Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/26650
Ancient Peaks: The Edge of Ripeness I n the southernmost part of the Paso Robles appellation, a mere 14 miles from the Pacific, is the Margarita Vineyard, its soils teeming with petrified white oyster shells. The fossils’ ancient his- tory continues to play a role, sending a chalky minerality into the wines of Ancient Peaks, an estate vineyard bolstered up against the Santa Lucia Mountain range, and established in 2005. “The Santa Margarita Ranch has to be farmed carefully,” notes Ancient Peaks winemaker Mike Sinor. “It’s difficult to get the fruit ripe.” But somehow he manages, and manages quite well. Twenty vintages ago, Sinor financed his way through college while working for some great producers, including Robert Mondavi. Amanda Wittstrom-Higgins—from one of the three families that own Ancient Peaks Winery—poses at the tasting room with a bottle of Oyster Ridge, the limited-edition white label wines that represent small lots from vines grown in the dramatic petrified oyster laden soils. This cuvée, positioned next to a couple of 10-million- year-old oyster fossils culled in the vineyard, is a full-bodied Bordeaux blend heralded by THE TASTING PANEL for its lush intensity of violets and blueberries, licorice and dark chocolate. Sinor recognized the potential of Margarita Vineyard when he became a consultant to Ancient Peaks in 2006. He knew that the cooler site, located about 22 miles south of the town of Paso Robles, would challenge some varietals. But Sinor would discover that the land, the vines, the soil and ulti- mately, the wines, over-deliver, even though they live on the edge of ripeness. Ripeness achieved! The Ancient Peaks 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon is a strong, elegant giant, deeply welled with rich red fruit and a sense of soil minerality and dry dusted tannins. arl Bowker had never heard of THE TASTING PANEL on our first meeting with him at his winery on Paso’s Westside, along the windy Templeton Gap. “I’m new to the industry,” he apologizes, explaining that he and his wife Pam were in the convention and trade show business before becoming enamored with wine. “We were on a trip in Italy just after 9/11 and somehow hooked up with a Mondavi- sponsored tour. We met the family, and it was just this feeling of knowing that there was something else for me besides the corporate world. Especially after the disaster, I had this ‘where is the world going’ feeling.” The 53-year-old entrepreneur felt the connection with the limestone-soil vine- yards, “not unlike the soils in France,” and named the winery Caliza—Spanish for limestone. The high pH and the chalky soils lend an edgy common thread to these Rhône varietals, to which the consumer wine press has awarded stellar praise in a short period of time—acclaim that still surprises Bowker. Even our adulation seems to have made him blush. But it is very deserved. Like kukkula, and many of the wines men- tioned in this Paso Robles feature, Caliza shines from within. We are especially fond of Caliza 2007 “Azimuth” (SRP $45). The name suggests a navigational change in direction, and that certainly fits the tone of the wine trend in Paso. The blend of 53% Grenache, 35% Syrah and 12% Mourvèdre is a liquid philanthropist, doling out an abundance of generously portioned fruit and a plethora of layered nuance. Caliza Winery: A Change of Direction C Carl Bowker, proprietor/winemaker of Caliza Winery. march 201 1 / the tasting panel / 91 PHOTO: MERIDITH MAY PHOTO: MERIDITH MAY PHOTO: MERIDITH MAY