Scholium Project Tasting with Abe Schoener

Karring_Moan · October 21, 2014, 5:28pm

Last week was Clos Saron with Gideon, and this coming Monday, I will be going to a Scholium Project tasting with Abe Schoener here in Minneapolis. Once again I have no experience with this winery, but it was highly recommended by a couple of people. Any lovers (or non-lovers) out there who want to throw in their 2 cents? Just wondering what the WB crowd thinks.

I must admit that it is kind of nice to have a wine bar within walking distance that puts on these tasting/talks.

k.

JoeD · October 21, 2014, 5:59pm

Hi Karring - Abe’s wines are definitely interesting. Some to my liking, some not. All interesting. Have fun, Abe always makes the evening fun.

Nolan_E · October 21, 2014, 6:27pm

Get ready for lots of VA.

Bob_Cuozzi · October 21, 2014, 6:53pm

Karring, you should have a very interesting experience. Abe is a fascinating individual and lots of fun to listen to and talk with. The wines are all over the place in my experience… But when they are good they are wonderful. But they are not for everyone… Minimal intervention, long fermentations, sometimes quite orange wine like for the whites, the Reds can have some significant VA on occasion. But the event will be anything but boring. Please post your notes… Cheers, Bob

Jim_Cowan · October 21, 2014, 7:28pm

What Bob said.
One of the guys that pushes the envelope.
Best, Jim

Theodore_Anderson · October 21, 2014, 10:31pm

I had a pretty lame experience at a Scholium event in Denver. I arrived, fairly hungry, at a nice restaurant to find a packed private dining room and was told there would be no food available during the event. There were also no dump/spit bins offered because of some bacchanalian reasoning that I didn’t follow. Abe began by discussing the reading we were assigned before, which I did not receive despite using my contact info to buy the ticket. We tasted maybe 6 wines over the next several hours (only 3 of which were his(!), the others were decent, if inexpensive/pedestrian, and purchased that day at the Boulder Wine Merchant). At one point during the “lecture” Abe’s laptop battery died and things actually improved as the evening became less like a literary PhD recitation, and more interactive and fun. At the end, Abe reluctantly answered a few winemaking & philosophy questions before I rushed out to the dining room to get some food. There were no Scholium wines available on the list. $80 later and I still don’t know much about these wines, but am fairly well educated about Abe’s take on several biblical and Roman mythological stories.

Chris_Seiber · October 21, 2014, 10:55pm

Theodore Anderson:

I had a pretty lame experience at a Scholium event in Denver. I arrived, fairly hungry, at a nice restaurant to find a packed private dining room and was told there would be no food available during the event. There were also no dump/spit bins offered because of some bacchanalian reasoning that I didn’t follow. Abe began by discussing the reading we were assigned before, which I did not receive despite using my contact info to buy the ticket. We tasted maybe 6 wines over the next several hours (only 3 of which were his(!), the others were decent, if inexpensive/pedestrian, and purchased that day at the Boulder Wine Merchant). At one point during the “lecture” Abe’s laptop battery died and things actually improved as the evening became less like a literary PhD recitation, and more interactive and fun. At the end, Abe reluctantly answered a few winemaking & philosophy questions before I rushed out to the dining room to get some food. There were no Scholium wines available on the list. $80 later and I still don’t know much about these wines, but am fairly well educated about Abe’s take on several biblical and Roman mythological stories.

Wow! Thanks for sharing that PSA with the board.

Glenn_L_e_v_i_n_e · October 21, 2014, 11:43pm

I’m saddened to read the metaphysical lecture series was a bummer in Denver. We have spent magical nights with Abe and other friends on many occasions, most recently a directed tasting of Eben Sadie’s wines in Abe’s backyard!

Please let us know how Minneapolis goes.

TomHill · October 22, 2014, 12:40pm

Yup…agree here. Sorta all over the map. I’ve had some I thought were brilliant. And some that left me scratching my head
in puzzlement. Don’t recall any that I thought were high in VA, though. Some a bit oxidized.
Tom

TomHill · October 22, 2014, 12:47pm

Theodore Anderson:

I had a pretty lame experience at a Scholium event in Denver. I arrived, fairly hungry, at a nice restaurant to find a packed private dining room and was told there would be no food available during the event. There were also no dump/spit bins offered because of some bacchanalian reasoning that I didn’t follow. Abe began by discussing the reading we were assigned before, which I did not receive despite using my contact info to buy the ticket. We tasted maybe 6 wines over the next several hours (only 3 of which were his(!), the others were decent, if inexpensive/pedestrian, and purchased that day at the Boulder Wine Merchant). At one point during the “lecture” Abe’s laptop battery died and things actually improved as the evening became less like a literary PhD recitation, and more interactive and fun. At the end, Abe reluctantly answered a few winemaking & philosophy questions before I rushed out to the dining room to get some food. There were no Scholium wines available on the list. $80 later and I still don’t know much about these wines, but am fairly well educated about Abe’s take on several biblical and Roman mythological stories.

