Scholium Project

My last, and most interesting tasting in the Valley by far. Abe and I had swapped emails and calls all day. We finally decided to meet up over at his place out in gorgeous Carneros. Now, this is no stab at the Napa stretch, because it really is beautiful out there, but getting off of 29 and heading out towards Sonoma through Carneros, there's a whole different feel. The rolling hills bounce grass around, and the countryside takes a breath.
So anyway, I packed up my car, and headed out for a last tasting before getting back down to San Francisco, and met with Abe at his place out on some stretch out in Carneros. I got to his small place with the back door open to the kitchen, some flags waving over the doorway, and an old fin-backed 50's American car out back. Shit, for all I know, he probably still drives the thing.
He came out, barefoot and in jeans to greet me, and then went back in to fetch some bottles to bring out onto his back porch to taste through. They turned out to be some of the most singular wines I've ever tasted. I can't speak for Abe, and you oughta go check out his website to see what he has to say about his wines, But for me, I'd say I got a mixture of some of my all time favorite winemakers, Dagueneau, Gravner, Radikon, Thackrey, Tracy. The end result of course, is none other than Abe Schoener, and not exactly quite like anything else I've tasted. I tried my best to keep my mouth shut and just taste along with him, but I couldn't help probing him about his influences, processes, and intentions. When I asked him about where these wines were going and what he thought their future and his would be. He just leaned back in his old wooden deck chair, laughed, and said, he didn't really know. These'd probably be the wines that'd make or break him. People would get what he was doing or they wouldn't.

Before I post my notes, check out his:
http://www.scholiumwines.com/summer_release.html