Terre Rouge Cotes de l'Ouest Syrah 2016
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Full bodied, deeply concentrated and massively structured, this wine is packed tight with just-ripe fruit, smoky spices, cloves and singed sage. A rich blanket of fine-grained tannins wraps those tightly, suggesting several years in the cellar for the wine to mature. Best from 2024.
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The majority of this wine comes from a vineyard in the Clements Hills of Lodi, west of the Amador County line. Combined with fruit from the foothills, it makes a light and supple syrah with plenty of cracked-black-peppercorn spice. The blueberry and strawberry ripeness fills the wine’s tight, granitic tannins, lasting without any sense of excess weight.
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Terre Rouge is located in California on the West Slope of the Sierra Nevada in Amador County’s Shenandoah Valley. The wines are made from vineyards in four Sierra Foothill counties: Placer, El Dorado, Amador, and Calaveras. They also source fruit from one vineyard site in the soon-to-be new Clements appellation.
Terre Rouge's style emphasizes deep color, balanced flavors, full middle palate, and a long finish, with power and finesse. These wines gain complexity with age. Their goal has been to make the finest wines possible from the region - wines that transcend time and place and can be placed on the table with the best wines of the world.
President and Winemaker Bill Easton has been in the wine trade for over 30 years, not only as a winemaker, but also as a wine retailer, importer, and vineyard consultant. He has been handcrafting Terre Rouge Wines since the mid-1980's. Bill brings his well-honed palate to the table each time he makes one of our wines. He has an uncanny ability to create wines that express both power and finesse. He is not satisfied by making wines that are just well extracted, but strives to craft wines of nuance and complexity.
California is a winemaking colossus; by itself it is the fourth largest producer in the world. Red wine accounts for 56% of the total by volume, and red grapes 63% of total acres planted. In addition, a number of California red wines are heralded as being among the most prestigious and sought-after wines in the world.
While the state’s incredibly diverse geography, soils and microclimates allow for a wide array of styles, the key factor unifying California red wine is the abundance of sunshine and a long, consistent growing season. This leads to well-developed fruit marked both by impressive ripeness and balancing acidity.
The state’s most famous red wine region, of course, is Napa Valley, where Cabernet Sauvignon reigns as king. But California boasts a wealth of other impressive appellations. The much larger and climatically varied Sonoma County also produces world class California Cabernet, along with wonderful examples of California Pinot Noir and Zinfandel.
Fine versions of Cabernet and Zinfandel hail from Paso Robles as well, which is also gaining fame with Rhone varietals like Syrah and Grenache. As for Pinot Noir, terrific examples can be found from AVA’s such as Anderson Valley, Carneros, Santa Lucia Highlands and Sta. Rita Hills. Wineries in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties are making wonderful Syrahs, and the Sierra Foothill appellations are proving to be an experimental hotbed, with Italian and Spanish varietals employed to great effect.
This of course is a mere sketch. The subject of California red wine is as deep and broad as an ocean, and absolutely a joy to explore!