Scratch is a project of Winemaker Sabrine Rodems producing small lot Blanc de Blanc, Brut Rose, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Grenache, and Cabernet Sauvignon from Monterey, Arroyo Seco, Santa Lucia Highlands, and Santa Cruz Mountains AVA’s.
The Vineyard
Ventana Vineyard is located in the gravely river basin of the Arroyo Seco. The rocks, fondly called ‘Greenfield Potatoes’, are a part of a well-draining soil basin. The radiating heat from the rock surfaces help the canopy retain heat for ripening. The Riesling and Grenache Scratch sources from this vineyard reflect the minerality of those rocks in their aroma and flavor.
This Grenache Noir is big and bold. Compote of plum, black cherry and black berries with spice and earth. This wine fills your mouth with juiciness and flavor that will stand up to bold food and friends. Stop, sit down, and have a glass!
Specs
100% Grenache fermented in 10% new French Oak and 15% New American Oak.
This Grenache Noir shows the subtlety that single varietal Grenache can only show. Black cherry and black berries with spice of clove and nutmeg with an elegant touch of sagebrush on the finish! Classic and complex with enough weight for lamb and steak but also fresh enough for seafood.
Specs
100% Grenache fermented in 10% new French Oak and 15% New American Oak.
Scratch is a project of Winemaker Sabrine Rodems producing small-lot Chardonnay Sparkling, Riesling, Grenache, Pinot Noir and Cabernet from Monterey, Arroyo Seco, Santa Lucia Highlands and Santa Cruz Mountains AVA’s.
Sabrine received her Bachelor’s degree from UCLA in Theatre, Film and Television and worked in the film and theatre industry for many years before deciding to go back to school to earn her Master’s of Science in Viticulture and Enology from UC Davis. For the past twenty years Sabrine has been making highly acclaimed wines from some of the best vineyards in California.
Working in the Central Coast and Monterey area has given her access to some of the best cool climate grapes in the world.
“What I love most about Monterey, the Arroyo Seco, Santa Lucia Highland and the Santa Cruz Mountains is that I have four geologically different sites at my fingertips. Getting to work with bench Pinot Noir and river bed Riesling and Grenache, and Coastal Cabernet makes my work exciting and the wine exciting as well. Winemaking is the best of both worlds the amalgamation of science and art.”
Available States
AL, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
This wine comes in a tinted bottle with a natural cork, and has an interesting artwork on the front of a lady wearing a cold weather ushanka hat (certainly a stark contrast to the spring lilacs that are blooming now!).
The label has more detail than typical on the back about the specs of the wine and where it came from.
I was unable to find any prior listings on casemates, so I think this may be the first time this has been offered for sale here.
I must say the wine itself is quite pleasant. It is lightly peppery (on both the nose and palate), and has a distinct dark cherry scent. On the tongue it is velvety and I find myself holding it in my mouth longer than usual to enjoy the taste and ‘feel’. I think this is likely at or near its peak drinking point right now.
It’s medium-bodied and has minimal legs on the side of the glass, and really does come through as a cherry or maybe raspberry quality (though without the cloying sweetness); it does dry out my mouth on the back end but while drinking it the feel is balanced. (The ph is at the higher end of what you typically see which may have something to do with that)
At this price this seems like a decent value. I’ll be keeping an eye on this vintner!
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations).
2019 Scratch Wines Arroyo Seco Grenache - $110 = 33.32%
This is Sabrine Rodems the Winemaker and owner of Scratch. This wine retails for $35 in my tasting room in Carmel Valley. $420/case. So this is a huge deal.
@WinemkrSabrine Sabrine - thanks for chiming in on here - winery participation helps to boost the conversation and hopefully sales! I would love to try your Grenache but looks like I will be traveling when the wine is scheduled to arrive so will miss put this time unless I can come up with a plan B!
@ctmariner My pleasure. I have an event today from 11-4 but will try to check regularly. SLH event today.
