At Lysverket,
Bergen, Norway
March 21, 2017

Tasting notes by:
Courtney Humiston
Allie LaForce
Jake Peters
Alexis Kozak

Scholium Glos is a wine made from the remaining vines of a vineyard planted around 1960 by Albert McDowell Sr on his ranch on Glos Lane, on the very fertile banks of the Napa River in Rutherford. He originally intended to plant Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, on the AXR rootstock recommended at the time by UC Davis. The grafting was somewhat haphazard and some of the vines ended up on St. George instead of AXR, and some Chardonnay got interplanted with the SB. The vines planted on AXR succumbed to phylloxera and Albert ripped them out and replanted to Merlot as they died, but he preserved every vine that did not die off. When I first set foot in the vineyard, in the winter of 2002, there were a few hundred of the original white vines left, each huge, gnarled, and stately—and each surrounded by Merlot.

Around 2006, we also discovered that not all of the white fruit was SB or Chard; some was Friulano, the grape variety known in Napa as "Sauvignon Vert" at the time of its planting. In this way, the wine was from the beginning a field blend; every year but one harvested all at the same time (one year, 2006, we divided the vineyard in half and harvested one half on one full moon and the second half on the subsequent full moon. The place was witchy and it just seemed right) and pressed and fermented together. From the beginning, the intention was to make a wine that was relatively light and transparent for a Scholium white, modeled to a high degree on the Sauvignon of Enzo Pontoni of Miani in Buttrio in Friuli. We pressed gently, fermented in neutral oak and aged the wine for about 11 months before bottling. We would use a small amount of SO2 after primary fermentation to try to prevent malo-lactic, and then filter the wine (if necessary) before bottling.

Albert Sr's children finally began replanting the vineyard in 2010. They began systematically ripping out the old white vines and the younger Merlot, and replanting all to Cabernet. The process was expensive, and took several years. We were so lucky: we got to make four more vintages of the wine until the last few rows were ripped out after harvest 2013. Their decision was only rational; anything else would have been some willing embrace of tragedy. Now there is a beautiful, orderly Cabernet vineyard, conforming to the culture of modern Napa.

The first vintage. Harvested perhaps a little ripe.

Attempted to block malo with so2. Topped with wine from Ryan's vineyard SB, made for George Vare.

“Rich, honeyed, petrol/gas, waxy, smoky with a medium long, spicy finish.”

Not entirely successful at this point, but was absolutely wonderful when it was young. Say, until 2010. Then I lost track of it due to scarcity.

Went through Malo in bottle (filtration didn’t work; known at the winery as: "triple filtration")

A distinct smokiness—comes from minerality transmitted through old vines

The minerality and smokiness are some kind of collaboration between the old vines and their deep roots, and the microbes. It is not just one or the other. Similar to phenomena in serious, older German Rieslings.

CORKED! but you could still sense the power and the minerality of the wine. But it was too badly spoiled to savor.

One can sense the botrytis in this wine. Very caramel.[yccch]

Another unsuccessful filtration—the wine is at once slightly tired, and active at once.

Courtney's colleague Eivind referenced Riffault ("what we wish Riffault could do"). Abe commented on the vineyards ability to make a wine that "completely takes over your mouth" and compared it to an old Grüner. Someone else mentioned sherry.

The wine developed strongly and positively in glass over time. I put some away and it was still changing more than an hour later.

A tiny amount. Less than 30 gallons. Pressed by hand. And then forgotten in a 30 gal stainless beer keg for two years.

Courtney: "dried pine, white sage, woodsiness —foresty, not oaky. The wine is becoming more alive in the glass."

Alex K: "A true zombie wine," referring to the fact that it will never age.

Abe: "a powerful wine... hard, vegetal." We all agree: "tightly wound." Intense, fresh.

Marked by dissolved c02. Fizzy. Undergoing malo right now. Abe: "for me, this is the most perfect example of Glos." [Courtney: but wait until we get to 2010!] Jeff referenced old Vouvray for its power and depth. Koko and Jake mentioned a quinine bitterness and the activity of tonic. Abe: "green in a good way." Like good, young Grüner for me.

A very interesting vintage; our largest in a long time.

We took over pruning and shoot thinning after the tiny harvest of 2008 and increased the yields by asking the plants to do less.

The fruit might have been over-ripe in this fairly warm year.

Also, because of the size of the crop, the first use of the Willmes press at Tenbrink for this wine.

No activity in this wine. Strong and stable. Brown—but still fresh. No oxidized or sherry character.

Courtney: "Tannin attributable to small berries and thick skins. Raisining."

Alex: "Very unusual to have a wine this brown in color with no aldehyldic character."

Abe: "color could be coming from the skins of the fruit, not the aging process. These are moderately high PH wines, my guess is that the color came from the beginning."

Allie: "Small berries mean skin to juice ratio is high, and berries are thick-skinned as well - tannin!! Color comes from skins? No aldehydic character but deep color."

Jake: "sweetness, but not actually sweet; ripeness overcoming terroir"

When this wine was younger, it seemed wholly successful to me. Now—not as I had remembered it at its peak. Too ripe? too little SO2?

Perhaps the apex of the tasting.

At this point, we were harvesting all of the white fruit together, so the wine is probably: 1/3 SB, 1/3 Chard, 1/3 Friulano

Courtney: "an almost perfect wine."

"A perfect Glos. Reminiscent of 08 but not active. We have a hard time coming up with tasting notes! TASTES LIKE GLOS. When pushed, we throw out the following and somewhat baffling descriptors for 'Tastes Like Glos': Smoke, salt, asphalt, sherry, lemon without the citrus (fermented and then confited lemon peel), sunny but not citrusy, and "almost like essential oil."

Jørgen: "This is what wine should be.

was active, now has flavor of dissolved CO2 (no real bubbles through)

Savory, herbal, lemony nose, that ripe-sweet-citrus smell of overripe lemon juice

[Transcends Tasting Notes!] — grapefruit, pith, subtle fresh paved asphalt, white fruit

wine made with SO2 (intention to block malo), giving freshness + acidity, VV -> power, minerality

struggling yeast, lees.

it's 'hermitage blanc'!

like flat, high acid, champagne (e.g. delicious)"

I could only agree with Courtney once I had spent some time with it: "the perfect representation of Glos."

Good but not great, after the 2010. Shows a malo plus character—too strong in this respect. On the other hand, very clear and stable. Good acidity in spite of malo, but not great. Also, minerality obscured by malo.

This 750 very different from the near perfect magnum we had the night before. Courtney: "This bottle is showing more malo character, possibly because it was bottled sooner after malo was complete whereas the magnum would have stayed in barrel longer. Someone: 'diacetyl character is so strong because it is so volatile.'"

Shows the negative aspects of bottling wine without allowing lots of time to mature after malo. NOt overly marked by malo and still excellent and fresh—just not as good as the magnum the night before.

Back on track for freshness, power, complexity all together. More softness and viscosity than I had expected, but not flabby.

cloudy; delightful nose; intense palate w/ creamy mouth feel. in the end, soft."

The last vintage. Fermented and aged in a 60 gal barrel with headspace. Superb acidity and excellent ripeness from the drought:

Allie: "12.2% alc, 3.0pH --> Riesling numbers, not SB numbers!"

Some reduction; typical of what I think of as the new Pitts paradigm for white wines at Scholium.

Great density and intensity. A big wine, in spite of the numbers.

Jake noted "the 'house flavor' that comes from yeast and bacteria."