The CSW California Wine Awards Start Now!! - Abe Schoener Edition
12/13/2007 -
We are not really known as a California wine store but we do pay attention to up and coming producers who are making wines in the way we like them. Which is with natural yeasts, low amounts of new oak and minimal spoofilation. So with that intro, here are the first ever annual Chambers Street California Wine awards.
The first award goes to the best Skin Contact Sauvignon Blanc and that goes to the 2006 Scholium Project Farina Vineyard The Prince In His Caves. Abraham Schoener is a free thinker and makes the most interesting wines in California today. By far. The wine is named after the famous Alberico Boncompagni Ludovisi who was the man behind the cult Firoano wines of Lazio. The vineyard is rich, loamy soil and the clone of Sauvignon used is a richer, more honeyed version. The grapes were fat so Abe treated them like red grapes. He bled some juice, pumped them over until the brix was 4. Then it was moved into new oak and then the fermentation finished lazily and calmly. The wine is stunning and has a honeyed richness to it but also has very crisp acidity and layers of fruit. A long finish and even some "tannin" from all that skin contact. An amazing Sauvignon Blanc and maybe the most original one I have ever tasted from California.
The second award goes to the best Skin Contact Pinot Grigio whicg again goes to a Scholium project wine. It is the 2006 Scholium Project Rocky Hill Vineyards San Floriano del Collio. Talk about a unique bottle of wine. The color is a red amber or as Abe calls it a "dusky plum-skin" that will fade to gold after some months in the bottle. This wine is tannic and salty but also has lovely plum and red fruit tones with a hint of stone fruit flesh. Named after the town where Radikon and Gravner craft their brilliantly unique whites.
The third award goes to the Biggest Wine In The Store and it was tough but Abe Schoener pulls the trifecta with his 2005 Scholium Project Tenbrink Vineyards Babylon which is Petite Sirah. Despite all its massiveness there is wonderful finesse and purity. A mindboggling wine. Just try it and you will realize there is no better Petite Sirah being made in California.
The fourth award goes to the best California Chardonnay and the winner is 2005 Scholium Project Guman Vineyard "Neriedes." When I first tasted this wine it immediately shot to the top of my short list of profound California Chardonnays. Believe me this is a short lost and Abe's wines have about the first four notches. Marcassin, Kistler and Konsgaard do not hold a candle to this stuff. Enormously complex with amazing amounts of minerality and nuttiness and a finish that has to be tasted to be believed.
The fifth award goes to the best California Verdelho and the winner is 2006 Scholium Project Delu Vineyards Heliopilis. Such a lovely clean wine with loads of exotic pineapple, guava and a nice sweet green element. Great plush texture and amazing acidity. Just an incredible value bottle of wine from an underappreciated varietal in a state that normally disappoints at this price level.
