Our Wine Wednesday tasting this week is very very special. Join us as we welcome Les Doss from Terre Rouge in the Sierra Foothills AVA. Les & his partner Cathy owned The Usual Suspects in North Asheville. We spent many a night geeking out on their wine list, which included natural wines, orange wine and more years before anyone in the Southeast new what was up. TERRE ROUGE means “Red Earth”. This vermillion-colored soil is one of the hallmarks of the Sierra Foothills and Amador County. These vineyards are in soils that are largely granite and volcanic-based. The TERRE ROUGE portfolio is composed of wines made from Rhône varietals grown in the rugged and varying terroirs of this region: Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne. High elevation sites up to 3200’ contribute to the complexity of these wines.

2015 Viognier
Rice-MacDonald Vineyard, ORGANIC. The 2015 Viognier is perfect for a picnic or backyard gathering. Easy open screw cap! Our 2015 Viognier is organically-grown on our Fiddletown estate in granitic soils. Zesty fresh, floral, and spicy aromatics with fruit notes that suggest classic white peach and apricot flavors. This a very balanced example of California viognier that is more like its French counterparts.

2012 Tete a Tete
Tête-à-Tête is our fun easy drinking assemblage of MEditerranean varietals, 44% Syrah, 29% Grenache, 27% Mourvèdre. . We blend it with current drinkability in mind, for drinking both at home and as a restaurant pour. We generally put it together from our younger vines and our more forward tasting barrel lots. 2012 was a year where most of our Rhône varietal lots had brightness and ripe fruit. For us, it was more
of an average growing season. The fruit developed nicely all summer, with no surprises, and we received good flavor development. This wine drinks like wines from solid Côtes-du-Rhône-Villages vintage: sappy, spicy, mouth-filling, and nuanced. It is an eminently enjoyable everyday bottle. The 2012 has our typically deep boysenberry fruit aromatics, with smoky/meaty/gamey complex flavor components that emphasize our terroir and a lengthy creamy texture. Aged for 16 months in a mixture of French barrels. This is a great California wine value !

2013 Syrah, Les Cotes de l’Ouest
“91 points” – Wine Enthusiast, August 2016, “Editors’ Choice”. Our popular Syrah for every day pleasure is also a big hit in wine bars and restaurants across the US, Canada and England. Here at Terre Rouge we are Syrah specialists. Our vineyards are well established at elevations up to 3200′. This syrah, from the “western slopes of the Sierra” is a wine that everyone can afford to drink and enjoy. We blend about 60% of grapes from our lowest elevations with 40% from our highest vineyards to create a lovely, balanced syrah.

2013 Garrigue, Syrah/Cabernet
This is our new “go to” week night wine to have with burgers, hanger steak, or herb roasted chicken. A blend of syrah and cabernet from our mountain vineyards, it drinks very rich and smooth with a touch of our local garrigue. At Terre Rouge, we specialize in wines made from Rhône Valley varietals. For this wine we were inspired by the wines that originate a bit further South along the coastal Mediterranean where vineyards grow along side the garrigue, French for the local chaparral. Our vines grow in a similar environment, surrounded by manzanita, pine, toyon, yerba santa, and chamise. This is a blend of two-third’s Syrah and one-third Cabernet Sauvignon that is complex and savory, while still being accessible now. It is modestly-priced and eminently quaffable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

*tasting free with purchase of $10 or more per guest