Road Trip!
I gotta be honest: When I see those black wheeled boxes come out of the closet, I pretty much freak out. I can sense the tension rising as personal items are stacked neatly inside and toiletries are left on the countertop for later inclusion. My people are off again, and I wonder what’s going to become of ME?
I make my presence known, scampering underfoot and breathing heavily. With a little yip, I convey the question that’s top of mind: Can I come? Can I? Can I, huh?
They’ve taken to calling me “FOMO Boy,” as in Fear of Missing Out, and I suppose I am. I always want to go along for the ride. My favorite place is by their side.
So you can imagine my glee when she turned to me and said, “Don’t worry. You’re coming, Buddy.”
Where to seemed irrelevant, but the place we went was oh, so gloriously amazing!
Most everyone who goes to the wine country is familiar with the drill: Pull into a charming chateau-style property, surrounded by rows and rows of perfectly placed wine bushes awash in autumn sunlight. The colors of gold and green at the end of the harvest are nothing short of breathtaking. Taking a seat on the inevitably lovely deck or patio, we sit back and relax as little pours are brought to the table, each with an explanation of the nose, the body, the flavors, and the character of the wine to be imbibed. Matrix was like this. A beautiful spot in the Dry Creek valley, where our sommelier Matt took wonderful care of my people and even had a treat for me!
Enjoying a glass of wine at Matrix
Our next appointment was a far cry from the usual winetasting experience. A dirt road delivered us to a ramshackle warehouse with antique equipment littered across the property. Our host, in tattered jeans and a well-worn t-shirt, greeted us from his perch on his forklift, where he was loading cases of wine onto a FedEx truck.
Meet Fred Scherrer, a one-man band when it comes to the creation of some of the best wine the wine country has to offer. Even white wine drinkers have to agree that the full-bodied flavors tickle the taste buds without the tannin or afterbite that normally keeps them off the red.
With master winemaker Fred Scherrer, who does it the old fashioned way!
No fancy tasting room here. After showing us his hundred-year-old grape crushing equipment and the lunch room he generously dubbed the tasting lab, where he had set up glasses of various varietals he planned to combine into the perfect blend, Fred plopped three glasses on top of a stack of cases of wine – our “table.” No vineyard views here. Just the oak and stainless steel barrels, and so many cases of wine that it’s hard to imagine Scherrer produces just 6,000 cases per year. But Fred is just one guy, after all. And he does it all himself, from bringing in the crop, to crushing the grapes, to creating the blends that produce the best $34 bottle known to California. Heck, he even bottles and labels the wine himself.
No doubt our two-hour visit took him from important duties. A UC-Davis viticulture graduate, Fred’s father and grandfather before him made wine the old-fashioned way, just like he does.
And why not? The result is exquisite.
I’m just hoping a drop or two of the two cases we brought home wind up on the floor, where I can savor a sniff or a taste.