Scholium Project

2007 Eurydice

Sheep managing the cover crop of Napa vineyard.

2007 Rocky Hill Vineyard Eurydice

This is our first whole cluster pressed wine from this mountain-side Pinot Gris vineyard, the same one that produced the rather red, skin-fermented San Floriano del Collio in 2005. For this wine, the fruit was pressed lightly and without crushing and the juice was fermented in neutral oak. It is a a little higher up Sonoma Mountain than the excellent Farina Sauvignon vineyard; the resulting wine is not quite as mineral or high acid in character as the Farina SB, but nearly as fine and intense. This wine was allowed to go through malolactic fermentation and so has a very soft, aromatic nose; inviting but not distinct. It smells more of its mineral underpinnings than any fruit or flowers. The mouth contrasts with the nose, for it is not the least tannic. Here the mountain vineyard reveals itself: the wine is firm and spicy, with some palpable tannins and excellent acidity in spite of the malo. It tastes of crushed caraway seeds and has the lingering flavor of a nice, fat, fennel-spiced salami.

77 cases