We had last night w/ fresh tomatos & mozza:
1. Forlorn Hope QueSaudade Verdelho DeWittVnyd/Fiddletown/AmadorCnty (227 cs; 14.1%; www.ForlornHopeWines.com) MatthewRorick/SuisunVlly 2010: Med.light yellow color; rather stony/mineral/chalky light floral/apple blossoms/carnations/pears quite subtle/perfumey lovely nose; soft somewhat rich/lush rather stony/mineral/chalky light floral/carnations/spicy flavor; long mineral/stony/chalky light floral/carnations rather rich/lush finish; has the mineral/stony character of Verdelho w/ a rich/lush character that bespeaks Calif; a lovely good-drinking wine at a great price. $20.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Forlorn Hope: These wines of MattRorick's I discovered when we were organizing last July's FriuliFest. I was pretty impressed, across the board, what he's doing w/ some fairly obscure varieties.
Generally, a Calif white of this ripeness will show a rather blowsey/DollyParton kind of fruit to it. This was not such a wine. The floral aromatics were on the low-key side and the mineral/stony character I find in European Verdelho came thru loud & clear.
This comes from the DeWitt vnyd up in Fiddletown that Matthew discovered when he was looking for a new Tempranillo source. He also takes some Port varieties from DeWitt to make a dry Portugese blend as well.
Tom