Your Custom Text Here
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.
I love watching movie trailers. A good friend was at ComicCon updating me on what's coming out this year and next; lots of DC, Marvel and Disney (you know, the company that owns Star Wars) stuff.
Not to be left out of the trailer game, The Scheidt Brothers, in association with One Take Productions (what we call ourselves when we produce a goofy video) put together a Harvest Trailer for this season. My brother and I have been doing these fun little skits since we were kids. And like many trailers, I wasn't afraid to embellish... a lot! Please be kind, it's my first video production. Remember, goofy video, serious wine. Enjoy!
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:
My friends and I have been sous vide crazy this summer. We've even tried to sous vide an artichoke (not that I'd recommend it).
I didn't do much cooking for this dinner, I have childhood friend John to thank for the sous vide lamb. Lamb leg was the next logical candidate for the sous vide machine. Leg of lamb generally has a long, slow cooking time anyway, so it makes sense to use a little science and cooking together. There is no real recipe for sous vide leg of lamb, other than cooking time, which was 9 hours. We finished it on a charcoal fire for some color and additional flavor.
Sous vide lamb leg with roasted peppers
For me, what made the entire meal pop were the green beans. Chinese influenced green beans were the contrast to all the richness in the meal. The salty umami heat in the sauce made me want to have another bite of lamb and another sip of Zinfandel. It was a virtuous circle of eating.
I can't take credit for the green beans, John's wife Falina prepared the dish, in addition to the roasted potatoes, one style with feta the other with proscuitto.
1 package Fresh green beans (you know, the ones that come in the bag, cleaned)
1 tablespoon Fresh chopped garlic
1/4 cup Shaved almonds
3 tablespoons Soy sauce
1 tablespoon Chili paste
3 tablespoons Canola or Peanut Oil
Blanche your green beans in boiling, salted water for about 30 seconds.
Have a large, hot saute pan ready to combine all the ingredients above for a quick, high heat saute (unless you're lucky enough to have a commercial wok in your house). The saute pan should NOT be overloaded with green beans. It's better for this dish to split the green beans in two or three batches, so that the pan stays screaming hot and the cooking process stays hot, this is wok-style cooking in a non-commercial home kitchen.
There is such a place. It's just off Highway 395 nestled in at 5,200 feet. I've been to a few patio parties there in the last couple years. For this party, I prepared a couscous salad, along with my tri-tip beef skewers.
Here's the recipe for the couscous salad:
Cooked Couscous
4 cups Couscous
4 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
2 teaspoons salt
½ cup olive oil
Follow package instructions for the cooking of the couscous.
After couscous is cooked, let cool on an oiled large sheet tray so that the couscous can be worked over by hand. Using your hands (kitchen gloves make this easier and less messy), make sure the couscous is coated in the olive oil. Break up any clumps of couscous with your hands. This will prevent it from clumping up later if you are making your couscous in advance and it sits. Couscous should be “light and fluffy” not clumpy and starchy.
For the dressing
1 small handful of fresh mint, chiffonade
4 red bell peppers, minced
10 green onions, minced
½ cup Olive oil
½ cup Rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Ras el Hanout (to be found at places like Trader Joe’s and Cost Plus)
1 teaspoon salt
Combine all the dressing ingredients in a large bowl and allow ingredients to marinate together for an hour. This will help soften the edge of the bell peppers and green onions.
Combine Couscous and Dressing
Combine the cooled couscous and the dressing together in the large bowl. You can serve immediately or hold for a couple hours at room temperature.
If I may be so bold, grilled tri tip skewers and couscous salad pair really well with my Cabernet Cuvee. Yes, that is a picture of several red wines kept cool on ice. It's 100 degrees in Paradise at 5pm in the summer, I wouldn't want to drink my red wine either if it were "room temperature"!
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.
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.
