We tried last night (8/29/16) some Easton/DomaineTerreRouge Wines:
1. TerreRouge Viognier Fiddletown/Estate (14.5%; www.TerreRougeWines.com) Plymouth 2014: Light gold color;
strong Viog/peach/pear/spicy very fragrant/perfumed nose; soft rich/lush very strong peach/pear/Viog
slight floral/carnations lovely flavor; very long/linger pear/peach/Viog balanced rather spicy/floral/
carnations finish; a lovely Viog w/ loads of fruit yet avoids straying into DollyPartonViog territory.
Great price at $20.00 (Unreleased)
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2. TerreRouge Roussanne SierraFoothills Reserve (14.5%) 2011: Med.gold color; lovely ripe/lush slight herbal/
grassy very strong honeysuckle/Rouss/floral/mango nose; very strong honeyed/honeysuckle/Rouss/floral
slight earthy/herbal flavor; very long lush/ripe/rich honeysuckle/Rouss/honeyed slight herbal/earthy bit
soft finish; a pretty classic Rouss w/ an interesting slightly herbal character. $40.00
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3. Easton SauvignonBlanc MonarchMineVnyd/SierraFoothills (14.1%; www.EastonWines.com) 2014: Med.light yellow
color; rather herbal/SB/light earthy some ripe/melony/tropical fruit lovely nose; fairly tart/crisp/tangy
ripe/herbal/SB/melony/tropical fruit slight earthy/mineral flavor; very long lightly herbal/SB/ripe/tropical
fruit slight earthy/stony finish; lots of ripe tropical fruit for a SauvBlanc at a great price.
$20.00 (Unreleased)
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4. TerreRouge VinGris d'Amador SierraFoothills (52% Grenache/34% Mourv/6% Marsanne/3% Roussanne/
3% GrenacheBlanc/2% Viognier; 13.5%) 2015: Light ruby color; quite fragrant strawberry/cranberry/spicy
rather Provence-like slight stony/earthy nose; quite tart/crisp watermelon/cranberry/spicy/Grenache flavor;
very long bright/cranberry/strawberry/watermelon/spicy light stony/earthy finish; a very nice lip-smacking
rose. $20.00
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5. TerreRouge L'Autre SierraFoothills (73% Grenache/14% Mourv/13% Syrah; 14.9%) 2010: Med.color; some
earthy/garrigue/spicy/dried herbs rather Rhonish slight strawberry/Grenache fairly complex nose; soft
earthy/garrigue/Rhonish light strawberry/Grenache flavor w/ light smooth tannins; med.long bit Rhonish/
garrigue/earthy light strawberry/Genache/plummy finish w/ light tannins; an attractive CdR style of
wine w/ some maturity. $30.00
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6. TerreRouge Mourvedre SierraFoothills (14.5%) 2011: Med.color; strong plummy/Mourv/earthy/SRhone slight
licorice/smokey quite perfumed/spicy/cinammon rather exotic complex nose; lightly tart exotic/spicy/
cinammon earthy/dusty bit OV/dusty strong plummy/Mourv flavor w/ light smoooth tannins; very long bit
earthy/dusty/OV strong plummy/Mourv quite spicy/exotic finish w/ light gentle tannins; a very attractive
balanced expression of Mourv. $28.00
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7. Easton Barbera MonarchMineVnyd/SierraFoothills (14.5%) 2011: Med.dark color; very classic Barbera/spicy/
fennel/Italian sausage/dried Italian herbs slight spicy/berry some complex nose; fairly tart dried Italian
herbs/Italian sausage/classic Barbera slight earthy/berry flavor w/ light smooth tannins; very long very
spicy/dried Italian herbs/Italian sausage/classic Barbera light raspberry/earthy finish w/ modest gentle
tannins; a classic Barbera in every sense and more drinkable & polished than most from Piemonte;
a lovely classic Barbera. $25.00
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8. Easton "E" Zin Fiddletown (14.5%; Rice-MacDonald vnyd; Planted: 2000) 2011: Med.dark color; strong very
spicy/Zin/briary/blackberry light oak nose; lightly tart very spicy/briary/blackberry/AmadorZin light
oak flavor w/ light gentle tannins; very long briary/Zin/very spicy slight dusty/earthy finish w/ light
smooth tannins; a restrained/polished/well-made classic Amador Zin at a great price. $22.00
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9. Easton Zin RinaldiVnyd/Fiddletown (OldVines dating back to 1865; former ChetEschen vnyd; 14.5%) 2011: Very
dark color; quite dusty/OV very spicy/blackberry/briary/Zin very perfumed/aromatic complex nose; bit tart
quite dusty/OV very briary/blackberry/Zin/very spicy slight earthy very structured balanced flavor w/
modest bit nervy tannins; very long/lingering very dusty/OV very strong briary/AmadorZin/blackberry/very
spicy structured finish w/ some polished tannins; one of the best Amador Zins I've had in yrs; reminds a
lot of the legendary Ridge Fiddletown Zin '77 because of the spicy character and structure; should easily
go out 10 yrs. Great price at $28.00
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10. TerreRouge Syrah DTR Ranch/Fiddletown (Estate; 14.5%) 2009: Very dark near black color; very intense
blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah/quite spicy licorice some toasty/Fr.oak lovely perfumed nose; lightly tart
