42% Grenache, 41% Mourvedre, 17% Syrah

Founded in the late 1980s by Bill Easton (pictured above) and Jane O’Riordan, Terre Rouge and Easton Wines celebrates the distinctive red volcanic and granite soils of California’s Sierra Foothills (cf. map above) . Easton’s dedication to Rhône varieties earned him the Rhône Rangers Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. With nearly a decade of bottle age, the Tête-à-Tête GSM remains aromatic and fresh, offering rich plum and cassis flavors, subtle oak and a long, full-bodied finish. It’s a beautifully mature California GSM with the depth and character to stand alongside classic Rhône-inspired wines.

Made from high elevations vines averaging 30 years of age from several plots in the Sierra Foothills, Bill Easton carefully crafts this Southern Rhône blend. Grenache, with Syrah and Mourvèdre are hand-harvested, stainless steel-fermented, and age for 17 months in old Burgundy barrels. He releases his wine when he deems it ready to drink.

Originally a source of oenological sustenance for gold-seeking miners of the mid-1800s, the Sierra Foothills was the first region in California to produce wines from European grape varieties. Located between Sacramento and the Nevada border, this area’s immigrant settlers chose to forgo growing the then-ubiquitous Mission grape and instead brought with them superior vines from the Old World to plant alongside mining camps.