As much as I'd like to think I don't have a pattern or a routine, I'm as guilty as my parents for being somewhat habit bound. Thanks to some online tools at Wordclouds.com for figuring this out, I seemed to write and post in 2015 about:
As a winery owner who travels a lot around California, I suppose it's not so bad that I'm spreading the word about Dry Creek Valley, Cabernet and Sangiovese in towns like Mammoth Lakes, Healdsburg and Fresno.
So it seems only natural in this blog post to have you check out our Signature Cabernet Sauvignon from Dry Creek Valley!
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.
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.
There has been some real outrage regarding the cargo short; referred to as "a deadly plague" by some in the fashion community. Others treat the cargo short more fairly.
I come to the defense of the cargo short, specifically in the work environment. As a working winemaker, I've stuffed all manner of items in various pockets throughout the harvest. On the crush pad, we win wine awards for wine making, not fashion.
The picture and list below is by no means exclusive or exhaustive. It was a picture taken one day with the things I was using that day. Refractometer, lighters, and a fine mesh strainer have been in my pockets too. And yes, women and men both wear cargo shorts on the crush pad.
1. Surgical tubing - Helpful for siphoning wine from one barrel to another barrel or keg
2. Spray bottle - Filled with grain alcohol, it's good for cleaning things (not drinking, well maybe)
3. Whisk - Wanna mix some yeast?
4. Infrared thermometer - point and shoot in C or F
5. Tape measure - tanks needs a tape measure to figure out the volume of wine in them
6. Cork screw - Duh!
7. Box cutter - Breaking down cardboard, cutting plastic, shrink wrap, yeah, you need a box cutter
8. Sample containers - juice and wine are always being sampled and these are the smallest the lab will take
9. Mini-flashlight - wanna look inside the bung hole? Of course you do.
10. Bungs - when you're finished with your flashlight, use these. One is for fermentation.
11. Wine Thief - When you wanna do a barrel sample, this is the tool for the job.
12. Tri-clover and gasket - ubiquitous around the winery
13. Leaky Barrel Fix it Kit includes wooden skewers, diagonal cutting pliers and a ball peen hammer
14. Bin/Barrel/Tank Label and Marking Equipment. One can never have enough Sharpies
15. Box Tape Roller - useful for boxes (not pictured, Duct Tape, because we used it all)
16. Finished Barrel Tagging - index cards, staple gun and Sharpie. Some winemakers use envelope labels.
17. Hand Held Density Meter - for daily brix and temperature testing
18. Fuel - There is a lot of wine made on Energy Bars and Cheap Beer (sorry craft beer enthusiasts)
"He who labors diligently need never despair;
for all things are accomplished by diligence and labor." Menander
First off, I’d like to thank each of my friends and relatives who came to Healdsburg to visit me during the harvest; to view what happens behind the scenes and participate in this unique moment, Harvest 2015. A special thanks to my brother John and father T.L. for their early morning efforts.
Harvesting wine grapes, in the moment, is romantic, primal, and laborious. Harvest is unique to the season and begins a series of actions and reactions until the wine is finally uncorked and consumed.
Beyond the romantic and primal urges of harvest, the job of wine making is having an adaptable understanding of process, labor, environment, science, and art; these are the components of wine making. Understanding how to make wine is not enough. Having the ability to be adaptable to the changing nature of each and every harvest combined with the constant evolution of the wine in barrel and bottle is the diligence and labor.
I only have one chance each harvest to get the whole process right.
In these pictures, I’ve captured some of the labor, diligence, process, art, science, character and a smile or two, during the most primal and romantic time of year, harvest.
David Scheidt
Picker, Sorter, Tester, Hauler, Long-Haul Driver, Crusher, Taster, Barrel Washer, Bin Cleaner
Owner and Winemaker
Early in Spring, it's time to start visiting the vineyards, checking rainfall amounts and noting the time on when the vines "wake-up" from their winter sleep.
The 2015 season marked another year of drought in California. While Dry Creek Valley received over 20 inches of rain in the 2015 season, it wasn't enough for many of the vines continued shortage of water.
Just beginning the growth cycle in Dry Creek Valley.
