If you are a Burg lover, please drink @Fred_Scherrer old vine Zinfandel from Sonoma County.
It’s so red fruited, spicy, succulent and airy. No over extraction or chocolate notes at all. Many of the vines on the OMV bottling are well over 100 years old.
These may be my favorite New Workd wines. Tonight, it was the 2019 Old and Mature Vine bottling. So elegant, brambly and dusty.
It’s like if Domaine Bertheau and Chateau des Tours had a baby!
Yes! OMV and Shale are probably my favorite California wines - have been ordering them on futures for over a decade. They’re refined, perfectly-made, delicious wines that cellar beautifully.
I’m shouting out an “Amen!”
This is just so true. I tell anyone who will listen that Fred’s Zins are some of the most soulful California wines you can buy, every vintage.
Whenever I open an OMV, I inevitably sit there thinking, “Yeah, I could probably drink this every night and be quite happy.”
They age beautifully as well.
I love that comparison! Scherrer’s Old Vine Zinfandel really does have that Burgundian elegance with a beautiful balance of fruit and spice. It’s rare to find a New World Zin that feels so refined and layered, definitely a standout. The fact that some of the vines are over 100 years old just adds to the magic!
Thanks, all. I really appreciate that you get it.
Aging: I pulled some early '90’s bottles for my own joy and education while pulling library selections for this month’s offering. I think 10-20 years after the vintage has proven to be a very happy zone for these Zins.
F
Fred … can you tell us a bit about the 100 year old vines?
Also share what you can about the balance between the terroir and your winemaking choices in making the OMV wines. Is it the site or you or both that leads to the elegance and suppleness?
Thx
The old vines were planted by my grandfather in 1912 on St. George rootstock. 8’ x 8’ spacing, head-trained, spur pruned like most vineyards planted in that era. There are some Petite Sirah, Alicante Bouschet and Petite Bouschet here and there as they were interplanted when he had planted other blocks of vines to replace missing vines. But the percentage is at least 99% Zinfandel, which on its own lends itself to elegance if one chooses to see it through. 3.37 AC
The Mature Vines that I use were planted between 1973 and 1978 on St. George rootstock planted 8’ x 12’. They are bilateral cordon trained, spur pruned on the CA sprawl trellis which suits that situation perfectly.
To me, style follows the grape material as I see it unfold. The first vintage under our label, 1991, was surprisingly elegant. So, I followed that lead despite my expectation of a bolder wine. 1992 was intrinsically a much more elegant vintage with lots of red raspberry fruit, so I figured that is the essential personality of these vines on this site. As I have seen how the varied vintages develop with time, I have come to value this trait immensely and have striven to refine the style in the decades since.
Besides the proportion of more tannic, non-Zin grapes in the mix, a big part of the elegant vs bold equation is ripeness level at harvest. Hitting it ‘right’ on the ‘earlier side’ of the window is hard to do as the under-ripe members of the grape berry population have some hard edges. If too many of them are part of the mix, the wine is less appealing when young. I think that’s one reason so many Zin producers have learned to err on the side of later-there’s less downside to being off the mark a bit. Jammier Zins generally score better with critics when young, so there’s also an upside to fitting into that mold.
So the short answer to your question is that it’s nurture following the nature as I see it.
F
Thank you so much Fred.
The vines are in great hands. But I bet you get as much out of them as they get out of you! 
The King Family pinot noir is spectacular!!!
Inspired by Matthew’s post, I opened a 2015 OMV tonight. It’s just as described/expected. As usual, I’m prompted to wonder why my cellar isn’t, like, half Scherrer Zin.
I just loved this line. There’s so much on the science and here’s the art.
What an interesting post by Fred, especially how those ‘91 and ‘92 first vintages opened his eyes and set him on the path to try to make a more nuanced Zinfandel. 
These are some spectacular wines, and I should drink them more. Recently ordered some again after being remiss in drinking them for a few years. Wonderful wines of such life and energy! Made by some wonderful folks. Everything I love about wine.
It is immensely satisfying to work with vines that were planted by my grandfather when he was 21 years old. They used horses to pull the plow, then. We still have what’s left of the two plows, as the wood has pretty much gone back to the soil and atmosphere.
The mature vines are now about the age that the oldest vines were when I arrived. Interesting to be at this stage of life…
F
I am very happy to hear this, as it’s what keeps us going. And yup, that 2015 OMV has been in a very, very good state for a while.
I opened my last bottle of 96 OMV a few months ago. It was holding up well.
*8/3/2024 PNP. Purchased on release and stored in a 55 degree cellar, cork was perfect with minimal (1/4 inch) staining. Put into a cradle to minimize sediment. Tawny red color. Plum, cherry, and a bit of maderized fruit aromas (port like) on the nose. Medium fruit, surprisingly full and deep on the palate, a touch sweet but redeemed by a bit of zingy acidity. No structure left, and a short finish. Not much complexity but it exceeded my expectations and held up well after opening, that is it didn’t fade in the glass.
Ordered a case of the 2019 last night. New to me, but love the love.
I hope you like the wine, Brad.
It’s perfect when you are in a bit of a Burg rut (blasphemy, I know!) and want something different but in same wheelhouse (sorta).
Watch how it changes over a few hours too. It gets redder and spicier.
