Now here’s a cute story. A pair of sisters meet a new pal in Beechworth – who just so happens to be a French wine rep – and, after several years spent working vintages together, decide to start a new wine label that celebrates their friendship and women who’ve shaped history. That label is Foreign Friends, and its first suite of gear rocks plenty of “get in on the ground floor” appeal, making the most of some killer King Valley fruit.
On the white side of things, they’re tapping into some unsung varieties with the 2023 Jeanne Savagnin and a 2024 Virginia Pinot Blanc. The former is a tidy take on the Jura workhorse, some spending a bit of time on skins for grip and ample spread across the palate, awash in fresh fennel, nectarine, dried flowers and powdered ginger. Pleasantly creamy, but invigorated by natural acidity. As for the latter, there’s a bit going on behind the scenes with it fermented and matured in a combo of old oak, concrete and stainless steel, and the payoff is clear in its nuanced floral and orchard fruit-forward brightness. One to sit with for a while and enjoy.
The 2024 Ada Rosé brings it all home in the form of just-bottled nebbiolo, pressed ever so lightly and aged in old French oak over winter. If the pale copper glow of the juice doesn’t hook you, it’ll be the taut, lean raciness of the thing, buzzing with cranberry tang, Campari bitterness and the chomp of citrus peel. If you need a wine to convince you spring is here, have at it. Oh, and did we mention they're all sub-$40?