Hot cars and fabulous wine are two things in our household that take up a lot of our energy and time.  Case in point, in 2014 the day following my final WSET Diploma wine exam, we flew to France to be at the 24 hours of Le Mans.

How fitting then that this wine, named for a Le Mans circuit corner, should find its way into my life.  Synchromesh is a small family-owned winery in Okanagan Falls, BC run since 2010 by Alan and Amy Dickinson with Alan’s parents, Kirsty and John.  Together, they make wines from fruit grown in a sustainable way from six vineyards located between Naramata and Oliver in BC’s Okanagan Valley.

The Tertre Rouge is a blend of mostly plush Merlot with elevating Cabernet Franc from the Britton Family vineyard on the Naramata Bench. Fermented with indigenous yeasts, unfined, and filtered, the Tertre Rouge was aged in 30% oak barrels for 20 months before finding its way into bottles.

This wine is an opaque garnet with aromas of purple flower, mulberry, raspberry, blue plum, baking spice and twig. The dry palate shows mouth filling violets, cassis, crunchy red berry, and cocoa dust, all on a lightly oaked base with a lengthy finish.

Delicious, balanced and seamless, the Tertre Rouge is named after a tight right hand corner which follows the famous Mulsanne Straight on the Le Mans 24 hour circuit – one which it’s said a driver must come out of perfectly cleanly to keep the car on the road, and continue on in the race.

It’s a great analogy for this wine – finessed, beautifully put together, clean, and it arrives safely just as it’s meant to.  Sustainably farmed grapes, a careful wine making process, and hands-on attention has ensured it.