You can call Screaming Eagle a cult wine if you want, but the true wine cult on this continent is the Scholium Cult, led by winemaker Abe Schoener. The New York cult had its gathering last night, complete with with secret instructions to wait at a non-descript grey door on Essex Street, the secret password (so secret we still don’t know what it was), and a two flight climb, which we were told to make single file, up to a private apartment. 50 people jammed in to taste 10 wines and listen to cult leader Schoener spend an hour discussing his wine-making techniques. Whole cluster fermentation, ripped skins, pump over versus punch down versus battonage versus climbing into barrels, to sulfur or not to sulfur, low intervention, controlling acid levels naturally, minerality, ripeness, residual sugar, stuck fermentation, the importance of drainage, St. George root stock, romatic but overrated hillside vineyard locations, North Form Sauvignon Blanc, fermentation on lees, not racking in advance, blending graoes, blending barrels of the same grapes, evaporation rates in wood bottles, large barrels versus small barrels, oxidation, barrel aging, bottle aging, malolactic fermentation, neutral barrels and limited new oak, and a lot more things I have forgotten.
Unfortunately, Abe’s penchant for obscure unpronounceable Greek names, coupled with his bad busienss sense that caused him not to have order sheets at the tasting, makes posting notes more difficult. I am seeking an accurate list of names of the wines and hope to post details later. For now . . .
Babylon - In the past, this has been an intense Petite Sirah head banger that has uber-flavor without flabby over-extraction. This year’s is a little different, with intensity but delicacy at the same time. More approachable now. Meatiness and red fruit flavor with tanins that are softer than in the past but that last on your tongue for a long time.
La Severita di Bruto Farina - This is a great Sauvignon Blanc. I spent last Sunday on the North Fork tasting Sauvignon Blanc and although those were good, this was far superior. Complex flavors with flkoral components, guava and other tropical fruits, with citrus orange in the background. No weedy greenness.