Collaborateurs Donald Patz and François Villard visited Alder Springs Vineyard in early August 2017 to meet with owner, Stuart Bewley and work out a beginning of a new wine project that became TERMINIM.
Stuart agreed to sell the two winemakers 2 tons of Marsanne and 1 ton of Roussanne grapes for a white Rhône-styled blend. “Cépages d’Or” or Golden Grapes is a reference to the color of both Marsanne and Roussanne upon arrival at the winery. The grapes were harvested on September 13th (Marsanne) at 21° Brix and October 2nd (Roussanne) at 23.5° Brix.
In both cases, the grapes were whole cluster pressed and moved to barrel for a native yeast fermentation. The two white wines were initially kept separate but were blended and returned to barrel early in April 2018. The cuvée included 1 new French Oak barrel out of a total production of 6 barrels. It is a fresh and lively white wine with pretty peach and pineapple aromas and no significant barrel overtones.