The Scholium Project, The Prince In His Caves 2017

Everything was going perfectly on the lead up to harvest time. Short showers proved perfect for a bountiful year, whilst a steady warmth meant they could harvest the grapes early, which turned out to be one of their best crops yet. They decided to ferment in three separate batches, but encountered a very strange problem - one batch began to grow a layer of mold. Disaster. Well, you'd think! This actually turned out to be a great thing, with the winemakers using their own legs to stir the problem out of existence one the molds had been removed. They held their breath and then one day, boom, perfect wine!

Abe Schoener has a PhD in Ancient Greek Philosophy. Eighteen years ago, he was teaching at St. John’s College in Annapolis MD in the USA when he accidentally became entrained in grape-growing and winemaking. He moved to Napa in California on a sabbatical, to pursue some very rudimentary studies in grapevine physiology and the relation between vine physiology and wine quality This was not for the sake of ever making wine, it was just to better ground my thinking about the philosophy of plant biology in real experience. He was fortunate enough to win some very good internships, and the second was with John Kongsgaard, who had studied extensively in Burgundy. He was nearly alone in being committed to natural yeast fermentations, infrequent racking and topping, and minimal use of sulfites and he instructed him in all of theses (then) radical techniques. He also encouraged me to experiment widely, and to accept no rules as necessary, and no principles as given except for the drive for excellence!

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