I guess I just enjoy tasting wine, as I have been on a wine tasting spree lately.  I mean it is just fun to do and maybe you can even catch me for a tasting one day.  There are times when I leave empty handed and then there are times when I don’t, as it is just the luck of the draw, though I am sure that they would prefer that I leave with a purchase every time, but the people at The Fine Wine Source are great about it, and they are willing to get you a glass to get you started almost as soon as you walk in the door.  It is very casual and the tastings are done around a wine barrel for ambiance and they use the Coravin system, so that the wines do not go bad, which can be a problem if you open a bottle and then don’t use all of the wine within a certain period of time.  I will talk about two California white wines that I had a chance to try the other day.

The Forlorn Hope Que Saudade Verdelho 2015 was an interesting wine.  Verdelho was one of the grapes used in Portugal for years in Madeira wines, but now one sees it quite a bit from Australia and in California.  As the label reads “Another Rare Creature Vinted and Bottled by Winemaker Matthew Rorick.” This wine comes from Amador County and the fruit comes from Forlorn Hope’s Rorick Vineyard, as well as from DeWitt and Vista Lune Vineyards.  The fruit was hand harvested and whole cluster pressed with a total production time of fourteen months in Stainless Steel and Neutral Oak.  The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered.  There were three-hundred-sixty-seven cases of this wine produced.  I found it to have a very subtle nose, which is how I find most Verdelho wines, with a soft straw color and a short finish.  I think this wine would be excellent with friends on a summer day while you are having a chat waiting for dinner.

The other white wine that I had that day was from Waugh Family Wines, which used to be known as Waugh Cellars.  Waugh Cellars had their first commercial release with a 2001 vintage and it was done in their garage, but they have since expanded and grown.  The Waugh Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2017 was fruit that came from the Indoli Vineyard.   This wine was made with no Malo-lactic fermentation and no new oak for aging and done Sur Lie or fermented on the lees.  There were eight-hundred cases made of this wine.  The wine had a good nose, nice color, surprisingly it had a soft butter taste and a tinge sweeter than I had expected, with a nice long finish.  At first, I was a bit shocked, but after chewing on the wine a bit, I could really enjoy the uniqueness of the wine and the art of the winemaker.