There is no substitute for vineyard walks, you can't just "phone it in" with your vineyard manager. Walking the rows is healthy for you and the results in the bottle.
I successfully fermented the Sangiovese on 100% native yeast this year and I'd like to thank them for their cooperation.
My Ford Focus not only sees about 40,000 miles per year on the highway, but a few miles of dirt roads in Alexander and Dry Creek Valley each season. My rig got pressure washed about an hour later.
I'm usually given a travel companion by one of my younger family members; this time it was Thor. I'm the purchaser of various hydration and caffeinated products. The addition of potato chips is a rare site in my vehicle.
I walk all of my vineyards personally for field testing sugar. It is also a chance to taste throughout the vineyards, part science part art.
Those tiny berries are showing me something, dimples. The the faintest dimple, giving me a visual clue in this water depleted vineyard, that the grapes are ready to pick.
It's Cabernet Sauvignon days away from being picked. The tiny berries pack a lot of flavor.
Dry Creek Valley is wine country! The views from the hillside vineyards I choose for my wines are the best in the region.
You've got to get out and taste the grapes, not just test the grapes. Seeds and the pulp around them are another indication of ripeness, so taste often.
For our white wine blend.
For some vineyards, we pick and haul our own fruit. TL readies the truck for the harvest.
John positioning the truck for the harvest
There is no substitute for labor.
Early in the morning is the best time to pick
Yes, I pick, haul, sort, crush, and taste Cabernet Sauvignon.
David and John taking a look at the continuing task of picking grapes
Roughly 1000lbs of grapes in that single bin
The owner and winemaker, David Scheidt decided to pose for the camera, briefly, during our pick of Cabernet Sauvignon.
The last few hauls of Cabernet going into the bins
Trying to get whatever leaves we can out of the bins before the crushpad
The results of our pick in Dry Creek Valley
Each half-ton of grapes is dumped onto a belt and shaker table system to throw out everything from leaves to bad grapes.
This is the simple system for labeling the bins, grapes, vineyard, and winery for all the fruit that comes onto the crushpad.
A few pictures of color from recently fermented Sangiovese
Skins from Sangiovese just before they go into the press
Sangiovese fresh off the press
A little crush pad fun and my nickname
Wine, safe and secure in the underground cellar
American Oak is not the boogeyman!
I've been fortunate enough to hear Ridge winemaker Eric Baugher speak at Fresno State a couple times. Yes, we get to try his wines from the estate property in the Santa Cruz mountains and the Lytton Springs wines as well, but just hearing the stories and his insights are invaluable moments not just for the students, but for me as well.
One thing that I've focused on during his presentations is the use of American oak on Ridge wines. It's a methodical examination of American oak on Ridge wines over decades. Not anecdotes of American oak usage, but example after example of the how and why of American oak.
Too many American winemakers simply dismiss American oak as an inferior product, or are bemused by American oak as they speak of some deep forest in France they've never visited. Sadly, consumers buy into the simple notion that there is nothing beyond aging American wine in French oak.
Currently, I use a mix of American, French and Hungarian oak for aging my red wines. A majority of the oak I use is American. The American oak comes from various forests in Minnesota, Kentucky, Missouri, and Pennsylvania. The oak from these forests can be cured/aged between two and four years before final toasting and assembly into wine barrels. Toasting is another factor in the flavor profile of wine, as the toasting length, depth and methodology is different at each cooperage and can be specified by the client (me).
John Scheidt barrel tasting
I'm always learning more about the barrels I use and the coopers I choose for my wines. Even the ritual steam cleaning technique that I use on my barrels effects longevity, malolactic fermentation, and flavor profile.
Various combinations of forest, grain, machine or hand-cut wood, cooperage, toasting level, age of oak, head and stave combinations, type of varietal and length of time in barrel all effect a winemaker's decision process. Nothing is static. The days of a lower-quality homogeneous coconut-vanilla pronounced American oak are behind many American winemakers who have chosen to demand better and by working with American cooperages to develop world-class American barrels for our best wines.
