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The 2016 Harvest marks the first time the entire family came out to pick some grapes and see the process, from start to finish. Three generations of family were on site to see what the harvest is all about.
I took some of my Sangiovese crop and bled off some juice just after it was picked. For those that like to read French words, Saignée or bleed in French is the technique and the word used to describe the process. The secondary benefit of this saignee process is the main body of the red Sangiovese concentrates flavors in the finished wine.
The Rose' has been fermented in neutral Sangiovese oak barrels, stirred in barrel using another French word, Bâtonnage, racked off clean and placed back in barrel to settle until bottling.
I've had visitors taste the unfined and unfiltered Rose' during the entire process. The nose is of strawberry and pink grapefruit but still has a little time to develop in barrel before the final product is released.
HARVEST 2016
After a brief period of cool weather in late August, the Sonoma County wine grape harvest has started for Mastro Scheidt Family Cellars.
The white grapes, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscadelle, and Semillon are 100% in, while the Sangiovese, Zinfandel, Syrah, Pinot, Merlot and dry-farmed Cabernet are all coming in within the next 7 - 10 days. Conditions are very good and the weather is stable, all good news. The vineyard and Mother Nature did their work well.
If you are a follower or would like to follow on Instagram or Facebook, I'm posting behind-the-scenes videos and pictures of the harvest. Everything from broken down trucks to tasting press wine, it's not always glamorous, but it is real.
SAVE THE DATES
Save the Dates for November 4 and 5 if you are one of my Fresno / Central Valley customers. Those are the dates for our Harvest and New Release Party. I will send you an invitation as we get closer to the dates. The Bulldog football game is away that weekend.
David Scheidt
Proprietor / Winemaker
Released back in April of this year, the 2013 1TL D. Rafanelli Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, rated 90 points is now SOLD OUT!
Done! Finished! Gone!
Don't worry, the 2014 1TL Cabernet Sauvignon is already in the bottle and sitting tight, waiting to be released.
But it won't be released today.
If you want to be on the waiting list for your allocation of the 2014 1TL, please fill out the form below and press the SUBMIT button. I will contact you directly regarding release date and your allocation.
Another year, another Mammoth Food and Wine Experience in the books.
Rock Creek Lake
I look forward to this event each year. The Experience benefits the Mammoth Lakes Foundation. From their website:
Mammoth Lakes Foundation is dedicated to supporting higher education and cultural enrichment in the Eastern Sierra. Successes include:
I've been on a bit of a risotto kick since I got back from Italy in February. My experience at the Risottoria in Vicenza made me think outside of the box with regard to risotto. Why can't risotto be as varied as pasta?
At the start of the night, the risotto was going to be a plain, straightforward style that paired well with the main star, filet mignon. But as the risotto sat there, waiting to be finished, it struck me that normally we'd have a baked potato with all the fixings with our steaks.
Why can't I make a risotto with the customary garnishes of an American baked potato? Finish the risotto with sour cream, a heavy hand of chives and some fresh proscuitto.
My wine pairing suggestion? With the combination of filet and risotto, I'd favor straight-up Signature Cabernet Sauvignon or Superstrada, to give it the Italian influence the meal deserves.
Finished dish of risotto, filet mignon and grilled red onion and squash
Recipe:
5 tablespoons of butter
1 cup Arborio rice
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup Chardonnay
6 slices of prosciutto di Parma
1/3 cup of chives
1/3 cup of sour cream
salt and black pepper to taste
Add the butter to a medium high-heat saute pan and melt. Add the rice and cook, while stirring, for 5 minutes until the rice becomes translucent. Add the wine, increase the heat to high, and stir constantly. When the wine has been absorbed, lower the heat to medium and add a 1/2 cup of the hot chicken stock. Once the stock is absorbed, add a little more; repeat this process, stirring constantly (will take in upwards of 45 minutes), until the rice is nearly cooked. Remember, risotto is not meant to be mushy in texture, but have a hint of resistance.