I love both of these Grenaches. The 19 is more sophisticated and pretty and the 21 is a little more brazen. I love the 2019. I actually think it is in its sweet spot for drinking. Single varietal Grenache ages so gracefully.
Typical red wine pHs in California wines are 3.5-3.8 so this wine is in the middle. European reds can be lower in pH because we can get our fruit riper here. But this day and age even European reds fall in this bracket.
A few tidbits about me. I have been making wine for 23 years and this will be my 24th harvest in 2026. always weird to say out loud. I got my MS in Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis in 2004 and am also the Winemaker for Wrath Wines making wine from the SLH and Monterey for my entire career. Super open to any and all questions.
@WinemkrSabrine fellow Bruin here! Graduated in ‘94 and have fond memories of north campus, Bunche hall, sculpture garden…the list can go on forever lol
Question about your wine: we are huge Grenache and Pinot drinkers here but prefer the leaner cool climate version of Grenache. The description says this one is heavier and bolder how would you describe it?
On a side note I visited winery row in Carmel (that’s what I call it anyway) five or so years ago and enjoyed Chesebro very much! I recall their wines being on the leaner acid driven side of things. Is my memory correct? What’s your winemaking style? Thanks again
@losthighwayz My BA from UCLA was in Theater Film and Television, so I was a North Campuser as well!! Miss the Jacarandas in the Sculpture Garden.
I am a big fan of Grenache from Spain and South America as well. I like it when it goes from being younger and fruity/spicy (like the 2021) to being more sophisticated and pretty, tea, sage brush, etc (like the 2019). It would be interesting for you to purchase both and compare.
I pick my fruit at normal midline Brix 23-25 in California with good acid, and then we pump over to get maximum extraction. I am not a long hang time person.
@losthighwayz I forgot to mention ChdP wine. I love them too and the one thing ChdP and Arroyo Seco have in common is the rocky vineyard. Arroyo Seco is a dried river bed, and although our rocks aren’t as big as the ones in ChdP they are like a large russet sized potato. We call them Greenfield Potatoes. These rocks help with heat radiation into the micro-climate of the canopy which allows for maturity and ripening without losing as much acidity that you would get from direct sunlight.
@losthighwayz@WinemkrSabrine This confused me - I’ve been to Arroyo Seco several times and it’s usually insanely hot. It seems hard to imagine needing extra retained and reflected heat from the rocks to get the grapes ripe.
@klezman@losthighwayz it really depends on the time of year that you are in a Arroyo Seco, we get our first heat spike typically at Labor Day, but Grenache is a late ripener so we don’t see full ripening numbers till the third or fourth week of September, we have been having very mild summers lately, but often after our heat spike, we get a cooling trend that sucks the air down the Salinas Valley from north to south and we cool off quite a bit in the evenings. We have very big diurnal swings in this valley because of this. This Grenache comes from Ventana’s property which is the north end of Gonzales.
We tried to keep the canopy pretty dappled light so we get warming in the micro climate when you have fruit that is partly shaded, I would rather have ripeness come from the temperature in the micro climate of the canopy versus direct sunlight on the fruit. You get ripeness without losing as much acid.
@klezman@losthighwayz I guess a more simple way to put it is that reflective heat from the rocks allows me to get ripening earlier to retain acid and avoid damage from direct sunlight.
@losthighwayz@WinemkrSabrine I guess if you’re far enough into the valley and away from the wilderness (where I’ve spent my Arroyo Seco and Ventana time) that makes sense to me. Salinas Valley fog can be intense!
My label artist is Eddie Colla. He does public art as well as commercial. He currently lives in Paris but I met him years ago at his studio in Oakland. The piece on my Grenache label is called “Fur Hat”. Check out his work at www.eddiecolla.com
My 2 cents: Sabrine Rodems is a wonderful human being and her wines reflect that. The Scratch tasting room in Carmel Valley is well worth a visit, and very much worth the side trip/detour if you are already in Monterey or thereabouts.
All of her wines are fabulous, too!
