Reception:
2012 Scherrer Winery Dry Rosé, Sonoma County

Keith Malini, Riley Huddleston, Fred Scherrer at Prasino Chicago

Wagyu Carpaccio – Smoked Golden Raisin, Vadouvan Curry Crunch, Watercress

2008 Scherrer Winery Zinfandel, Scherrer Vineryard “Old and Mature Vines”, Alexander Valley.

Stems at Prasino

Spring Lamb Breast – Pea, Mint, Wood Grilled Spring Onions

2008 Scherrer Winery Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley

Scherrer Wine Dinner at Prasino

Grilled Free Range Veal - Herb Whipped Marrow, Shitake, Red Pepper Paté de Fruit, Shaved young Onions

2003 and 2006 Scherrer Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Scherrer Vineyard, Alexander Valley

Pre Dinner with Fred Scherrer

Greek Yogurt – Rhubarb, Celery

2009 Scherrer Winery Chardonnay, Helfer Vineyard, Russian River Valley.

Prasino with Fred Scherrer

Click on the map above to find restaurants and retailers that carry, or have recently carried Fred Scherrer’s wines in our fair city and suburbs.

Check out a few of the pictures below to see where Fred’s wines come from.

Fred Scherrer on a typical sales call in Chicago.  Photo: Kevin McWilliams, Candid Wines

Normally Fred brings his guitar to Chicago but this time he had a box full of samples. When he found a guitar at Senza, he let the wines, and Kevin, do the talking.

Scherrer Rose 2012 now shipping, while supplies last.

The 2012 Rosé from the Scherrer Winery arrived this morning – one of our most anticipated Rosés each year. Continuing his migration to the style of the southern Rhone, Fred made this from Grenache and Syrah only, choosing to up the amount of Grenache to 40%, and as always, fermenting it to a wonderful bone dry finish.

Spring, like this wine, has arrived in Chicago.  Grab some of both while you can.

Winemaker Dinner With Fred Scherrer Of Sonoma’s Scherrer Winery!

The Bristol, Chicago, Thursday April 18th

The Scherrer Vineyard.

We are delighted to announce that the very engaging and entertaining Fred Scherrer will be introducing his wines, and providing insight into his methods and inspirations, at the Bristol, one of Chicago’s most exciting and talked-about restaurants.

Thursday April 18th 2013

6pm Rosé Reception with Hors d’Oeuvres

7pm Dinner

The Bristol

2152 North Damen Avenue

Chicago

$110 per person all inclusive

(A few library selections will be served)

Bristol

via Last Few Spots Available: Winemaker Dinner with Fred Scherrer of Scherrer Winery: Thurs 4/18/13 at The Bristol, Chicago!.

View Flickinger Wines’ entire selection of Fred’s bottlings on their site:

http://www.flickingerwines.com/growers/ScherrerWinery.aspx

Amy Lafontant and the team at The Bottle Shop in Wilmette have sold more wines from Fred Scherrer than anyone in the state, and it will be a pleasure to launch Fred’s 2013 trip to Illinois with a tasting on Tuesday, April 16th at the store from 6-8 PM.

We hope to see many old and new friends, and we know that many of you have bottles of Fred’s age worthy wines stashed away in your cellars.  Come taste what’s new (and old) from Fred.  As we often do, we’ll bring a bottle from our cellar to remind you of how well the wines age…probably an older Zinfandel…

Fred does everything by hand at the winery and he is famous for his attention to detail.   Check out this short video where Fred shows how he puts the wine into every bottle that he produces!

Can’t make the tasting?  There are a lot of other Candid Wines on the shelf at The Bottle Shop.  Here’s a sampling of what is currently in stock:

Domaine de la Louvetrie “Domaine” Muscadet

Domaine de la Louvetire “Amphibolite” Muscadet

Domaine Guiberteau Saumur Domaine Blanc

Peybonhomme Les Tours Blanc

Peybonhomme Cru Bourgeois

Scherrer Winery Zinfandoodle

Scherrer Winery Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Keller Riesling Trocken

Yorkville Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon

Stop in to grab a bottle to take home, or have the staff open a bottle for you and enjoy it with a plate of cheese in-store. Don’t forget to challenge Amy to a game of ping-pong!

Looking for an outpost for good wine in the Wicker Park/Bucktown neighborhood? Look no further then Joe’s Wine Cellar located at 2108 W. Division Street. Joe’s Cellar is full up with some fine selections from Candid Wines, that you can pull off the shelf or, if you’re in luck, try at the wine station.  Grab a friend and grab a glass, or bring a book and work on your a dissertation. Whatever floats your boat. Regardless, you’ll be glad you did it.