When the rice is cooked, still hot and bubbling, but OFF HEAT and just before serving, add the chives, sour cream and prosciutto and stir together. Risotto is ready,
It's hot in Fresno all Summer. Real hot. 100 degrees plus. Fresno is all about backyard parties, cold beer and white wine (generally white wine, some Fresnans will put ice in red wine during the summer, I usually just pop the whole bottle in ice).
A simple cream cheese and salmon (cooked and cooled salmon, not a tartare) based dip, kept cold, is an easy appetizer to wash down with beer and wine all summer long.
The proportions in the picture below, outline the entire recipe and ingredient list. Rather than write everything down, I just shot a picture instead. Remember to juice the lemon and chop the taragon for those that take things literally. Stir everything together until incorporated.
You can scoop the dip with vegetables, such as celery or carrots, or serve with toast points or crackers. If you want your salmon dip to have a creamier texture to it, add sour cream and/or mayonnaise and a bit more salt and pepper to taste.
Cooked salmon, cream cheese, lemon juice, red onion,taragon, capers, salt and pepper - stir all ingredients vigorously until combined
Finished product, salmon dip topped with taragon
The Hunter and the salmon dip are a natural pairing
As I mentioned, more 90 point ratings in the pipeline.
The 2013 1TL bottling is a very special selection of vineyard designate fruit from D. Rafanelli Vineyard and is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. It's a bit of a monster early, but given time in cellar, will show wonderfully over the next 10 years.
I've received plenty of questions in the last couple days about the Signature Cabernet since the 2013 received 90 points.
The overwhelming difference between each of the Signature bottlings is the year harvested. 2011 was a leaner year, with more rainfall and less warm temperatures and longer hang time. 2012 was the “perfect” vintage, with virtually zero anomalous weather, plenty of warm sunshine and an abundance of fruit. 2013 was a drought year with significantly lower yields in every vineyard, thus higher concentration of fruit and flavors and picked a month ahead of the 2011.
With regard to vineyards used, in 2013, 100% of the Rafanelli crop was bottled into the 1-T-L series. The 1TL has always been a hand-selected lot of vineyard designate fruit since the first vintage in 2007 and therefore was not blended in the Signature bottling. Both the Signature and 1TL bottlings in 2013 received 90 points. The 1TL bottling is more concentrated and powerful than Signature in 2013, is pure Cabernet Sauvignon from Dry Creek Valley and a true example of terroir within a vineyard.
All three Signature wines are available, but with limited quantity, as I hold a certain portion back for retrospective tastings on development of each vintage and for wine dinner exclusives.
The Results: The 2011 wine shows more like a French styled Bordeaux wine, leaner with minerality and tobacco but without green characteristics. 2012 is the richly flavored California Cab so many people have come to identify with, while 2013 has become generous and velvety in style. Each wine will continue to develop in the bottle over the next 10 years.
I showcased three vintages of my Signature Cabernet Sauvignon at one of my tasting events recently to highlight the differences Mother Nature can impart on Dry Creek Valley Cabernet.
2011 was from the summer that never came, 2012 was the "perfect season" and 2013 was an early harvest and a warm, dry growing season. The Signature is always Dry Creek Valley fruit. It can come from various vineyards and since 2011, has been 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Three years of Signature Cabernet Sauvignon from Dry Creek Valley
These three Cabernet's are remarkably different. From lean in 2011 to plush in 2013; there's something for every Cabernet lover in this line-up.
While tasting the vertical of Signature with customers, I was asked more often than not, "Which is your favorite?". Signature has always been my project; blending from various fruit sources in Dry Creek Valley, trying not to be just another Cab that tastes like blackberries and spice. I don't think I have a favorite, what I have are three very different wines:
2011 Signature: For my palate, the 2011 tastes best with beef, plain and simple. When I'm having steak, be it rib-eye or New York, the 2011 shines brightest. Lower alcohol and higher acid is the perfect pairing with rich beef. The 2011 has been showing better each year since release, gradually maturing with its peak still a few years off. Think Bordeaux, not Napa or Sonoma Cab.