Lab rat checking in, albeit a bit late! It was a long week, and I was in bed before the offer went live.
On Monday my SO and I received notification of an incoming rat bottle! We received the bottle on Wednesday and promptly placed it in our cellar to rest for a day and a half after shipping.
We typically enjoy old-world and restrained dry reds, gravitating to bottles 10+ years past vintage. We do not drink much Grenache, but do enjoy Rhone style and GSM blends, so this bottle with 7 years of age is right in our wheelhouse!
Onto the review!
The label is fun and the bottle has a nice weight to it. The capsule is thick foil covering the natural cork. Overall, the bottle exudes quality; let’s hope the juice inside lives up to the packaging!
Pulling the cork we found a decent amount of sediment.
Uh oh, I laid this down on its side upon arrival and rolled it on the table for the pictures of the label, so any sediment will more than likely be well agitated. I double-decanted back into the bottle for the sediment and to minimize oxygenation of the wine as we plan to taste it over a couple of days. There were traces of sediment in the decanter, so that will probably impact the tasting.
To get an initial PnP assessment, my SO grabbed a couple ounces of wine while I was decanting mid-stream. The wine is fairly vibrant and ruby colored, with mild bricking towards the edges. There was a little bit of sediment in the glass, but not as much as I initially feared. Initial smell was huge amounts of cherry even as the wine was being decanted. In the glass, the wine had a boutique of sweet red fruit, cherry, and maybe some chocolate, with no noticeable alcohol or other unpleasant scents.
First sips confirmed the red fruit with dark cherry and blackberry, along with some slight minerality. The flavor was bold and juicy with medium+ acidity. The wine is dry and has a medium short finish with low tannin, but the finish is very pleasant.
Drinking a few more glasses over the next 3 hours allowed the wine to settle down a bit. The nose remained fantastic with a lot of cherry and possibly some chocolate. It continued to drink very smoothly and took on some secondary notes, possibly bramble and oak. The wine is nicely integrated and very enjoyable.
We corked the remaining half bottle and placed it in the fridge to have this evening to see how it evolves.
Overall, we both agreed we would be very happy picking up this bottle locally for $25, so the casemates price represents good QPR. If you enjoy fruit forward reds with some age, this would be a great pickup! Thanks to everyone at Casemates and the winemaker for the chance to share our experience with this bottle!
Sorry I got interrupted. For low interventions wines like I make, tartrates (crystals) are normal and harmless. It’s just potassium. It’s a natural part of making wine. Enjoy!!
Scratch Wines Arroyo Seco Grenache
The Vineyard
2019 Scratch Grenache, Ventana Vineyard, Arroyo Seco
Tasting Notes
Specs
2021 Scratch Grenache, Ventana Vineyard, Arroyo Seco
Tasting Notes
Specs
What’s Included
2-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
Not for sale on winery website, $660/case MSRP
About The Winery
Available States
AL, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Tuesday, May 26 - Wednesday, May 27
2019 Scratch Wines Arroyo Seco Grenache
2021 Scratch Wines Arroyo Seco Grenache
2 bottles for $54.99 $27.50/bottle + $4/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $219.99 $18.33/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
Lab Rat Report for 2021 vintage Scratch Grenache
This wine comes in a tinted bottle with a natural cork, and has an interesting artwork on the front of a lady wearing a cold weather ushanka hat (certainly a stark contrast to the spring lilacs that are blooming now!).
The label has more detail than typical on the back about the specs of the wine and where it came from.
I was unable to find any prior listings on casemates, so I think this may be the first time this has been offered for sale here.
I must say the wine itself is quite pleasant. It is lightly peppery (on both the nose and palate), and has a distinct dark cherry scent. On the tongue it is velvety and I find myself holding it in my mouth longer than usual to enjoy the taste and ‘feel’. I think this is likely at or near its peak drinking point right now.
