This is our entry level, St. Joseph-like Syrah. It is made from fruit grown at a superb vineyard site that is planted in the hills just west of the Amador County line, just a few miles from the Mokelumne River in Clements Hills (a new Lodi sub-appellation). Tight spacing, vertical trellising, and upward shoot positioning give the fruit maximum sun exposure to promote full flavor development. We find the wine is very forward and drinkable shortly after bottling making it a great everyday Syrah and perfect as a restaurant glass pour. This wine is exceedingly dark in color with rich, silky wild raspberry fruit flavors laced with pepper, tar, and herb tones. Aromas are raspberry, smoky, wild gamey, peppery, and cinnamon. The wine has a clean purity of Syrah fruit that is reminiscent of many Northern Rhône wines. It has full forward fruit, great acid balance and is very smooth and creamy in the mouth.

Terre Rouge MourvÈdre, Sierra Foothills

Mourvèdre is one of the last varieties that we pick for our TERRE ROUGE label, arriving in the cellar in October. Most of our Mourvèdre gets blended with Grenache and Syrah, but a small amount is bottled each year on its own. This is a rich full-bodied wine that is spicy, powerful, and long on the palate. We use cellaring techniques that involve a long lees reduction to help to broaden and fill the middle palate with great textural sensations. The flavors are of blackberry, meaty, with an almost tomato-like Pommard quality. It is definitely gamey like Bandol, but without any funky qualities. It is a fabulous partner for wild game, smoked sausages and lamb off the grill. Limited Production: 200-300 cases.

This is our flagship wine; the first wine we bottled under the TERRE ROUGE label. The name, Noir, means our black proprietary red wine that is reminiscent of the great wines of the Southern Rhône. The Grenache comes predominately from a 70 year-old site that we have sourced since 1985. This vineyard is planted in sandy, granitic soil. The Mourvèdre is from a south facing slope planted at 2,200 feet in the Fiddletown AVA. The Syrah is from one of our Shenandoah Valley vineyard sites. We bottle age this wine for several years, so when it is finally released, the wine is showing more than its primary fruit characteristics, but also some of its secondary spice aromas. The Noir is extremely juicy and vibrant with characteristic Grenache plum and black cherry flavors, Mourvèdre’s smoky gaminess, and Syrah’s powerful punch and richness. Delicious and complex!

Tête-à-Tête is our fun easy drinking assemblage of Mediterranean varietals: Syrah, Mourvèdre & Grenache. We blend it with current drinkability in mind, for at home and as a restaurant pour. We generally put it together from our more forward tasting barrel lots. The wine drinks similar to a Côtes-du-Rhône Villages: sappy, spicy, fabulous flavor, and great texture. Aged for 16 months in François Frères barrels. This is a great California wine value, eminently enjoyable for everyday quaffing.

Our Terre Rouge dessert wine was inspired by the delicious fresh fortified Muscats of southern France. This is Muscat that isn't overly sweet and is a great accompaniment to desserts like fresh peach crisp or pear and almond tart. Flowery, honeyed bouquet with hints of coconut and lush fruity flavors. Harvested, ripe, at 27° brix and fortified to arrest fermentation with high-proof Muscat brandy made from the same vineyard site. Aged nine months in neutral French oak and bottled in the summer following harvest. Produced only in years when conditions are perfect, this is a special treat. 375ml bottle.

We began bottling Roussanne on an annual basis in 2001. This elegant wine originates from a newly established vineyard site between Auburn and Foresthill called the Monarch Mine Vineyard. It is planted with a clone of the Roussanne grape that originates from a Chave family parcel on the hill at Hermitage. This is a difficult variety to grow. It ripens unevenly, so it must be harvested selectively and not all at the same time. The resulting wine has classic Roussanne characteristics: Straw golden color; with exquisite quince, honey-nut, and beeswax aromas. It has a very rich and silky mouth feel. A rare treat with only 400-500 cases annually.

Our Shenandoah Valley and Fiddletown Viognier grapes are planted in loamy decomposed granite soil and cropped carefully. This wine has great body, richness, and mouth feel. There are also attractive apricot and peach flavors with a delicious texture and a slight stoniness in the finish. The pit (stone) fruit varieties thrive in our Rhône-like climate. We pick the fruit by flavor and physiological maturity. The grapes begin to get a brown speckled look when they approach maturity. Whole-cluster pressed, barrel fermented in slightly used French oak barrels, extended lees aging, no racking, and full malolactic fermentation. Our Viognier is a favorite of some of France's top boutique Condrieu producers. Very small production with 200-400 cases annually.

Terre Rouge Enigma®, Sierra Foothills
Marsanne, Viognier & Roussanne)

Enigma is made from fruit harvested from one vineyard site, Suma Kaw, planted in volcanic soil at the elevation of 3,000 feet. This high, cool elevation allows us to let the fruit hang for full flavor development while maintaining proper acidity. The vines grow on a vertical trellis with upward shoot and cane positioning for good fruit exposure to sunlight. The grapes are hand-picked into small bins and whole-cluster pressed. Fermentation takes place in older French oak barrels with a variety of yeasts. The wine is generally bottled 9-10 months later. Aromas suggest wildflower honey and acacia blossom with hints of tangerine and papaya. Flavors are creamy with peach, apple, and quince sensations competing for your taste buds. The finish is crisp with classic white Rhône stone (peach) fruit pit flavors intermingled with mineral tones from this rocky site. Enjoyable young, the wine also gains great complexity with bottle age.

