Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/912565
60 / the tasting panel / december 2017 COVER STORY leveraged all our resources, as much as we possibly could, and if that had not worked out for us we would have found ourselves liquidating a lot of the assets and shrinking our management team. We'd have all been looking for work. So, there's been this series of calculated risks, and I'm really proud to have been a part of solving those problems by actually assembling teams that have made major contributions to all of that." In retrospect, Al can't help but mull over how things could have unfolded differently during those early years. "The correct way of getting into this industry is growing grapes for a mini- mum of 20 years before you make any wine, then once you start making wine, you should sell it to other wineries, because they're heavier task masters than the consumers," he explained. "After you sell the bulk wine to winer- ies, you make your own wine, put a label on it and try to sell it. Distribution is one thing, but still, at that point there are a lot of problems behind you. You know how to grow grapes. You know how to produce good wine. Now the trick is to sell, but at least you've got a good product. I wish to God I could say I sat down and worked out all this stuff, but I didn't." "LUXURY WINEMAKING ON A LARGE SCALE" Today Scheid Vineyards consists of 4,000 acres of grapes certified sustain- able by the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance that span more than 70 miles of the Salinas Valley. Bejeweled along this lengthy strip of Monterey wine country are eleven estate vineyards, all planted appropriately to four different climate zones. The cooler, breezy Monterey AVA boasts one of California's longest growing seasons. Taking advantage of this is a 400-foot-high wind turbine (which generates more than enough power to cover the winery's needs) and 39 different varieties of grapes planted, not to mention an astonishing 20 different clones of Pinot Noir. That's probably one of the reasons why the Scheid Vineyards Reserve Pinot Noir is now one of my favorite Pinot Noirs out of Monterey—they've got a lot of options. Constructed in phases from 2005, the winery and bottling operation offer what multiple employees proudly describe as "luxury winemaking on a large scale." The winery processes the equivalent of 2 million cases annually and boasts a crush capacity of about 35,000 tons of fermentation. "This winery really matches the quality of fruit we have coming from Monterey," CEO Scott Scheid said, raising his Al Scheid watches as his son Tyler gives a punch-down demonstration in the open top fermenter. Metz Road 2015 Chardonnay and 2015 Pinot Noir from the Riverview Vineyard in Monterey.