Ancient Peaks Winery - Oyster Ridge Red Blend - 2020

Name: Ancient Peaks Winery - Oyster Ridge Red Blend - 2020
Price: 64.00 USD
Availability: InStoreOnly

$64.00

Ancient Peaks' flagship, from the Oyster Ridge block of Margarita Vineyard, where 14-million-year-old fossilized oysters the size of footballs spill out of the calcareous soil. This is the only vineyard in Paso's Santa Margarita Ranch AVA, farmed by the three ranching families who own the land. The 2020 leads with 75 percent Cabernet Sauvignon plus Cab Franc, Petit Verdot, Merlot and Malbec, aged 23 months in 75 percent new French oak. Big, layered and cellar-worthy.

Plum, boysenberry, leather, cocoa powder and toasted oak. Dense, layered and seamless, with black cherry, cassis, blueberry and pomegranate. Firm tannins, trailing cola and earth on the finish.

Tri-tip off the grill, Santa Maria style. Braised short ribs on a cold night. Aged cheddar if you're just grazing.

The Filipponi, Rossi and Wittstrom families took full control of Margarita Vineyard in 2004. The site sits on an uplifted ancient sea bed with five soil types. Free-run juice only, small 10-ton fermenters for over 90 percent of the blend.