As Monterey's largest family-owned grape growers and winemakers, the Scheid family may not be the first to see their name in person, but their grapes are used by many of the region's most prestigious wineries.
The Scheid Vineyards series is a rare wine from the Scheid family, one of the few in the United States to generate its own wind power and to be committed to sustainability, and which can usually only be purchased by visiting the tasting room.
<Limited Quantity> The Clone Series was created to highlight the nuances of Pinot Noir clones.
What does clonal mean? Grapevines in general, and Pinot Noir vines in particular, are genetically unstable and can mutate slightly over time.
Each grape variety is actually made up of many subspecies called clones.
These clones can vary in flavor, depth and color, and Scheid Vineyards grows 20 different Pinot Noir clones.
Clone 667 is a Dijon clone named after the return address of the shipping container containing the cuttings imported from Burgundy.
Because the fruit is small, it is darker in color than most Pinot Noirs and has a tannin structure that is suitable for aging.
This single-clone bottling is a sophisticated wine that displays intense color, elegant aromas, silky texture and luxurious ripe fruit flavors.
Viento, which means wind in Spanish, is a heavenly Pinot vineyard.
Morning mists, cool breezes and a longer than average growing season produce intense fruit flavours and excellent varietal characteristics.
The block where Clone 667 is planted blew us away.
The perfect balance of tannins, acidity and concentrated black fruit truly showcases the beauty of Pinot Noir.
The 2018 growing season was one of the mildest vintages in recent years.
Timely rainfall at just the right time and a cooler than average spring meant flowering was slightly delayed until June.
Then, with temperatures rising properly in August, fruit growth and pigment development caught up.
Autumn conditions were perfect with mild temperatures and no heavy rainfall, allowing the grapes to ripen slowly and steadily.
The result is a winemaker's dream: amazing fruit with incredible quality and flavor potential.
After manual harvesting, the grapes are destemmed and fermented in small open fermentation tanks, with punching down three times a day at peak season.
After primary fermentation was complete, the wine was transferred to 100% French oak barrels for secondary fermentation and aging.
After 18 months of barrel aging, the wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered to preserve its delicate aromas and rich mouthfeel.
Scheid Vineyards founder, Al Scheid, first purchased 15 acres of land on the outskirts of Greenfield, California in 1972.
At the time, wine grape growing was in its infancy in Monterey County, but Al was attracted to the region's winemaking potential.
So they consulted with Professor A.J. Winkler, an authority on grape cultivation at the University of California, Davis, who had created a climate region distribution map for grape cultivation in 1960, and gradually purchased land within Monterey County, which covers regions from Region I to Region IV, and planted grape varieties suitable for each region.
Founded by Al, Scheid Vineyards grew steadily and continued to grow with the addition of his son Scott in 1986, grape growing specialist Kurt Gornick in 1988, and his daughter Heidi in 1992.
The company now owns 12 vineyards (totaling 1,600 hectares) in the Salinas Valley, which stretches 112 km from north to south, from Region I to Region IV.
The company also built a state-of-the-art winery with a production capacity of 1.8 million cases, as well as a smaller winery for handcrafted wines, and continues to produce world-class Monterey wines.