Tried this one Sat night at RosebudCafe:
1. AncientPeakWnry Renegade MargaritaVnyd/PasoRobles RW (14.3%; 71% Syrah/24% Malbec/5% PetiteVerdot; www.ancientpeaks.com) Creston 2012: Very dark color; strong blackberry/Syrah rather earthy/herbal/Cab-like/Argentinian some coffee/Kaluha quite interesting nose; bit tart rather rough/structured some blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah strong Malbec/Cab-like/herbal/earthy some coarse/rustic flavor w/ light rough/coarse tannins; very long somewhat rough/rustic/coarse some blackberry/Syrah/spicy rather earthy/dusty/Malbec finish w/ light coarse tannins; resembles a lot an Argentinian Malbec w/ the earthy/rustic character but the Syrah gives it an aromatic lift & brightness those SA versions seldom show; an atypical Paso Syrah but rather interesting wine. $24.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. I'd never bothered to try the AncientPeaks wines before. I'd taken that drive from SantaMargarita/Hwy101 over to the SanJoaquinVlly/I-5 and it's pretty desolate country out there. The vnyd was originally planted by RobertMondavi, but the new ownership lost interest in the project, so it was aquired by three local Paso families. Winemaker is Mike Sinor, I guy I've met several times at HdR. My impression is that it's one of the warmer growing regions in Paso but this wine didn't show the overripe/jammy character you often get from Paso Syrah. As always..."warm days & cool nights"...yada/yada/yada. Geographically, it's closer to the Pacific than other Paso AVA's (due East of MorroBay) but I think at a lower altitude makes it more equivalent to TempletonGap than anything.
Tom