TN: 2004 Scholium Project Scythia Donati Vineyards

WINE TALK
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  • 2004 Scholium Project Scythia Donati Vineyards - USA, California, Central Coast, San Benito County (4/12/2012)
    Ode to a wine never to be produced again. The syrah vines that yielded this wine, perched as they were on a windswept hilltop, were decapitated and replaced with pinot grigio after this harvest. Too bad. [cray.gif] Popped and poured for dinner with Indian food. This is a very well-made wine which mixes minerality with moderate fruit and some tannic sharpness, but not a lot. There is almost a cabernet component in the background. To me, this shows no signs of tertiary aging flavors, but does reflect a softening of a bit of the fierceness of its youth. I drank this followed by a 2007 Cayuse Syrah, and the difference was dramatic - no apparent sweetness and no explosive blueberry. Instead, there was light cherry, pepper, perhaps a bit of allspice, and light blueberry. As Abe says in his note on this wine: “Scythia is the land of nomadic barbarians; the Greeks and Romans longed to dominate it because of its fertility, beauty, and mineral wealth-- but it was impossible for them to conquer because the Scythians would never hold still.” This wine has perhaps just now decided to hold still and makes a wonderful sensory experience. (92 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

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Nice. Big fan here as well. Luckily I have secure a bakers dozen for visiting with friends and quiet Sundays.

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You guys are killing me. I opened our last bottle at Thanksgiving, and I so wish I had a few more. Just reading Jay’s note, I can taste that wine’s signature quality, a deep savory richness, with a profound soy/umami quality. Great stuff.

The story behind the wine is sort of comi-tragic. Abe scouted the vineyard for Pinot Grigio for Luna, and found the Syrah that way. Luna bought all the PG, prompting the vineyard’s owner to graft the Syrah over to PG as well. Thus, Abe’s vineyard-hunting skills led to both the discovery of the Syrah and its demise!

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Has any one-off ever inspired so many threads? I have 6-8 bottles remaining having somehow only consumed one this winter. Current cold rain could lead to one more being uncorked methinks…

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Not sure if anyone reads some of the tns around here, but I had the 2009 Quivet Las Madres about 6 weeks ago and had I had it blind I would have pinned it for this Scythia when young. Just saying.

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Abe is the King of the One Offs. Somewhere burried in my cellar is a remaining bottle of Sandland. I stashed it when I got it with the idea that some day I would open it and see if any fruit had emerged from what was a one-off highest minerality ever wine from a vineyard so close to the ocean that they ripped it up.

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Just adding to one of the 8-10 TN threads on Scythia (Lord please don’t let the number of 2012 Caymus threads eclipse this wine’s record) by stating yes, this wine does make things worthwhile.

Ink, blood and hint of tampanade in the nose then dark fruit/plums + mouth-coating tannins just screaming for the filet that’s a comin’. In a word, animale.

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3.5 years since this last post and I’m not sure we had a bottle in 2017 so we remedied this tonight.

Opened a wee bit oxidized in the nose but this old wine smell blew off. This bottle was very resolved and actually took awhile to wake and strut it’s stuff. Last glass was best with animale & meats galore but overall this is very even-handed currently.

Enjoyed in big Burg stems (not preferred for Syrah) with grilled local lamb chops, Brussels Sprouts & poached pears.

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Love me some Scholium Project with some age on it. Incredible wines when they’re on.

Good stuff Glenn!

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Replaced Syrah with Pinot Grigio?

SMDH.