TN: 2005 Scholium Project Cena Trimalchionis Farina

WINE TALK
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  • 2005 Scholium Project Cena Trimalchionis Farina - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Mountain (12/24/2009)
    True to form, this is a bone dry wine with botrytis and the flavor, but not the sweetness of honey. A bit of tart apple and pear as well, with perhaps a whiff of tropical fruit. I have had no other wine like this and it is the perfect pairing for Chinese food - better that Gewurztraminer. (92 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

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I have two of these. Looks like it it time to try one!

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OK kids. I took one for the team. Just coravinned this from a winebid purchase. Had to see what it would do.

Not the “2” just the regular cena.

P&P

Honeyed mild funk on the nose; like a muted cantaloupe with a whiff of lighter-fraction nail polish; perhaps a pentyl ester of some kind. The smell is not strong but it lingers in a good way. It says “I am complex but old”. Is this what unsweetened botrytis metabolite smells like?

The palate upon opening is much less interesting. A little like a fino mixed with a flat cider. This has started to turn; not BAD undrinkable, but definitely past its prime.

I will report back after giving it some air.

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After p&p goes very well with hard swiss cheese (“alp blossom”) almost calvados-like pairin with that cider note. Better than just by itself.

Other cheesy experiments not so great: Overpowered by cheddar, or reblochon and clashes nastily with even a mild blue cambozola. (compare say to a sauternes, whose botrytis/sweteness pairing sing with said blue)

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An hour of air does not improve things; the nose muted, the wine more one-dimensionally acidic.

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Check back in another 16 years?

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I remember that wine very well from back in the day. It was amazing, a Ah Ha wine for a friend of mine. She kept saying, “I didn’t know wine could smell like this”. 20 years seems like a lot to ask from it.

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Some you win…

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Named after John Cena and Dennis Farina?

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ask abe but here is the sheet

https://www.scholiumwines.com/library/2005/2005_cena.php

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One of my all time favorite wines. And one I can identify blind 100% of the time.

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Have you had any of them recently (last 3 years)? Did any stand up?

This particular bottle of 05 did not, alas.

I mean, I could try decanting (coravin) a glass for hours but my intuition says that this is volatiles driven. What’s left isn’t so good (but I am happy to be proven wrong!)

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I think so. Out of over 100 bottles I had one partially corked 375 all of the others have been great.