Currently you can find the following wines from our portfolio at Joe’s Wine Cellar:

Tenuta Santome Extra-Dry Prosecco

Domaine de la Louvetrie Domaines Muscadet

Weingut Huff Kerner Halbtrocken

Keller Riesling Trocken

Keller Spatburgunder Trocken

Cosimo Maria Masini Sincero

Domaine Bourdic La Sentinelle

Nuevo Mundo Carmenere

Domaine Guiberteau Domaine Rouge

Les Chesnaies Chinon Les Terrasses

Chateau Peybonhomme Les Tours Blanc

Chateau La Grolet Tete de Cuvee

Scherrer Winery Syrah

Jasci Pecorino Atteso

&Co. Supernatural Sauvignon Blanc

Yorkville Cellars Hi Rollr Red

Perhaps most stunning to me is the fact that the wine list has no fewer than 11 examples of Romain’s Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc from Domaine Guiberteau, including multiple vintages of each single vineyard offering, magnums, library offerings, and the “Domaine” wines.

I believe that this means that Grace boasts one of, if not the most complete offering of the wines of Romain Guiberteau anywhere in the world, barring the winery.

Given the amount of work that has already gone into the restaurant and the amount of work that will go into the creation and service of every dish, I thought it appropriate to share an image of what ones’ hands look like after harvest at the Domaine.

Artisanal Wilmette

Please stop by and say hello to our new friends Ray and Marsha Presavento at Artisanal Wilmette. A recent conversation with Ray about the dinner he had the night before with a glass of Porter Creek Old-Vine Carignane left me salivating. It’s obvious that this man is passionate about food & wine, and everything in between. They approached us with the vision of providing their customers and neighbors with a selection of exclusively domestic wines, and we were happy to stock the Happy Room with Porter Creek Old-Vine Carignane, Scherrer Winery Zinfandoodle, and two everyday necessities – Girasole Hybrid Red and Muscat Canelli. While you’re there don’t forget to grab one of the massive dog bones from the butcher counter for your four-legged friend at home!

Inside Artisanal Wilmette

Alder Springs Syrah at City Winery

The winery is led locally by Robert Kowal who has more than a decade of experience as a winemaker in Oregon at Bethel Heights, among other spots.  He has also traveled the world, which at makes for some interesting conversation as one sorts through grapes and picks out stems and leaves.  Shoot, I’d probably have paid them to let me do it if I wasn’t asked to come, something you can do if you would like to learn first hand how the winemaking process works.

Today’s work involved processing the Syrah from whole clusters in a bin to individual grapes in the fermenting tank.  Along the way, the clusters are sorted removing all leaves and raisinated grapes, then they are destemmed, and then the grapes are sorted again by hand before being lifted into the fermenting tank, where the video below ends.  Note how many attentive hands are sorting through the grapes.  This happens at small wineries all over the world and is just one step in the winemaking process where attention to detail and a careful human touch yields wines that are rewarding to drink.  I loved that the crew this morning was mostly staff from City Winery Chicago.  Hand’s on training at its best.

I was part of this process in 2006 when I worked at harvest with Fred Scherrer in Sonoma County at the Scherrer Winery.  Few are better than Fred at explaining the mysteries of wine, from chemistry to food pairing and it was during that trip that I started making videos.  My goal remains to capture winemakers answering the myriad questions that arise whenever the nitty-gritty of wine is discussed.  In one of the earliest videos I made,  Fred explained the steps that we completed at City Winery Chicago today; sorting and de-stemming:

Over the course of ten days to a few weeks, the grapes in the fermenter and the juice they contain will be transformed into wine while extracting color and tannin from the skins during what is called maceration. After that, the resulting wine will be separated from the remaining seeds and skins and pumped into barrel. Here again, you can follow the process and learn from Fred Scherrer as he explains what happens next:

If you enjoy this sort of thing but are not lucky enough to live in wine country, I’d suggest giving City Winery a call and finding out more about their programs.  Meantime, take a look at Candid Wines’ video series called “Ask a Winemaker” on YouTube to learn from winemakers from all over the world.

Thanks for the invite, Rachel!

Damien

PS – Some Viognier arrived from Alder Springs as well, and as is traditional in the Rhone valley in France, it will be added to the Syrah and co-fermented, helping to boost the aromas of the finished wine and lock the red color of the Syrah grapes into the wine.  It does not appear in this video simply because it went through the sorter after I had to leave.

PPS – The music in these videos is composed and performed by Fred Scherrer himself who keeps a collection of guitars and amps at the winery for stress relief and a creative outlet!