Forlorn Hope 'Queen of the Sierra' Rosé 2019

Named by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of its Winemakers to Watch a few years ago, Matthew Rorick is standout even among his peers. A man of seemingly tireless energy, Rorick is a supreme experimenter. He worries little about exactly how the wines will turn out, focusing more on the process, and allowing the wines to reveal their individual personalities along the way. This new arrival is a beauty: the color of fresh watermelon juice, and every bit as refreshing! “Queen of the Sierra” is an unfiltered/unfined blend of zinfandel and barbera from Calaveras County in eastern California. Fruit grown in the cool Sierra Foothills (at the edge of Stanislaus National Park), is whole-cluster pressed to old 60-gal barrels where it undergoes spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts and sits on the lees for several weeks, through malolactic fermentation, until bottling. This dry, meaty rosé is unlike any other you’ve tasted! Fleshy raspberry, cantaloupe, and ruby red grapefruit meld with hints of rose petals, rose hips, exotic spices, and crushed desert sage that finishes on a slightly savory, saline note. Organically grown, low-intervention/natural wine, vegan.