It’s medium-bodied and has minimal legs on the side of the glass, and really does come through as a cherry or maybe raspberry quality (though without the cloying sweetness); it does dry out my mouth on the back end but while drinking it the feel is balanced. (The ph is at the higher end of what you typically see which may have something to do with that)
At this price this seems like a decent value. I’ll be keeping an eye on this vintner!
/giphy outbound-putrid-sound
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations).
2019 Scratch Wines Arroyo Seco Grenache - $110 = 33.32%
This is Sabrine Rodems the Winemaker and owner of Scratch. This wine retails for $35 in my tasting room in Carmel Valley. $420/case. So this is a huge deal.
@WinemkrSabrine Sabrine - thanks for chiming in on here - winery participation helps to boost the conversation and hopefully sales! I would love to try your Grenache but looks like I will be traveling when the wine is scheduled to arrive so will miss put this time unless I can come up with a plan B!
@ctmariner My pleasure. I have an event today from 11-4 but will try to check regularly. SLH event today.
I love both of these Grenaches. The 19 is more sophisticated and pretty and the 21 is a little more brazen. I love the 2019. I actually think it is in its sweet spot for drinking. Single varietal Grenache ages so gracefully.
Typical red wine pHs in California wines are 3.5-3.8 so this wine is in the middle. European reds can be lower in pH because we can get our fruit riper here. But this day and age even European reds fall in this bracket.
A few tidbits about me. I have been making wine for 23 years and this will be my 24th harvest in 2026.
always weird to say out loud. I got my MS in Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis in 2004 and am also the Winemaker for Wrath Wines making wine from the SLH and Monterey for my entire career. Super open to any and all questions.
@WinemkrSabrine fellow Bruin here! Graduated in ‘94 and have fond memories of north campus, Bunche hall, sculpture garden…the list can go on forever lol
Question about your wine: we are huge Grenache and Pinot drinkers here but prefer the leaner cool climate version of Grenache. The description says this one is heavier and bolder how would you describe it?
On a side note I visited winery row in Carmel (that’s what I call it anyway) five or so years ago and enjoyed Chesebro very much! I recall their wines being on the leaner acid driven side of things. Is my memory correct? What’s your winemaking style? Thanks again
@losthighwayz My BA from UCLA was in Theater Film and Television, so I was a North Campuser as well!! Miss the Jacarandas in the Sculpture Garden.
I am a big fan of Grenache from Spain and South America as well. I like it when it goes from being younger and fruity/spicy (like the 2021) to being more sophisticated and pretty, tea, sage brush, etc (like the 2019). It would be interesting for you to purchase both and compare.
I pick my fruit at normal midline Brix 23-25 in California with good acid, and then we pump over to get maximum extraction. I am not a long hang time person.
@losthighwayz I forgot to mention ChdP wine. I love them too and the one thing ChdP and Arroyo Seco have in common is the rocky vineyard. Arroyo Seco is a dried river bed, and although our rocks aren’t as big as the ones in ChdP they are like a large russet sized potato. We call them Greenfield Potatoes.
These rocks help with heat radiation into the micro-climate of the canopy which allows for maturity and ripening without losing as much acidity that you would get from direct sunlight.
@losthighwayz @WinemkrSabrine This confused me - I’ve been to Arroyo Seco several times and it’s usually insanely hot. It seems hard to imagine needing extra retained and reflected heat from the rocks to get the grapes ripe.
@klezman @losthighwayz it really depends on the time of year that you are in a Arroyo Seco, we get our first heat spike typically at Labor Day, but Grenache is a late ripener so we don’t see full ripening numbers till the third or fourth week of September, we have been having very mild summers lately, but often after our heat spike, we get a cooling trend that sucks the air down the Salinas Valley from north to south and we cool off quite a bit in the evenings. We have very big diurnal swings in this valley because of this. This Grenache comes from Ventana’s property which is the north end of Gonzales.
We tried to keep the canopy pretty dappled light so we get warming in the micro climate when you have fruit that is partly shaded, I would rather have ripeness come from the temperature in the micro climate of the canopy versus direct sunlight on the fruit. You get ripeness without losing as much acid.
