When I was helping organize the FriuliFest over a month ago, I noticed one of the invitees was
MatthewRorick of ForlornHope wnry. This was a new one to me, so took a look at his WebSite
(http://www.forlornhopewines.com/) and was immediately impressed. Here's a guy that is doing some really
interesting things and I should know more about. So I ordered a mixed case of what he had and tasted
thru them with my group. I was mightly impressed, to say the least. And I really liked his Ribolla
at the FriuliFest. So I knew here was a guy I had to know more about. I had a free day afore NAP#2,
so I made an appointment to meet him on that Monday.
After a UC degree, Matt has worked at a number of wineries (PeterMichael/Chasseur/Miura) and is
currently winemaker at Elizabeth Spencer Wines in Rutherford. When he started to make wine on his own,
his thought was to make PetiteSirah, sort of in an old-timey Calif way is my sense. He managed to connect
up w/ some PetiteSirah from the TenbrinkVnyd in the SuisunVlly...not an obvious source of great grapes.
He makes his F-H wines at the TenbrinkVnyd wnry. This is the same source of PS and wnry that AbeSchoener
makes his ScholiumProject wines.
I've had a number of SuisunVlly and SolanoCnty wines over the yrs and have not been very impressed
by them. They had a soft/soupy character that reminded me of YoloCnty wines. So I had pretty much blown
off the area. But after I tasted the F-H PetiteSirah, it made a believer that great wines can come from
that area.
Since that time, Matt as sorta gone on to espouse lesser known varieties, grown in lesser-regarded
areas of Calif....the long shots. Matt endorses "meticulous minimalism" in his winemaking. Whether that
makes him a part of the natural winemaking community, I'm not quite sure. But I suspect sweetAlice would
love his wines. He even expresses an interest in making an old-timey Calif Green Hungarian. Talk about
a long shot!!
So on this bright/sunny Calif day (it had been pretty gloomy/foggy down in the BayArea all week long),
we adjourned to a spot on the back yard at Tenbrink to try a few wines:
Forlorn Hope Semillon Nacrue YountMillVnyd/Napa (11%; U) 2008: Light gold color; very strong waxy/
figgy/Semillon slight toasty/oak strong petrol/Mosel valve oil quite mineral nose; very tart some
tangy/metallic/nervy mineral/petrol strong waxy/figgy/Semillon light toasty/oak flavor; very much in the
style of a HunterVlly Semillon; should go out 10-20 yrs.
Forlorn Hope GWT (SaH: 24.5%; skin frmtd to dryness; DennisHill vnyd owner) 2010: Light gold color;
beautiful slight lychee/hair oil very spicy/mineral/stoney very perfumed nose; very dry/lean mineral/stony
slightly bitter/apple skin slight lychee/hair oil flavor; very atypical GWT and more like an AltoAdige
Kerner or Traminer than GWT; beautiful nose.
ChanningDaughters Blaufrankisch SouthFork/Hampton/LongIsland (12.5%; 278 cs) 2007: Med.light color; slight
bing cherry rather earthy/dusty little fruit nose; tart bit thin some tannic/hard somewhat plastic/hybridy
rather earthy/dusty flavor; not a lot of fruit and hard on the palate, not as good as most Austrian ones;
not a pretty wine.
Forlorn Hope StLaurent Carneros 2008: Med.color; rather earthy/dusty some attractive black/bing/cherry
very spicy/cinammon light toasty/oak fairly perfumed nose; soft bit tannic/hard/angular light cherry/bing
cherry/blueberry light toasty/oak flavor; not nearly as perfumed/fragrant/attractive as the '09.
JurisSelection StLaurent (13.8%) Burgenland 2008: Med.light color; light earthy slight volatile cherry/
black cherry very strange charred marshmallow interesting nose; tart/lean bit tannic/hard rather earthy/dusty
light cherry/black cherry slight buttery/oak strong charred marshmallow flavor; not a lot of fruit and a very
strange charred marshmallow character that takes me back to my CubScout days around the campfire.
Forlorn Hope Suspiro del Moro Alvarelhao SilvaspoonsVnyd/AltaMesa/Lodi (13.7%) 2010: Dark color; slight
dusty bit chocolaty strong black cherry/boysenberry/peppery fairly aromatic quite interesting nose; strong
black cherry/chocolaty/boysenberry/peppery slight dusty/earthy rich/lush rather structured/tannic flavor; not
the coarse/rough/rustic character of the Portugese versions I've had and far more character & lushness & fruit
than the Fenestra.
The non-F-H wines were my contribution. The StLaurent from hlf-btl was from Matt's library. The remaining F-H
wines are not yet released. All three were pretty impressive I thought. The GWT is very atypical Calif GWT,
but one I really liked because of my fondness for AltoAdige wines.
Tom
Correction: Matt left his Elizabeth Spencer job early this year.