Probably pretty much the same lecture I heard him give at StJohn’s in SantaFe. Fortunately, the battery didn’t give out (or maybe unfortunately).
His lecture was on “Wine & Mythology” and it was pretty much/mostly over my head. I’m just sorta a nuts&bolts engineer/dweeb and don’t have the
background in liberal arts to grasp a lot of it. What did surprise me was that his “lecture” consisted almost entirely of a slide show from his laptop
and him reading the slides. Not what I expected from a (former) StJohn’s prof.
I’ve interacted 3-4 times w/ Abe at RibollaFest in Napa and, one on one, he’s a very engaging guy & I’ve learned a lot from him. I like Abe a lot.
His wines…“interesting” pretty much sums it up.
Tom

Daniel_McIntosh · October 22, 2014, 12:57pm

TomHill:

Theodore Anderson:

I had a pretty lame experience at a Scholium event in Denver. I arrived, fairly hungry, at a nice restaurant to find a packed private dining room and was told there would be no food available during the event. There were also no dump/spit bins offered because of some bacchanalian reasoning that I didn’t follow. Abe began by discussing the reading we were assigned before, which I did not receive despite using my contact info to buy the ticket. We tasted maybe 6 wines over the next several hours (only 3 of which were his(!), the others were decent, if inexpensive/pedestrian, and purchased that day at the Boulder Wine Merchant). At one point during the “lecture” Abe’s laptop battery died and things actually improved as the evening became less like a literary PhD recitation, and more interactive and fun. At the end, Abe reluctantly answered a few winemaking & philosophy questions before I rushed out to the dining room to get some food. There were no Scholium wines available on the list. $80 later and I still don’t know much about these wines, but am fairly well educated about Abe’s take on several biblical and Roman mythological stories.

Probably pretty much the same lecture I heard him give at StJohn’s in SantaFe. Fortunately, the battery didn’t give out (or maybe unfortunately).
His lecture was on “Wine & Mythology” and it was pretty much/mostly over my head. I’m just sorta a nuts&bolts engineer/dweeb and don’t have the
background in liberal arts to grasp a lot of it. What did surprise me was that his “lecture” consisted almost entirely of a slide show from his laptop
and him reading the slides. Not what I expected from a (former) StJohn’s prof.
I’ve interacted 3-4 times w/ Abe at RibollaFest in Napa and, one on one, he’s a very engaging guy & I’ve learned a lot from him. I like Abe a lot.
Tom

Hard to imagine a lecture at Sunfish. The one (low end) Scholium wine I’ve had was so acidic I poured it down the drain.

Karring_Moan · October 22, 2014, 1:28pm

They have regular class and lecture events in that upstairs above the wine shop. It’s ok, but with a laptop/projector set up it might be a bit awkward.

k.

DougS · October 22, 2014, 4:57pm

Theodore Anderson:

I had a pretty lame experience at a Scholium event in Denver. I arrived, fairly hungry, at a nice restaurant to find a packed private dining room and was told there would be no food available during the event. There were also no dump/spit bins offered because of some bacchanalian reasoning that I didn’t follow. Abe began by discussing the reading we were assigned before, which I did not receive despite using my contact info to buy the ticket. We tasted maybe 6 wines over the next several hours (only 3 of which were his(!), the others were decent, if inexpensive/pedestrian, and purchased that day at the Boulder Wine Merchant). At one point during the “lecture” Abe’s laptop battery died and things actually improved as the evening became less like a literary PhD recitation, and more interactive and fun. At the end, Abe reluctantly answered a few winemaking & philosophy questions before I rushed out to the dining room to get some food. There were no Scholium wines available on the list. $80 later and I still don’t know much about these wines, but am fairly well educated about Abe’s take on several biblical and Roman mythological stories.

I attended one of these lectures a while back and absolutely loved it. It seems that your problem had largely to do with not understanding what the event was. When I signed up, it was very clearly explained online, I think right on his website. It was clearly stated that it was not a tasting or a dinner, and that many of the beverages poured would not be Scholium Project wines, as well as the nature of the lecture (stated as “lecture”, never “tasting”). Also, the non-Scholium wines (and Sake) that Abe supplied were wonderful, and certainly not inexpensive/pedestrian by any definition. Maybe he didn’t find exactly what he wanted at that store. Anyway, everyone at the one I attended here in Boston seemed to know what they were in for and to really enjoy the event.

Theodore_Anderson · October 22, 2014, 5:41pm

Yes, it’s clear that I did not understand what the event was. The webpage is 404 now, but I remember a short paragraph with the theme listed as “TBA” and no mention of the fact that we would only taste a few small pours of Scholium wines (the other wines were an eastern European field blend, maybe a Gemischter Satz(?) and an Abriga Barbaresco). I do think that hosting an event at an upscale restaurant without explicitly stating that not only will no food be included, but space will not allow any food to be presented, is misleading. Given the content and focus, a lecture hall at DU may have been a better stage.

