TNs: Scherrer Winery, plus '70 Suduiraut & '88 Rieussec

[Michael Malinoski]

Our friend Jud invited our monthly tasting group to his home a while back and offered to provide all of the wines in a blind tasting for us. We had no clues as to what he had in mind, but everyone was eager to find out! It turned out to be a survey of the wines of Scherrer Winery, which I’d heard of before but but had never had a chance to try.

Starters (not blind):

2002 Agrapart & Fils Champagne Mineral Blanc de Blancs Extra-Brut. There’s a crisp nose to this wine, featuring aromas of wet stones, fresh herbs, chalk dust, white peaches, apples and pears. In the mouth, there’s a sneaky explosiveness to the flavors of yellow tree fruits, tangy citrus and tropical notes and crunchy minerals. I’ve had this now about 5 times and it continues to loosen up and mellow out as it goes.

2011 Domaine de la Pépière (Marc Ollivier) Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Sur Lie Vieilles Vignes Clos des Briords. This wine is crisp and controlled on the fresh nose of lime peel, wet stones, quinine, sea salt and mineral aromas. It has great focus and almost raw vibrancy on the taut and minerally palate, but there’s also a hint of creamy underbelly where one finds fine flavors of pear, grapefruit, melon and herbs. It is quite refreshing, but I’m eager to see what it becomes with extended cellar time.

Main tasting (all served blind):

2011 Scherrer Winery Dry Rosé Sonoma County. This wine has a fairly extroverted bouquet—full of strawberry, cranberry, pomegranate, lime juice and gun metal aromas that are quite nice. In the mouth, it’s dry, saline and I’d have to say more austere than the nose would lead one to expect, with the dried red berry fruit definitely way in the background. It isn’t showing all it has, so I’d suggest waiting another year or two on it.

2004 Scherrer Winery Pinot Noir Fort Ross Vineyard "High Slopes" Sonoma Coast. The first red of the evening features a boisterous nose that shows off tons of sweet berries, wild mountain herbs, toasted stems, funky tobacco and toasty oak that are fleshed out and full. It seems like a sweeter-styled New World pinot noir to me based on this profile. In the mouth, it is definitely extracted, rich and dark berry-laden. It is sweet and oaky, but generously-flavored with lots of blueberry, boysenberry, toasted oak, mushroom stalk and toasted spice elements. It has a plump, easy mouthfeel but no flabbiness or anything, and I could see it benefitting from a bit more cellar time.

2007 Scherrer Winery Pinot Noir Russian River Valley. This is a rather different style of pinot that is considerably lighter and zestier—with aromas of tangy berries, chicory, brown spices, lighter stem notes and mocha powder. In the mouth, it is wild berry-fruited in a fun, twangy style that is moderately rich but fresh and zippy. It has a pleasantly rounded finish to go with a fine mouthfeel that’s present all the way through. Overall, this is quite nice and one of my favorite wines of the tasting.

2006 Scherrer Winery Zinfandel Scherrer Vineyard Shale Terrace Alexander Valley. For me, this wine sort of shoots the gap aromatically between the previous two wines. It smells of brambly berries, spices and toasted stems in a way that is less sweet than the 2004 Fort Ross Pinot yet more wild and robust than the 2007 RRV Pinot. In the mouth, it features dark briery berry fruit but in a sort of fresh and finessed way that has a clean palate feel with some underlying minerality and persistent acidity. It’s seems like a pinot-styled Zinfandel, and one that’s pretty darned nice.

2006 Scherrer Winery Zinfandel Old and Mature Vines Scherrer Vineyard Alexander Valley. This smells much more classically like a Zinfandel to me, with lots of mountain fruit and earth tones on a bigger-framed bouquet. It’s creamy-textured and more full-bodied on the palate than anything we’ve had to this point. It is bolder-flavored and also seems to have a headier sense of alcohol beneath the dense berry fruit and black pepper flavors. It has plenty to give, but also shows solid structure and framing that will serve it well in the years ahead.

2002 Scherrer Winery Syrah Bliss Vineyard Russian River Valley. This wine puts forth smoldering and rich aromas of blackberry fruit, blue cotton candy, charcoal, grilled meat, iron ore, black licorice and hickory smoke. In the mouth, it comes across as quite pasty and thick in texture, with a chewy quality to the dense flavors of blackberry fruit, iron, salty brine and meat juices. It has some interesting dimensions but is perhaps still a few years away.

2003 Scherrer Winery Syrah Bliss Vineyard Russian River Valley. This wine is CORKED, albeit lightly so. It is sweet black-fruited with figs, dried plums, black cherries and touches of chocolate and white pepper, but also a bit of a dry rasp from the background TCA. Too bad.

2005 Scherrer Winery Syrah Bliss Vineyard Russian River Valley. Here we have a gutsy-styled bouquet of blackberries, figs, vanilla, oak and toasted herbs that is pasty and dense. It is really rounded and smooth on the palate, with a very creamy texture and lots of warm fruit riding atop moderate tannins. It’s a big mouthful of wine that delivers a sweet shot of raspberry and dark cherry fruit on a well-tuned frame. A bunch of folks really liked this one.

Sweet wines (not blind):

1970 Château Suduiraut Sauternes. I very much enjoy the nose of dark honey, liquid caramel, iced tea, yellow raisin, dried pineapple, toasted citrus peel, hazelnut and spun sugar that this Sauternes puts out. I also like the sort of oily-textured flavors of pineapple cubes, caramel, walnuts, toasted citrus and brioche it has on the palate. It’s a finely-balanced wine that has a nice plush finish and just yields a good deal of pleasure all around.

1988 Château Rieussec Sauternes. This is much lighter in color and features an elegant and considerably more airy-styled nose of grapefruit, citrus peel, clover honey and dried tropical fruits. It is similarly elegant on the palate, with a sugary core of dried tropical and citrus fruit flavors that have a breezy sweetness to them and a fine underpinning of iron ore. As it sits in the glass, it slowly gains in intensity and volume and just continues to deliver a fine drinking experience. These were both delicious, and were a fine way to end a great evening.


-Michael