light toasty/Fr.oak/smokey very strong blackberry/spicy/Syrah/boysenberry/ripe bit licorice/plummy
structured flavor w/ ample soft/ripe tannins; very long/lingering very strong blackberry/boysenberry/
ripeSyrah/very spicy slight bramble/briary light toasty/oak structure finish w/ some ripe/round tannins;
on the ripe side but not over the top; terrific Calif Syrah at a very fair price. $38.00
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11. TerreRouge Syrah SentinelOakVnyd/PyramidBlock/ShenandoahVlly (14.5%) 2009: Very dark/black color;
beautiful intense blackberry/bousenberry/Syrah/blueberry rather peppery/spicy/licorice very aromatic
complex nose; lightly tart balanced/structured intense blackberry/Syrah/blueberry/very spicy/boysenberry
some peppery/licorice bit pungent/toasty/smokey/Fr.oak slight earthy/dusty flavor w/ ample ripe tannins;
very long/lingering very intense blackberry/Syrah/very spicy/boysenberry light toasty/smokey/oak bit
Rhonish/pungent finish w/ ample round/smooth tannins; as good as any Syrah in Calif; very fairly priced
at $38.00
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12. TerreRouge Muscat a PetitsGrain ShenandoahVlly Vin Doux Naturel (16.0%) 2013: Very light yellow color;
very intense muscatty/floral/hair oil very perfumed/aromatic classic Muscat nose; bit soft rather sweet
intense muscatty/hair oil/floral/linool slight earthy flavor; very long/lingering soft very intense
muscatty/floral/hair oil slight earthy finish; almost into the area of Passito di Pantelleria w/o the
overripe character; carries the alcohol very well; reminds a lot of Rhone Beaumes de Venise; very good
Muscat at a very attractive price. $20.00/hlf
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13. Easton Zin EschenVnyd/Fiddletown (14.5%; 350 cs) 1995: Some brown/murkey color; old/tired/bit oxidized
slight pencilly/cedary/oldZin nose; astringent/bitter tired flavor; pretty much DoA.
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More stuff from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. During SantaFe Wine&Chile Fiesta, co-owner Jane O'Roirdan is going to be in town. It was suggested to
her that she might want to come up to LosAlamos to do a winemaker dinner at Pig+Fig Cafe. So we tasted
thru a case of Easton/DTR wines in order for Laura to choose what wines to have. The dinner was sold
out within 4 hrs of the menu being posted.
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2. Zins: The Rinaldi vnyd is the very old Zin (and Mission & BlackMuscat) vnyd that once was owned by
ChetEschen. This is one of the legendary old-vine vnyds in Calif & many a great Zin has come from here.
This vnyd usually gives wines that are more acidic than those from the ShenandoahVlly just over the
ridgeline to the West. The Rice-MacDonald vnyd is on an adjacent south-facing slope and farmed by Bill.
These two Zins were outstanding, I thought. Rather restrained for classic Amador Zins that I recall.
Particularly the Rinaldi. It seems sorta old-timey and reminded me of some of the great Ridge Zins
that Paul used to make from Eschen/Esola. Paul has been scolded, by me, over they yrs for abandoning
Amador. Bedrock has a Fall Zin (Sherman'sGold) from Denise Esola's grapes. Man...do I miss orneryErnie
and Lena.
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3. Like the Clines last week, it's worthwhile to go back and taste thru the tableau of wines from a wnry
you've sorta lost track of. I taste Bill's Rhone offerings at RhoneRangers, but haven't made much of an
effort to keep on top of his other offerings. I am a bad person.
I was, across the board, impressed by Bill&Jane's wines. I've pined for the days, long ago, of the
Montevina wines, under CaryGott and ScottHarvey...and the Renwood wines in Scott's day. When I was
last in the ShenandoahVlly some 3 yrs ago for NEB#4, I spent two days wandering the vlly. I thought the
wines were good, but just that, and could be better. I need to make anuther visit up there. But I've
long claimed that Bill was making the best wines in Amador and this case makes a good case for that.
He was named RhoneRanger's Man (or Person) of the year in June at the RR event.
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4. Syrahs: I regularly taste Bill's Syrahs @ RhoneRangers. That's not a particularly good venue to get a
handle on those wines. Being able to taste these two in my local setting, I was particularly impressed
by these two. Early on, when they first started making Syrah up in Amador, I found them to have a marked
similarity to the ripe/briary Amador Zins. That may have been because many of those early ones were
ScottHarvey's and he was pretty loose w/ his blending. These two Syrahs were thru & thru varietal Syrahs
and reminded me a lot of RRV Syrahs. Bill also makes a top-of-the-line Syrah called Ascent. From my
experience, it is even better than these two, but not sure it's worth the additional tarrif.
Tom