×
This wine is currently unavailable

Scholium Project FTP-Z 2015 750ml

size
750ml
country
United States
region
California
WNR
Winery
This wine is composed of 100% Zinfandel from Tegan Passalacqua’s Kirschenmann Ranch vineyard, planted in 1915 on its own roots, in deep, fine sand deposited by the Mokelumne River, flowing down from the Sierras. The vineyard is on the east side of Lodi in an elbow of the Mokelumne, and its Sierra sand has chased out all loam. The vineyard is so old and healthy that it has never been replanted, thus the fact the the vines still grow on their own (ungrafted) roots. The shelter of the Mokelumne has a remarkable cooling effect; the vineyard and the area around it are often 10 degrees cooler in Summer and Fall than the rest of Lodi— and is even cooler than much of Napa. We make this in a very simple way, determined to catch the straightforward charm but also the strangeness of Zinfandel. The fruit always ripens unevenly— which is part of the charm of working with this grape, especially from older vines. There was a time when I thought that the right way to make red wine from old-vine zinfandel was to go for power and concentration—as if there was some correlation between vine-age and intensity, concentration. Several of us have learned in the last few years of working in very classical ways with old vines that the wonderful gift of the vines is not concentration, but delicacy and finesse. Quiet power. This wine is a perfect example of that. We all agree that the best way to time the harvest of the fruit it to work WITH it— not against it. For this reason, we do not let the clusters hang and hang until every grape is deep, dark purple. Instead, we pick the vineyard in the middle of general ripeness, preserving the freshness and the verve of the fruit—and securing interesting herbal flavors that interpenetrate the light but complex fruit. We make this wine in the simplest possible way: we bring the fruit in from the vineyard, introduce it gradually into 600 liter puncheons turned vertical, with their heads removed. We stomp some of the fruit as it goes in, releasing some of the juice. Then we leave it alone. In a week or so, fermentation starts and a cap forms. Still we leave it alone. We call this the Courier Protocol—an extended floating cap fermentation with a minimum of punchdowns and no pumpovers. After about 3 weeks of fermentation, we drained the wine away, pressed the remaining pomace very gently, and aged the free-run separately for about a year, in two 220 liter neutral oak barrels. The wine usually ages without SO2 and is bottled with 0 free and about 40 mg/L total. A note on the name: Tegan helped us get really special fruit from a vineyard farmed by Rich Pato in the San Joaquin Delta for our 2007 Sandlands. In the cellar, we referred to the wine by the code FRP. When we first made wine from Tegan’s vineyard, we wanted to accord Tegan the same honor that we gave to Rich, and so we called his wine FTP from the beginning.
Image of bottle
Sample image only. Please see Item description for product Information. When ordering the item shipped will match the product listing if there are any discrepancies. Do not order solely on the label if you feel it does not match product description

Scholium Project FTP-Z 2015 750ml

SKU 799895
Out of Stock
More Details
green grapes

Varietal: Zinfandel

The mild tannins and fresh, sweet fruit flavors of Zinfandel grapes and the wines they produce have made them a firm favorite around the world. For people looking for wine which carries simple but pleasant, uncomplicated but refreshing flavors and aromas, Zinfandel is ideal. As such, it has become a widely planted grape across the New World, despite it having origins in southern Europe. These thin-skinned grapes grow in large, tight bunches are surprisingly delicate and sensitive to climatic conditions – if they get too hot, they are likely to shrivel on the vine, and being a tightly packed bunch, Zinfandel grapes are also prone to rot and decay. However, their mild flavor and sugar-rich juices offer vintners an opportunity to show off their skill and expertise, and are a fantastic grape for demonstrating the features of the terroir they are grown on in the bottle.
barrel

Region: California

California as a wine producing region has grown in size and importance considerably over the past couple of centuries, and today is the proud producer of more than ninety percent of the United States' wines. Indeed, if California was a country, it would be the fourth largest producer of wine in the world, with a vast range of vineyards covering almost half a million acres. The secret to California's success as a wine region has a lot to do with the high quality of its soils, and the fact that it has an extensive Pacific coastline which perfectly tempers the blazing sunshine it experiences all year round. The winds coming off the ocean cool the vines, and the natural valleys and mountainsides which make up most of the state's wine regions make for ideal areas in which to cultivate a variety of high quality grapes.
fields

Country: United States

Whilst there are several strains of native grape varietals in the United States, it was the introduction of the European species which prompted the country to begin producing wines on a large scale. Over the past few centuries, experimentation and cross-breeding has produced great successes in regards to the quality and suitability of the fruit grown in states such as California, Oregon, Washington and New York, and the past few decades have seen New World wines from the United States reach much higher standards. Arguably the finest United States wines have always come out of California, where the climate and terrroir is most suitable for fine wine production. The masterful blending of classic grape varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, amongst others including Syrah and Chardonnay, have had world beating results in recent years, prompting many to suggest that there has never been a better time for buying and drinking United States wines.