Scherrer Winery Zinfandel Scherrer Shale Terrace

Beautifully transparent garnet color with some ruby still in the core. There's still plenty of freshness to the fruit here, but with some dried/baked fruit maturation also coming into play. Fruits are mostly red, ripe but in no way overripe, and very focused, including strawberry, red cherry, raspberry, and more subtle black cherry and black currant. There's also some smoky tobacco, very well integrated cedar and toast of oak, subtle autumn leaves starting to emerge, and various spices. The style …

Strong notes of pine intermingled with crunchy red fruit. Nice and soft, but I do prefer OMV Zin by Scherrer.

Wow, a somewhat shocking wine from Fred - I'm vastly familiar with his '05 OMV (and even Shale Terrace) and this 'Special Cuvee' truly is different! It's riper (so prepare for that) so the fruit comes across as sweeter than you'd expect, and the structure comes more from acid than tannins at this point, as the tannic structure is completely rounded off (or otherwise buried). As with most of Fred's wines that aren't ancient, it improves with some air. A …

A very light, soft and easy drinking zinfandel, we wanted to try this before buying into the 2010 futures and were not disappointed. It probably could have had another year or so of cellaring. Overall, very easy to drink with BBQ and at a delightful price.

Maybe it's a stage of development but big alcohol dominates the other characteristics that I enjoy in Fred's wines. I too prefer the "cuvee classique."

Great nose, blackberry, pine. Really nice, black berries, spice and pine.

So nice We had guests and we opened this and a Carlisle Sonoma County to compare the two. Served with BBQ chicken with Salt Lick Sauce. This Zin is more feminine than the Carlisle .... not that that is bad. Far rounder and fully integrated tannins are the watchword here. Made by a man who also makes good Pinot. All the stsndard Zin notes are here ... just more subdued. Great notes of black fruit, cassis and spice with a …

Nose of spice and flower petals. controlled fruit. Blueberries, strawberries, pear...a little spice complexity...slightly hot. Long finish. Not a ton of electric fruit up front like a bunch of other zins in this price range.