Taken To School By Little Brown Bottles Of Gewurztraminer

…so I was at my buddy Michael’s house talking about wine (just another Saturday afternoon), and my Napa trip came up. Michael suddenly lept from his chair and could barely contain himself as he asked “Dude! Did you go check out the Scholium Project?” I was like… “I beg your pardon?”

It sounded like a science-fiction story by Ray Bradbury, bu as it turns out, Scholium Project is a small winery just East of Napa, run by wine maker Abe Shoener. According to Vinfolio, Schoener’s specialty is partnering with small growers with eccentric terroirs throughout Sonoma and Napa. And Scholium by the way is Greek for school or scholar, though my research revealed that Abe doesn’t follow the books when it comes to making wine.

According to this great article by Eric Asimov at the New York Times, “No winery in California is more unconventional, experimental or even radical than Scholium. Half the wines it makes in any given year are exquisite. The other half are shocking and sometimes undrinkable. All of them are fascinating, which is exactly the way Mr. Schoener wants it.” He describes the range of the wines produced at Scholium “..from massive and far out to almost classically delicate” and says “…to call Scholium Project a winery and its proprietor, Abe Schoener, a winemaker is a little like calling Salvador Dalí a painter. It’s true, but it does not begin to capture his visionary character.”

Now mind you, this is all information I found out after my taste of the 2008 Scholium Project Riquewihr, Lost Slough Vineyard, which is a Gewurztaminer bottled in little brown 500ml port bottles. I furrowed my brow upon Micheal’s popping of the cork.

I don’t consider myself a ‘gewurzt guy’, I’ve had a couple here and there at Thanksgiving etc. But I’ll always take a taste. I poured myself a glass of this one, and life would never be the same.

The nose was like no wine I’ve ever smelled before. There were sweet peaches, but it was thick and somehow chalky? I furrowed my brow again. I took a good sip and swirled it around… This wine is HEAVY in your mouth.. thick and heavy-cream-like. The flavor was sort of a citrus-y peachy honey thing, with a finish that lasts about an hour and a half. As I type this, I’m not sure how that reads, but to be clear: I LIKED THIS WINE. ALOT. It was pretty rad, actually. Between the heaviness and the flavors and the funny little brown bottles, I couldn’t help but think of lambic. But that’s not really accurate… All I know is that I finished my glass as did the two gents tasting with me.

If you can get a hold of one of these bottles, do so. Abe only made 280 cases of the little guys. Oh, and by the way: 15.8% alcohol. Yup.