Unfortunately couldn’t make it to the Scholium tasting. I read Abe’s notes and found them enlightening…I was wondering if any WBers attended the NY or Napa tastings and can offer insight? Lots of cool-sounding wines in this release, but I have somewhat limited $$ and cellar space to allocate at this time and I’d like to use them wisely.
Nate, I attended the second napa tasting and it was as enlightening, philosophical and cold as Abe describes it. This was my first time meeting him, and hearing him make connections between his “former life” as a philosophy professor and current life as a winemaker was very thought provoking. The cynic in me would take this with a grain of salt, but at this tasting it was just right - it definitely helped spark a renewed intellectual interest in wine.
That said, the wines themselves were mixed. Obviously if you are familiar with the project, you are interested in unique wine experiences and not necessarily looking for an objective measure of the wines. Overall I always have trouble making buying decisions on wines like this because it’s so hard to compare them to anything. I would be hard pressed to say they represent good value, but I also think it’s worthwhile to support and helps me stay out of a wine funk.
For me the stand out was the skin fermented Pinot grigio which was left in barrel, untopped, outdoors for several years. The result smells and looks similar to a dry oloroso sherry, and the treatment reminded my girlfriend of making madeira. I loved it.
The white blend was also very good, with a nice richness and body carried by solid acidity. This wine was poured from a decanter filled from from two bottles. Half way through tasting and discussing this wine, Abe told us that one of the bottles was corked. If anyone noticed, they didn’t speak up. I have no idea what impact mixing corked and uncorked wine right before tasting could do, but I liked the wine. Can’t vouch for 100% tca-free versions.
The syrah from Hudson vineyard was good, but maybe because I have more context for syrah it excited me less? It’s not a buy for me at $75 but there were some deep and complex meat and earth components that make it very intriguing.
At this tasting, I didn’t care for the cinsault rose or the other white (choepheroi I think) which was intensely green and vegetal for me.