FOrlorn Hope and Laurel Glen (And Madonna Estate)

Some weekend wines:

Forlorn Hope: My first wine club shipment from the Outlands cooperative tasting room project in Downtown Napa included a Verdelho from Forlorn Hope! By no means a profound wine, the clean apple flavors were underlain by a savory core that made it a perfect accompaniment to our salads!

With dinner: 2006 Laurel Glen Cabernet Sauvignon (Sonoma Mountain/Glen Ellen). This WAS a profound cabernet. Rich in anise flavors, still plenty of tannins, beautiful acidity. Unlike some here, I cannot give up on cabernet, and it is wines like this that explain why. We also opened a 2015 Counterpoint, the early drinking version of the estate cab, and it was not as smooth or elegant but it still showed lovely cabbiness!

At the winery: 2009 Madonna Estate Reserve Pinot Noir. This historic winery just nails this Pinot! No annoying cherry fruit Carneros character per se. Instead, earth, funk, dark fruit. I loved the previous vintage.

Some weekend wines:
Forlorn Hope: My first wine club shipment from the Outlands cooperative tasting room project in Downtown Napa included a Verdelho from Forlorn Hope! By no means a profound wine, the clean apple flavors were underlain by a savory core that made it a perfect accompaniment to our salads!

I assume this was the '15, Brian?? Don't see that I got the '16 yet. Or, just maybe, you're a special customer,
even more special than TomHill, and have the '16.

I had the '15 when it first showed up and it was a very bizarre wine. Showed lots of dissolved CO2. Tasted it
again when Matt was here in LosAlamos for a winemaker dinner:

1. Forlorn-Hope Que Saudade Verdelho Calif (12.73%; 367 cs) 2015: Light yellow color; lots of bubbles that rapidly
dissapate; very attractive floral/pineapple/appley slight honeyed very attractive nose; fairly tart appley/
pineapple/floral light mineral/stoney honeyed flavor; long appley/pineapple/floral light stony bit honeyed finish;
no signs of CO2 on the palate nor in the glass; much better than the one over a month ago; quite a nice/
pleasant-drinking white.

Matt's whites are often/usually quite pleasant wines upon release. But they have an uncanny knack of putting on weight w/ a few
yrs of btl age and becomming quite interesting.
Tom

I actually have the invoice in front of me. It was the 14!