A number of months in the past, I had the chance to go to Scheid Household Wines based mostly in Monterey County, California with a purpose to assist have a good time their 50th anniversary. Household owned and operated, the vineyard was based in 1972 and is estate-driven with sustainably licensed vineyards. The vineyard and bottling operations are powered by 100% renewable wind vitality, due to their 400-foot tall wind turbine which additionally provides vitality to houses within the native space. Throughout the Scheid portfolio are Scheid Vineyards, Sunny with a Probability of Flowers, District 7, Ryder Property, Metz Highway, VDR and Stokes’ Ghost. In addition they produce regionally distributed manufacturers for purchasers and distributors.
Throughout my go to to Scheid’s tasting room and manufacturing facility on Hobson Highway in Greenfield, I tasted a plethora of intriguing wines, had a tour of the property and met the gregarious Casey Di Cesare, Scheid’s winemaker. His backstory is compelling. Whereas at UCLA, Casey was a Division 1 Pole Vaulter and Decathlete in addition to the New York State document holder within the Pole Vault. After graduating from UCLA, he was a private coach to “the celebrities” in Santa Monica and labored with the actors in Los Angeles and London to arrange them bodily for Star Wars: The Pressure Awakens. In addition to his present winemaking function at Scheid, Casey is married and has two little women – one is 10 months outdated and one other is due in April of this yr.
Following are the outcomes of a latest dialog about quite a lot of subjects – benefit from the learn!
Casey Di Cesare (CDC): I’ve been at Scheid since 2017. I’m the winemaker specializing in our premium tier wines and specialty initiatives, together with natural manufacturing, low alcohol wines, glowing and canned merchandise.
GE: How did you get into the winemaking enterprise?
CDC: I began my winemaking journey in Paso Robles, California working within the cellar as a winemaking intern and cellar rat, then shifting on to get my Masters in Enology from Cornell College. After getting my diploma, I landed a job as assistant enologist at Scheid Household Wines in 2017. I labored my method as much as Winemaker in 2020 to work on modern initiatives like native fermentations and low alcohol wines.
GE: What’s your philosophy or model in winemaking?
CDC: I attempt to make one of the best wine doable by way of curiosity and clever effort.
CDC: Two of my finest mentors have been Dave Nagengast and Dr. Gavin Sacks. Dave impressed and gave me the chance to enter the wine trade. His degree head and considerate angle have allowed me to develop as a person, chief, and winemaker. I’ve realized the ins and outs of the wine trade from him.
Gavin is an extremely sensible and modern thinker. He challenged the way in which I take into consideration and clear up issues, which has been instrumental to my success at Scheid. Each of their steering and inspiration at numerous levels in my life have formed my outlook and profession trajectory.
Dave Nagengast at Scheid Vineyards
GE: I used to be excited to style the Sunny with a Probability of Flowers low alcohol wines – they have been scrumptious!
CDC: Thanks! It took quite a lot of effort and time to develop these wines. I requested our gross sales and advertising staff about the way it’s doing and so they let me know that Sunny is the quickest rising “Higher for you” model within the Whole US[1], with our Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir main the cost.
So far as ageing potential, the wine nonetheless has all of the traits as a traditional bottle, simply much less alcohol. By our present shelf-life trials, these wines are holding as much as their full alcohol counterparts. The wine is made to drink now however can positively age to the identical diploma as some other bottle of wine. Our first vintages of Sunny are nonetheless tasting lovely. https://sunnywines.com/
CDC: Not like most wine areas, Monterey County has a variety of local weather zones. In actual fact, it’s the solely appellation that may lay declare to having all 4 of the premium climatic zones, areas I – IV as outlined by the Winkler scale, inside its boundaries. What this implies is that throughout the Monterey AVA, there are sub-regions that match the climates of Champagne, Chablis, Burgundy, Bordeaux, Rioja, and Sicily – to call just a few. This permits our winegrowers to develop and produce a variety of varietals at a world-class high quality degree.
All of those varietals profit from the vary of climates and are influenced tremendously by our highly effective afternoon winds. The “blue canyon” of Monterey Bay (because the underwater, deep submarine gorge is thought) cools and billows a sea of morning fog down the Salinas Valley. Because the fog recedes again to the bay, the desert warmth of Paso Robles pulls 20+ knot winds down the valley, creating prolonged hangtime for all the attractive Monterey fruit. This permits the grapes to gracefully mature by way of the rising season to create distinctive and balanced wines.
GE: Close to your 2016 Reserve Claret, I keep in mind you acknowledged that it’s “Outdated World with New World aptitude.” Are you able to elaborate?
CDC: For me, we get the depth and complexity of an outdated world wine, with some riper fruit notes and a mix of oaks that give it a brand new world twist.
GE: Are you able to describe a few of the variations between the Metz Highway Chardonnay and Pinot versus the Scheid wines portfolio?
Metz Highway Chard and Pinot are each centered solely on Riverview Winery and its distinctive terroir. It’s an exploration of what makes Riverview so nice, and this implies utilizing strategies like native yeast fermentation and doing fermentations out within the winery.
CDC: Sustainability is a company-wide worth which is all the time prime of thoughts. Within the vineyards we’re composting, limiting our passes by way of the vines by having tractors with a number of instruments, and utilizing expertise like agrothermal—which helps with vine well being and limits our sprays. Our vineyard is 100% powered by our wind turbine, we’ve got skylights for pure gentle in our cellar, and compost all of our grape pomace.
GE: How was the 2022 classic yr?
CDC: 2022 was a lighter crop this yr, however colours and flavors have been good. The season began and ended early. We had a warmth wave in early September which accelerated ripeness, however that typically ended up being useful for many of our fruit.
GE: 2022 was the 50th anniversary of Scheid. The place do you see Scheid going within the subsequent 50 years?
CDC: With all our sustainability efforts, I feel we’ve got set ourselves as much as have continued success and progress over the following 50 years. I really feel our enterprise will proceed to develop, whereas nonetheless sustaining our high quality and concentrate on showcasing one of the best of Monterey.
CDC: Household, mates, cooking, and {golfing} are my different passions/hobbies. It’s nice once I can mix all of them collectively!
GE: Do you’ve gotten any favourite Scheid wine and meals pairings?
CDC: Our Scheid Vineyards Barbera with Thanksgiving Dinner is my favourite pairing.
Thanks, Casey!
Cheers! ~ Cindy
[1] IRI L52wk ending 6/12/22, “Higher For You” Manufacturers scanning in IRI: Sunny, Fitvine, Cupcake Lighthearted, Kim Crawford Illuminate, Yellow Tail Pure Vivid, Liquid Mild, Avaline, Lifevine, Thoughts & Physique, Matua Lighter, Babe 100, Barefoot Vivid & Breezy, Cense, Starborourgh Starlite, Brancott Flight Tune, Evenly, & Evenly.
