This energetic Albariño has great acidity with lemon zest, honeydew, and lots of that saline you know I love. There is a stunning texture, almost like honeycomb and a nice herbal tea quality to it.
The Albariño was hand-picked on September 20th, whole-cluster pressed and spontaneously fermented with native yeast. The wine then aged on its lees, with no sulfur added, for ten months in neutral oak before bottling.
119 cases produced.
2019 Etxea Sierra Foothills Albariño
$28.00
The Rorick Heritage Vineyard in Calaveras County is just outside of the town of Murphys in the center of the Sierra Foothills AVA. The property was first owned by the Shaw family in 1844. Barden Stevenot bought it in the 1960 and planted own-rooted Wente Chardonnay from 1974-76. Several acres of these original heritage plantings still remain. Barden eventually expanded the vineyard to its current 75 acres in 2000. Matthew Rorick and his family purchased the property in 2013 and converted the farming to organic practices. At an elevation of 2000′, it is situated on limestone soils beneath a top layer of schist. The alpine growing season combined with limestone soils make unique aromatics, texture, and bright natural acidity.
(Loosely stolen info from Terroir Wines)
In my own words, Matthew catapulted this entire region into some fame as he grew his own brand, Forlorn Hope into the behemoth hipster label it is now. His coolness, along with the updated farming practices and reasonable fruit prices enticed many young and small growers to purchase fruit from this property. It is no small task to own a property so far away from a homefront (Matthew technically lives in Napa) and to farm such big property, have so many small contracts and to look after your own label. Matthew is doing awesome work, and I hope he can keep it up for a long time, as it truly is a special spot on the planet.