Forlorn Hope "Queen of the Sierra" Estate White RHV
The 2015 Queen of the Sierra white estate blend was grown on the Rorick Heritage Vineyard in Calaveras County at 2000’ elevation, featuring soils comprised of a layer of schist over dolomite-rich limestone. Composed of Riesling, Chardonnay, and Verdelho, the wine shows all of the aromatic complexity and textural presence that are the hallmarks of wines grown on the limestone of our estate.
All fruit for our estate white blend was hand-picked. Verdelho and Riesling were foot-trod before pressing and co-fermented in an open-top tank; the Chardonnay was whole cluster pressed and fermented in neutral 400L puncheon. In the winter of 2016 the individual lots were racked and blended together; they remained in neutral oak until being bottled unfined and unfiltered in May of 2018. As with all Forlorn Hope wines, no new oak is utilized, and nothing was added to the must or wine (no cultured yeast, ML bacteria, water, tartaric acid, enzymes, nutrients, etc) with the exception of minimal effective SO2.