Terre Rouge Vin Gris d'Amador - Sierra Foothills
MourvÈdre, Grenache, &Syrah

Our Vin Gris has the dryness, richness, and terroir of the best French rosés. We bleed some of our red Mourvèdre, Grenache, and Syrah tanks to concentrate and intensify flavors. This juice goes into French barrels to ferment just like our other white wines. The wine has subtle cinnamon/nutmeg spiciness with tasty strawberry fruit characteristics. It is absolutely dry with a delicious creamy nuance and crisp bite. Enjoy on the patio, by the pool or at the beach.

Terre Rouge Syrah, Sierra Foothills

This wine is made from several of our top younger Syrah sites that average about ten years in age that sit at differing elevations in the Sierra Foothill appellation. The two higher elevation vineyard sites approach 3000 feet where it is quite cool; particularly at night. They ripen later and mature at lower sugar levels. These two soprano lots are blended with some Shenandoah Valley lots which are more basso profundo. The resulting combination harmonizes and sings! The upslope lots provide finesse and wonderful meaty, white pepper nuances, while the downslope lots provide structure, concentration, and a great smoky, spicy Syrah sensibility. The grapes are fermented in small lots, hand-punched, and aged for 18 months in French oak barrels (25% new).

Our single vineyard Syrah, Sentinel Oak, is from the oldest Syrah vineyard in the Sierra Nevada (est. 1982) and one of the most famous Syrah sites in California. Each year it provides us with intense luscious fruit. The vineyard is at 1400 feet on a South-facing slope in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley, right near our winery. Dark in color with dense, deep, layered fruit aromas that are incredibly spicy. In the mouth you'll find incredibly concentrated framboise flavors, smoky wood tones, and fine tannins. The fruit macerates for two weeks in an open-top fermenter with punch-downs two to three times a day before pressing, then aged for 23 months in 100% French oak (33% new François Frères). This wine is so meaty and with such great structure, we wait a couple years after bottling to release it. Even then, this wine is just starting to show what it can do and will reward you for many years to come.

This wine is made from three of our higher elevation Syrah sites. We thought that they expressed the racy aromatics of the Syrah grape that reminded us of Côte Rotie, with incredible finesse. Two of these vineyard sites are over 3000 feet where it is quite cool. The third site at our Estate Ranch in Fiddletown is not the highest at 2000 feet, but is the coolest. They all ripen late and are picked in October, with the Estate DTR Ranch being the last. These upslope lots have a lot of finesse and express the wonderful meaty, white pepper nuances of Syrah, while still retaining some of the smoky, spicy qualities of the grape. Our artisan cellar techniques include fermentation in small lots, special yeast strains, manual-punch downs, gentle transfers and pressing, and barrel aging for 20 months in French oak (33% new), prior to bottling the wine. Only twelve barrels or 300 cases are produced each year.

ROX is made from the Roussanne grape in the style of the oxidized wines of the Southwest of France and parts of Spain. It has a very complex nose that exhibits a nutty quality that hints at almonds and the flavors suggest sickle pear and quince. It is perfect, chilled as an aperitif, and served with cured meats and hard cheeses

Ascent Syrah represents the pinnacle of Syrah production at TERRE ROUGE. Eight of our very best barrels of Syrah are selected from our cellar each vintage to make a meager 400/6 packs of this luxury cuvée. All of the grapes are grown in selected Syrah sites scattered throughout the Sierra Nevada in granite and volcanic-based soils. This is a deeply concentrated wine with dense layers of aromatic complexity. Loads of deeply concentrated and incredibly spicy fruit aromas fill your glass. In the mouth you'll find thick concentrated and riotous meaty Syrah flavors, smoky wood tones, exotic spices, mineral tones, and fine tannins with great structure and aging potential. The grapes macerate for two weeks in an open-top fermenter with punch-downs two to three times a day. The wine is then aged for 23 months in French oak barrels (100% new François Frères - from four different forests) and lightly egg white fined prior to being bottled. A sublime treat, the Ascent ages to perfection in the bottle.

The "DTR Ranch" Syrah is made from our home ranch and estate vineyard. The vineyard is predominately Syrah with a small parcel of Viognier. It is here that we found our coolest Syrah site on these steep, canyon slopes of the small Fiddletown appellation. This vineyard was planted to a variety of clones; some grown without rootstock. Yields are about two tons per acre on average. Harvest is in late October or early November. We farm these rocky, schist-laden volcanic soils in a holistic and sustainable manner using just organic compost and cover crops to amend the soil, owls to keep the rodents in check, in-row weed cultivation, only organic sulphur as a fungicide, and lots of manual labor. As with all of our Syrahs, the wine is made in a traditional artisan manner. We focus on the terroir oriented attributes of this special place for this very intriguing, delicious, and limited bottling.