2012 Signature: The 2012 pairs best with lamb. Where the 2011 is more about minerality and austerity, the 2012 is more about macerated fruit, plums and roasted nuts. The 2012 has gone through the most changes since bottling, a moving target of flavors that have paired well with pasta initially, to burgers and pizza last year, to grilled and stewed lamb today. Something about the pronounced flavors of lamb are hitting the spot with the 2012 Signature.
2013 Signature: The 2013 is all about elegant, sexy, smooth drinkability. The 2013 seems to get consumed before dinner hits the table. I picked the 2013 fruit several weeks earlier than 2012, and not all at the same time. Layering of flavors, chewy tannins, full palate smoothness and a lingering palate have contributed to the early drinkability of this wine.
The Signature Cabernet is the only wine I hold back in inventory and release date. I want to show the evolution of style, the effects of weather, and what cellar time does to change the wine. The 2014 is already in the bottle, the 2015 is in the barrel and I'm looking to my trials on the 2015 as the 6th vintage in the series.
I'll continue to write about the evolution of the Signature wine from personal tastings and interaction with customers.
I've been hinting at this project for a while. 100% Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel from the 2014 vintage.
Before I was a Cabernet drinker, I was a Zinfandel zealot. I couldn't get enough of the stuff. Verticals of Zin took up my cellar. But around 1995, things began to change. I was buying less and less Zin, sometimes no Zin at all. Zinfandel was morphing into an alcoholic fruit bomb of a wine. Riper and riper with each passing year to the point I couldn't drink the stuff anymore.
So, I took matters into my own hands and made Zinfandel in 2014.
I decided on first pass French and American oak for the Zin; a difference from what many do in Sonoma County, favoring more neutral Hungarian and American oak. Hungarian oak is known for spice characteristics. Likewise, Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel has pronounced spice as a matter of terroir. I saw no reason to double up on the spice character of my first release of Zinfandel.
Secondly, I extended the Zinfandel aging process from a more typical 9-12 month program in oak to just over 12 months. That additional time in oak smooths out the corners, rounds the edges, and builds complexity.
I'm craving elegance in my Zinfandel. A Zinfandel that shows power, but not alcohol; rich fruit but not cooked fruit, spice but not heat.
I want to drink Zinfandel again...my Zinfandel!
The much anticipated 2013 vintage release of Superstrada, my super Tuscan styled blend, has started making the rounds among my friends and will soon be available for wider release.
The 2013 Superstrada is composed of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon and 45% Sangiovese with 100% of the grapes from hillside vineyards in Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County. The wine was combined in equal parts in January of 2014 to a combination of French, Hungarian, and American oak barrels, specially coopered to integrate oak from different forests.
Why incorporate different styles of oak? Why not just use French?
Each type of oak has unique characteristics, adding flavors and textures to the wine over time; building complexity. Superstrada will continue to mature and develop gracefully over the next 10 years, however, for those who like a more forward wine that focuses on lively fruit, this wine is ready to drink now.
The 1TL is always our most discrete bottling every year; a total of 50 cases of wine. That's it. All previous vintages of this wine are sold out.
The wine represents a specially selected single ton of fruit each harvest, designated AT harvest for the 1TL bottling. That's not always easy for me as the owner and winemaker to determine nearly two years ahead of a bottling. In the past, the 1TL has been Cabernet Sauvignon, with one exception, the 2010 1TL which was Cabernet Franc.
The 2013 1TL will be 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from D. Rafanelli Vineyards of Dry Creek Valley, 100% hillside. I am incredibly pleased to have this fruit for a second year in a row for the 1TL. Bold, black fruit, expressive tannins, full-bodied and without compromises, that's the 2013 1TL.
As we jump into Spring 2016, the first thing I get asked by customers is, "When is the white wine being released?"
Full of beautiful fruit, freshness and follow through, the 2015 Hunter is a blend of white varietals, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Muscat de Frontignan from Alexander and Russian River Valley. You won't find any green, grassy flavors in this wine. So if you like Kiwi Sav Blanc, look elsewhere.
The nose has hints of honey and lemon curd, with a palate of ripe pears and full-palate finish. The wine is neutral barrel fermented for 2 months in French barriques.
My Signature bottling from Dry Creek Valley has always been about a unique expression of Dry Creek Valley fruit; trying to go beyond just spices and blackberries.
