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> Zinfandel is often thought of as an American grape because over 50% of the world's Zinfandel is grown in California, but in the 1990s it was discovered to be genetically identical to the Croatian grapes Turjenac Kastelanski and Tribidrag.
It was first introduced to California during the Gold Rush in the 1850s and is now the fourth most widely planted tree in the state.
Known for their small size and dark skin, they have a high skin-to-juice ratio, resulting in rich, concentrated flavors.
The 2018 Zinfandel offers ripe, juicy aromas of blackberry, plum and black cherry with subtle hints of cardamom and allspice.
And the smooth medium body is complemented by integrated tannins that lead to lingering notes of spice, mocha and sweet oak.
Our own vineyard, San Lucas Vineyard, is located in southern Monterey County.
This is a picture-postcard vineyard with gorgeous rolling terrain, sunny days and cool nights - perfect climate conditions for growing the highest quality fruit.
Zinfandel grows in large, tight bunches that ripen inconsistently, making harvest decisions difficult.
Our vineyard team's patience, attention to detail and selective hand-picking ensures that we deliver perfectly ripe fruit.
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.
The grapes are harvested by hand into small containers, and upon arrival at the winery they are destemmed, crushed and then placed into small fermentation tanks.
During fermentation, the foamy cap of skin and seeds that forms on the surface is punched down twice a day.
The juice is left on the skins for approximately two weeks and then gently pressed into stainless steel tanks.
After allowing the heavy solids to settle, the wine was racked and placed into barrels for secondary fermentation and maturation.
It is then aged for 18 months in barrels made of 83% American oak and 17% Hungarian oak.
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.