I always thought of Abe’s wines as art projects. When one considers his father’s career, this makes sense.
Art? Science? Definitely interesting. But knowing his wine is like a password into a secret cult. We were in NOLA in 2012 and my wife decided that in addition to going to the Sugar Bowl, we would eat a meal at at least one restaurant of each of the great chefs in NOLA. We couldn’t get into Bayona for dinner, so we made a lunch reservation and ate in the garden outside in the back. The waiter gave me the wineglass and on it was Scholium Riquewihr, a dry Gewurztraminer. I asked the waiter how they could possibly have that on the wine, since I knew that the total production was half a barrel and I thought I owned more than anyone else east of the Mississippi. I told him the waiter that we knew Abe and he explained that someone on the staff knew Abe also. I also mentioned that we had wanted to come for dinner, but it was a very nice garden where we could have lunch.
We proceeded to order and the little while later, I see a woman walked down a stairway in the back of the garden and come over to our table. She introduces herself and says, “Hello, I’m Susan Spicer and I hear you know Abe.” We had a wonderful conversation about everything from wine to serving sweetbreads (which is what I was eating) to her mother. Halfway through the conversation, the waiter came back to our table and it appears that there was a spot the following night for dinner that had just opened up (cough cough, ha ha), would we like it. We grabbed the spot, finished discussing her mother and my mother, both of whom were about the same age, thanked her for a great meal, and left.
We came back the following night for dinner and in the middle of the meal, out comes Susan Spicer from the kitchen in her chef’s jacket, walks over to our table, I stand up, and we give each other a big hug like we are best friends. The other diners were trying to figure out who these to VIPs were.
To top things off, a year or two later, my mother was going to New Orleans with my sister for a family wedding. I called Susan Spicer just to arrange for a table. She remembered our conversation about my mother and her mother, and said she would take care of them. Between the treatment my mother got at Bayona and the fact that she was given a seat of honor at the wedding because she was the oldest member of my family who was there and the groom was from a Chinese family that believed in honoring the elders, my mother reported that it was the greatest three day vacation she ever had.
All because we knew Abe.
4 Likes
great story Jay!
How was the Burgess? I’ve been sort of randomly nearly built a vertical of Burgess from 77-99. Only opened a few here and there and they’ve all been great.
It was good, brought my the current winemaker. But to be honest it was not in the same league as most of the other wines.
I’ve opened a few alongside some same vintage Mondavi Oakville and they haven’t shown as well. I haven’t opened a bottle newer than 86. I’m thinking one of these days I’ll get a wild hair and plan a dinner and open them all.
At this point I just hope they get the wines shipped before the spring shipping window closes. They were meant to go out a month ago…nothing. Then there was an email that they would go out late last week, but…nothing. It’s still cool up here in the PNW but ground shipping from LA is probably already done until the fall, I guess.
So, the wines just showed up. Still cool to the touch. I’ll let them rest for a couple of weeks (wines look hazy) and report back. The Maglite had the name changed to Heart of Sand (I’m guessing to avoid legal issues) and that one sounds very interesting to me…own rooted Grenache planted in pure sand in 1910, in Rancho Cucamonga.
1 Like
Everytime I hear about Scholium, someone typically tells a great story about the interns.