The 2013 vintage marked another year of steady warmth and drought conditions in Dry Creek Valley. Two different Cabernet Sauvignon hillside vineyards from opposite sides of the valley were used for the 2013 Signature bottling. Both vineyard sites in these drought conditions are yielding 3 tons per acre or less in 2013; with one of the vineyards being completely dry farmed. The 2013 Signature was bottled unfined and unfiltered without additional sulphites.
The flavors are integrated, elegant and expressive. Despite the warmer, drought conditions, the fruits on the palate are black and fresh, not cooked, due to proper timing of the harvest. Deeper, back palate flavors of mocha come through along with fine grain tannin. This wine will continue to develop in the cellar for 10 years or better.
My 2014 Sangiovese was harvested from a single vineyard in the northern extremes of Dry Creek Valley. The 2014 vintage marks the first time I crafted the Sangiovese with native fermentation. In other words, I let nature take its course and did not inoculate with a commercial strain of yeast.
Native fermentation is tricky and I was a bit nervous throughout the process. However, the results prove out the benefits, in this particular case, richer flavors and a more complete finished wine. 100% of the oak used in neutral, as Sangiovese and new oak don't mix very well.
What we taste is purity of fruit and place; with a warmer climate and flavors in the wine that lend themselves to red fruits, cherry to raspberry depending upon the temperature the wine is served. The bouquet is of spice and ultra-light tobacco with a slightly floral note, but not perfume or clipped flowers.
A special note to my friends that love Pinot Noir...my 2014 Sangiovese will pair up nicely with many of the dishes that Pinot will pair with.
We pulled more than a few corks in 2015, thanks to our customers (Thanks for the picture Mary!). From our Proprietary White Wine, Pinot Noir, Superstrada, and of course Cabernet Sauvignon; I'd like to personally thank everyone who had a glass. While many of your favorites from 2015 are sold out, there are several new release wines coming in 2016.
Cork, Picture and Permission provided by Mary
The triumphant return of Superstrada is slated for release in the first quarter of 2016. The 2013 Superstrada will be a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese, exclusively from hillside vineyards in Dry Creek Valley.
Our 2015 Proprietary White Wine will be released right around Valentine's Day, and promises to be a clean, crisp white wine you'll be able to enjoy all year long.
The 2012 Sonoma County blend, the one wine that is guaranteed to never be the same blend twice, just hit the shelves in late 2015. If you want the detail on the blend and process, it's all in the fact sheet. The short story is, it's the first time I worked with Malbec from Alexander Valley. Malbec packs a punch with aromatics and back palate flavor when combined with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.
We will have our first Zinfandel released in early 2016. I found a great little vineyard in Dry Creek Valley in 2014, hand-picked and hand-sorted, I gave the wine both 1st Pass French and American oak for 18 months of aging for a full-bodied flavor, but without the sting of so many Zinfandels on the market today.
Naturally, we'll be releasing some big Cabernet and Cabernet blends in 2016, from the limited 1-T-L and Signature, along with the 2013 Cuvee of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.
Thank you again for all of your support in 2015 and looking forward to pulling some more corks (and sharing your pictures) in 2016.
It was a blast to be back down in Santa Barbara. It's holiday party time everywhere it seems and Mastro Scheidt is driving all over the state to spread some cheer! (and some Cabernet!)
Life-Long friends Joe and Dave prepare dinner (with surgical gloves on)
I had to put my apron back on for my SB trip and hooked up with my life-time friend Joe for a big spread at Hope Ranch. Lots of healthy, gluten-free and vegan salads were created, along with beef and pulled pork sliders for those with carnivorous inclinations. As for wines, the big hit was the 1-T-L Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (get it while it lasts).
I love charts and graphs. I also like statistics. As I comb through my reporting for the 2015 harvest, I wanted to share some information on the types (varietals) of grapes harvested this season from Sonoma County. We produce roughly 9 different bottled wines per season from all of the grapes we havest. The 2015 Proprietary White Wine will be released in February of 2016, while our Signature Dry Creek wine won't be released until mid-2017.
