Brian, I’m glad you have some of those. Planting that Cab was my dad’s idea. He did it for farmer reasons: Economics and demand. Happily, it was also the right place to put it. 1997 was my first vintage with it. The vines were 8 years old then.
I just racked out the 2021 vintage for bottling tomorrow. It was aged in barrel without racking for a very long time. Back in the late '90’s I was racking several times and bottling sooner.
I always appreciate the insights on winemaking on here, so thanks for the above, Fred. What is the impact on the wine of the changes you’ve made in that regard?
There’s more (positive) non-fruit elements now due to clean lees dissolving back into the wine. This lower oxygen status favors the kinetics of different kinds of chemical reactions, which gives a wider range of aromatics than the old rack several times regime. Additionally, newer and older barrels will have different oxygen status, so they will follow slightly different courses over the years. When they come together it’s a pretty impressive orchestra. Structure is very much maintained along with oxygen appetite of the wine being more intact for (hopefully) longer aging potential.
I started leaving CS on the lees right up to bottling with the 2013 vintage. So, now we are approaching a decade in on this, which is where I think this style of Cab begins to show its stuff.
F
Thanks, Fred
Posted from CellarTracker
Incredible wine
BRIGCAMPBELL WROTE: November 18, 2025 - use all the descriptors that have nothing to do with actual flavors or aromas. Why? Because that’s what came flooding through my head. I opened this as small tribute to my FIL who passed away 3 months ago and left a world of great memories.
Engaging, bright, sexy, thoughtful, satisfying, and stunning.
@brigcampbell, based on your note, we bought a couple of half bottles of the 2017 Scherrer Pinot today while visiting for their ‘open house’ weekend. They were not pouring the 2017, but they were pouring the 2016 and it was fantastic. At $24 for a half bottle, the 2017 was an easy buy. Thanks for the note and the recommendation! And, my condolences to you and your family for your loss.
Open house was this weekend? 
Yes, sir. I asked Fred if you had come by and he said no. They sent out an email a couple of weeks ago about it.
Yeah, I know. This was Thanksgiving weekend for us, celebrated yesterday and recovered today. Forgot all about it.
I thought I might see you with the 49ers not playing today!
Drinking the 2020 Russian River Pinot tonight. It’s kinda an ideal RRV.
I almost texted you to see if you’d be lurking abouts. We made it there by the skin of our teeths with the kids in tow for an hour or so. Sorry to have missed ya this go round, next time I’ll buzz instead of assuming you’d show up. They had a great crowd when we showed up then it cleared out, must be something I said! 
Sorry to hear about your FIL, and thank you for the compliment.
After a relatively recent tasting of it, I do believe my son Braydn’s favorite wine ever is Scherrer OMV Zinfandel (we opened the 2020)…good choice
2015 Old and Mature Vines Zinfandel - Popped and poured at cellar temp. Lovely translucent purple color. Elegant nose with sandalwood, blackberry liqueur and dark loamy earth all in balance. Great balance of sweet blackberry fruit and acid on the palate all wrapped in a lovely velvety texture. Fred has such a deft touch with Zinfandel. Drinking close to peak I think but Scherrer wines age incredibly well, so no hurry.
We had a ‘97 Shale Terrace recently that was drinking close to peak as well. 
I just almost opened this bottle, but worried it might be young. I’ll put it on deck for the weekend. Sounds like it’s in a great place! I had an '02 a few weeks ago that was also near peak! 
I don’t know that anyone knows what peak is for these wines. Granted I haven’t had one over 25 years old, but I haven’t had one that is past peak either.
I appreciate the positive feedback on aging of these wines. I have come to the opinion that these wines do not have a sharp peak-it’s more of a plateau that seems as long as driving across the Great Salt Lake in a ox drawn wagon.
A couple years ago, we had a 1991 Zin that I thought was on the downward slope. Then a year later, another bottle was still on the Great Salt Lake portion of the journey. So individual bottle variation and storage will probably be a major determinant after 30 years or so.
Over the past 25 years, I’ve been adjusting winemaking a bit here and there to encourage a longer plateau, by the way.
F