History
The land was ranched by the Shaw family from 1844. Barden Stevenot bought it in the 1960s and planted the estate's historic core, seven acres of own-rooted Old Wente clone Chardonnay, between 1974 and 1976; the Historic Vineyard Society calls him the godfather of the modern Calaveras County winegrowers. Stevenot expanded the property to its present seventy-five acres by 2000, so the mid-1970s date belongs to that Chardonnay block alone and not to the vineyard as a whole. Matthew Rorick, who founded Forlorn Hope in 2005, bought the estate in 2013 and farms it organically with Demetrio Nava, who has worked the site for more than fifteen years.
The Site
Seventy-five acres outside Murphys in Calaveras County, on schist over dolomitic limestone. Limestone bedrock is rare enough in California that it is the first thing anyone says about this property. The Historic Vineyard Society certifies the 1975 Chardonnay block specifically rather than the whole estate. Calaveras County has no AVA of its own, so the wines are labelled Sierra Foothills.
Vines and Blocks
The own-rooted Chardonnay block is the heart. Around it Rorick grows an unusually wide range: Trousseau, Mondeuse, Verdelho, Albarino, Tempranillo, Grenache, Chenin Blanc, Zinfandel and Barbera are all confirmed on the property.
The Wines
Forlorn Hope is the estate label. Haarmeyer, J. Brix and others also bottle from the site.