What would they call the wines that they began to make? After a lifetime spent unlocking the secrets of the earth and in consideration of the amazing geologic history of Washington State, Alan cast about for a name that would capture the love he has for the land; a name that would also speak to the unique terroirs that exist only here. The name that Robert and Alan were seeking needed to give voice also to winegrowers who have toiled for years to learn to coax the best possible grapes from their vineyards, creating fruit that speaks of place or terroir. The name, which came to Alan from a special friend, is AlmaTerra, from alma de la tierra: ‘Spirit of the Earth’ or ‘Soul of the Earth’. The name AlmaTerra embodies terroir and is their name for wines that are inspired by terroir.

With Alan’s interest in and deep knowledge of the wine regions and vineyards of Washington State, it was a natural fit when Robert Smasne of ROS Wine Company, one of the truly talented and passionate winemakers in the United States, asked Alan to partner with him to create special wines that would be pure expressions of terroir. They set about to select special vineyards in Washington State and to take grapes from these vineyards to make small quantities of very special wines that express their place of origin, their terroir.

For the AlmaTerra project, Robert and Alan used all of their experience, knowledge, and intuition to select vineyards in Washington State that most excited them, that they knew to have special terroir characteristics. Having selected the vineyards, they were confident that they would make wines that express clearly their place of origin.

The AlmaTerra project could only succeed if each winegrower they selected cared passionately about growing the grapes and had invested most of a lifetime to draw the best possible fruit from their terroirs.

But what wine grape varieties would they choose to make AlmaTerra wines? Robert, then in his twelfth crush of Washington State grapes, suggested two varieties from the Rhone Valley in France, one red and one white, Syrah and Viognier. Both of these varieties, he knew, are very expressive of the site on which they are grown, that is, they develop different flavors and aromas in different vineyard terroirs.