@klezman @losthighwayz I guess a more simple way to put it is that reflective heat from the rocks allows me to get ripening earlier to retain acid and avoid damage from direct sunlight.
@losthighwayz @WinemkrSabrine I guess if you’re far enough into the valley and away from the wilderness (where I’ve spent my Arroyo Seco and Ventana time) that makes sense to me. Salinas Valley fog can be intense!
My label artist is Eddie Colla. He does public art as well as commercial. He currently lives in Paris but I met him years ago at his studio in Oakland. The piece on my Grenache label is called “Fur Hat”. Check out his work at www.eddiecolla.com
@WinemkrSabrine
My wife and I really enjoyed the bottle art, almost as much as the wine! Well done!
@knlprez thank you so much. If you come to my tasting room in Carmel Valley you can see my art collection.
My 2 cents: Sabrine Rodems is a wonderful human being and her wines reflect that. The Scratch tasting room in Carmel Valley is well worth a visit, and very much worth the side trip/detour if you are already in Monterey or thereabouts.
All of her wines are fabulous, too!
@BenessereMatt thanks Matt
Hopefully someone will rat the 2019
@losthighwayz
Just posted, sorry for the delay!
2019 Scratch Grenache, Ventana Vineyard, Arroyo Seco
Lab rat checking in, albeit a bit late! It was a long week, and I was in bed before the offer went live.
On Monday my SO and I received notification of an incoming rat bottle! We received the bottle on Wednesday and promptly placed it in our cellar to rest for a day and a half after shipping.
We typically enjoy old-world and restrained dry reds, gravitating to bottles 10+ years past vintage. We do not drink much Grenache, but do enjoy Rhone style and GSM blends, so this bottle with 7 years of age is right in our wheelhouse!
Onto the review!
The label is fun and the bottle has a nice weight to it. The capsule is thick foil covering the natural cork. Overall, the bottle exudes quality; let’s hope the juice inside lives up to the packaging!
Pulling the cork we found a decent amount of sediment.
Uh oh, I laid this down on its side upon arrival and rolled it on the table for the pictures of the label, so any sediment will more than likely be well agitated. I double-decanted back into the bottle for the sediment and to minimize oxygenation of the wine as we plan to taste it over a couple of days. There were traces of sediment in the decanter, so that will probably impact the tasting.
To get an initial PnP assessment, my SO grabbed a couple ounces of wine while I was decanting mid-stream. The wine is fairly vibrant and ruby colored, with mild bricking towards the edges. There was a little bit of sediment in the glass, but not as much as I initially feared. Initial smell was huge amounts of cherry even as the wine was being decanted. In the glass, the wine had a boutique of sweet red fruit, cherry, and maybe some chocolate, with no noticeable alcohol or other unpleasant scents.
First sips confirmed the red fruit with dark cherry and blackberry, along with some slight minerality. The flavor was bold and juicy with medium+ acidity. The wine is dry and has a medium short finish with low tannin, but the finish is very pleasant.
Drinking a few more glasses over the next 3 hours allowed the wine to settle down a bit. The nose remained fantastic with a lot of cherry and possibly some chocolate. It continued to drink very smoothly and took on some secondary notes, possibly bramble and oak. The wine is nicely integrated and very enjoyable.
We corked the remaining half bottle and placed it in the fridge to have this evening to see how it evolves.
Overall, we both agreed we would be very happy picking up this bottle locally for $25, so the casemates price represents good QPR. If you enjoy fruit forward reds with some age, this would be a great pickup! Thanks to everyone at Casemates and the winemaker for the chance to share our experience with this bottle!
Is anyone in the Denver metro area ordering a case? I would be happy to split if so!
Thanks for your review. For low interest
Sorry I got interrupted. For low interventions wines like I make, tartrates (crystals) are normal and harmless. It’s just potassium. It’s a natural part of making wine. Enjoy!!
Sabrine is one heck of a winemaker - purchase with confidence!