred from barrel) and blended, typically for 6 to 10 months.
"The Zinfandels and Pinot Noirs generally receive 16 to 18 months barrel time before bottling. Cabernet Sauvignon rests in wood for 22 to 30 months, depending on vintage and provenance. Racking of the reds is done principally for the purpose of blending and/or clarification before bottling. This 'reductive' style of winemaking calls for longer time in the barrel for full development and while having two or even three vintages 'on the floor' at once causes cooperage congestion, it's worth it. Over the past decade, Scherrer Winery Old & Mature Zinfandels have proven their ability to age and develop gracefully in the bottle.
"As yet, none of the reds have been filtered, as this removes desirable colloidal material, essential for the kind of development we desire allowing the wine to achieve its highest long-term potential.
"Chardonnay is whole-cluster pressed (like with sparkling wine) and for the Alexander Valley fruit from my father's vineyard, stopped at very low juice yields, giving more fine elements. With my two manually operated 'bladder presses' (please forgive the connotation) this requires hours of valve turning, button pushing, lever turning and scurrying about reminiscent of Dorothy and her associates' first meeting with the man behind the curtain in 'The Wizard of Oz.' This is important to making high quality Chardonnay (the taking of only the first and finest juice as opposed to the scurrying), and especially critical for grapes from the less cool areas like Alexander Valley. 100% barrel fermentation and malolactic fermentation, nearly 12-month barrel aging, and unfiltered bottling are typical for us. Again, preservation of colloidal material here is as positive a factor as it is for the reds.
"Our Vin Gris is made by first bleeding a small amount of pink juice from our red grape fermentations. This is done before significant yeast activity or extraction of color and tannin occurs, perhaps by the second or third day after filling the vat. What we get is the most delicate expression of the grape. The juice is then fermented in very old barrels. After primary fermentation, malolactic fermentation is discouraged by the addition of a moderate amount of SO2. During the winter, we choose which lots to combine for our Vin Gris, and 'rack' them together in a tank, then returning the wine to the same neutral barrels to further age on their 'lees' (yeast sediment). After several more months in barrel, the wine is again racked off the 'lees', filtered, and bottled. This usually occurs around the month of May following the vintage. It is the only wine we routinely filter, to prevent malolactic fermentation from occuring in the bottle.
"The additional time in barrel on the yeast lees helps contribute to the complexity and mouthfeel of our Vin Gris. We feel this is important to the wine's potential, despite the fact that we are probably the last to get our dry rose to market."
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