That said, it seemed like the organization was fairly poor, and there were likely email updates/instructions that I simply did not receive which tainted my perception of the whole event.

Keith_Levenberg · October 22, 2014, 5:57pm

I went to one of the metaphysical lectures and it was one of the most fascinating and rewarding wine events I’ve ever been a part of. Literally everything that disappointed Theodore about the event was very clearly explained on the Scholium web page announcing the tour.

Theodore_Anderson · October 22, 2014, 6:09pm

Managed to dig it all up:

the Metaphysical Lecture Series

Here is the Metaphysical Lecture Tour. Each Lecture will also be a tasting, and will be limited to at most 30 participants, depending on the venue. As I develop each topic for each city, I will send you a brief email. After each event, insofar as any Lecture has a text, I will post it, with the wines served. I will always allow plenty of time for questions and conversation-- in a certain sense, that is the only point of the lecture: to spur a certain kind of drinking and discussion at once.

I will charge for these Lectures, to cover the costs of the wines and the venue. And I will pour as much wine as I normally would-- and not all of the wines will be Scholium. I have not picked the wines for the first lecture yet, but I will post them when I do, and you are welcome to email me to check back.

The central text will be the story of Odysseus and the Cyclops. We will explore the relation of wine to cheese, and focus especially on loss, preservation, and collecting. The wines will to some degree trace the recent history of California winemaking.
The event will culminate in a a question period and we will serve wine throughout. The wines will be paired not with certain dishes but with certain metaphysical questions. I have not set the wines yet, but you may return to this page to check for updates.
The event will be limited to 32 participants.

Gideon · October 23, 2014, 1:53am

Wish I could be there.

Karring_Moan · October 23, 2014, 2:48am

Ha! I wish you could be there too.

k.

Steve_Anderson · October 23, 2014, 4:44am

My wife and I attended the Metaphysical Lecture Tours in LA the past two years and also had a great time. We knew what we were getting into, and that half of the wines would not be Abe’s, but wines that were inspirational to him (Knoll Gruner was one). There were reflections on Ancient Greek Philosophy related to his background as a professor, but much of the two events we attended had more to do with how he became a winemaker and how his background fit in to that. “Thinking and Drinking” is an apt title for the MLT events.

The MLT is over, so I presume this will be a straight forward tasting event. I am a fan of his wines overall, but mostly the Syrahs and Chards. The older wines, including the '02 Sylphs Chard/Scheria Syrah and 04 Scheria Syrah are drinking very well in my opinion. I attended the barrel tasting Abe had in LA a few months back in August and presume this event will be a tasting of most of those wines, now in bottle. Abe spent a minute or two talking about each of the wines, and a bit about his background, but no lecture or slides. I enjoyed all the wines quite a bit, including Syrah, Zin, Cab, Pinot, Sauv Blanc, Chard, Cinsault and Petit. Those who have not tried them recently may find them very different than from a few years ago. Some may still push the envelope in some way, but of the 33 bottles I’ve opened over the past four years (according to CT - again mostly chard and syrah), VA has never been an issue in the wines I have had. As Tom mentioned, some of the wines are made in an oxidative style, with the Sylphs and Matthiasson Chards perhaps leaning a bit more toward Jura than Napa/Sonoma. We like that style, but your mileage may vary.

I’d attend with an open mind/palate, have fun, and then form your own opinion. There are so many different wines, that there are sure to be some you will enjoy, and maybe one or two you won’t depending on the style of wines you prefer.

Cheers!

Steve

Pat_Martin · October 23, 2014, 10:19pm

Theodore Anderson:

I had a pretty lame experience at a Scholium event in Denver. I arrived, fairly hungry, at a nice restaurant to find a packed private dining room and was told there would be no food available during the event. There were also no dump/spit bins offered because of some bacchanalian reasoning that I didn’t follow. Abe began by discussing the reading we were assigned before, which I did not receive despite using my contact info to buy the ticket. We tasted maybe 6 wines over the next several hours (only 3 of which were his(!), the others were decent, if inexpensive/pedestrian, and purchased that day at the Boulder Wine Merchant). At one point during the “lecture” Abe’s laptop battery died and things actually improved as the evening became less like a literary PhD recitation, and more interactive and fun. At the end, Abe reluctantly answered a few winemaking & philosophy questions before I rushed out to the dining room to get some food. There were no Scholium wines available on the list. $80 later and I still don’t know much about these wines, but am fairly well educated about Abe’s take on several biblical and Roman mythological stories.

Yes, and the profundity of the goat’s, not cow’s, milk in the cave of the Cyclops