30 Jun Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Forlorn Hope 2015 Picpoul

With the warm weather, I find myself drawn to white wine. Well, honestly, I am a fan of white wine year round, but especially when it is hot outside. And a wine that I had this week stole my heart. It was the Forlorn Hope 2015 Picpoul and that is the Please The Palate pick of the week. There are a lot of different white wines out there. Everyone knows Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Grigio and many others. Most people know Albarino, Grenache Blanc and Viogner to name a few. But I am guessing Picpoul is a newer grape. Picpoul is a grape variety that is originally from Languedoc-Roussillon in the southwest of France. Matthew Rorick, the winemaker and owner of Forlorn Hope, has planted Picpoul in his estate vineyard in Calaveras County in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountain. The vineyard, which is comprised of schist soils over dolomite-rich limestone, sits at a 2000 foot elevation. The grapes were hand-picked and foot tread before pressing. The foot tread allows for a little bit of pre-fermentation skin contact. Using natural yeasts, fermentation was long and slow and took 10 months. The wine was removed from its lees and then bottled unfined and unfiltered. The resulting wine is a beautiful golden color. It has intense aromas of pineapple, pear, stone fruit and minerals. On the palate the wine is crisp and fresh with zingy minerality and a touch of honey on the finish. There are only 120 cases of the Picpoul produced and it retails for $30. Forlorn Hope 2015 is the Please The Palate pick of the week and I am confident it will please your palate as well!