Ancient Peaks estate spotlight
Ancient Peaks owners and vineyard voices are on camera on the official Ancient Peaks channel, walking Santa Margarita Ranch and Margarita Vineyard, the estate behind this Quarry Cabernet.
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2021 Ancient Peaks 'Quarry' Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles, USA
Margarita Vineyard Quarry Cabernet, coastal Paso with a savory olive-and-tobacco edge, a 2021 you can open at twenty dollars.
The 2021 Quarry is 95 percent Cabernet Sauvignon with 5 percent Syrah from Ancient Peaks' Margarita Vineyard: red currant, plum, black olive, and chalky tannin after 18 months in barrel, now $20.
A named Quarry selection, not a generic Paso Cabernet leftover
Quarry is Ancient Peaks' barrel selection from Margarita Vineyard, including the warmer Quarry blocks built for Cabernet depth. Tasting Panel gave the 2021 92 points for red currant, plum, black olive, tobacco, and a supple, polished frame. 2,904 cases. This is estate Paso Cabernet with a marine edge, priced so you can actually pull the cork.
The house
The Filipponi, Rossi, and Wittstrom families farm Margarita Vineyard on historic Santa Margarita Ranch, the southernmost vineyard in Paso Robles, 14 miles from the Pacific.
The wine
95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Syrah. 48-hour cold soak, 18 months in French and American oak, 35% new, all French. 14.5% ABV.
The scores
Tasting Panel 92 on this exact 2021: red currant, plum, black olive, tobacco, vanilla cream, coffee, and cinnamon.
The drinker
Decant 30 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. Lamb chops, mushroom brisket, or a simple steak.
Dark fruit, then olive, tobacco, and a clean Paso finish
Tasting Panel found red currant, plum, black olive, tobacco, vanilla cream, coffee, and cinnamon in a supple, polished Cabernet frame. The winery sheet adds cherry, boysenberry, blackberry, fresh acidity, and chalky tannin.
A composed Paso Cabernet year: cool spring, steady summer, moderate harvest weather. Quarry Block was picked October 14 to 15. The 2021 still shows as ripe fruit with a savory, marine-cooled close.
Red currant, plum, cherry, boysenberry, blackberry, black olive, anise, tobacco.
Supple front palate, 14.5% ABV, fresh acidity, chalky Cabernet tannin, 18 months in barrel.
Vanilla cream, coffee, cinnamon, a spice-laced close. Decant 30 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F.
Quarry blocks, then 18 months of French-led oak
On the Ancient Peaks Quarry sheet, the 2021 is 95 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 5 percent Syrah from Margarita Vineyard, including the newer Quarry section. Fruit was destemmed, cold soaked 48 hours, and fermented with detailed phenolic work, then aged 18 months in French and American oak. All of the new wood, 35 percent, was French. That is how Paso richness keeps a cool, savory edge.
Ancient seabed and shale soils, plus Pacific air, keep the 2021 from going heavy. Syrah is a 5 percent stitch, not a second wine.
Mike Sinor and Stewart Cameron shaped the house style. Serve 60 to 64 F. Thirty minutes of air is for olive and tobacco, not a rescue.
Three ranching families, one southern Paso vineyard
Ancient Peaks exists because three longtime local families chose to farm Santa Margarita Ranch for wine, not just cattle.
Franciscan missionaries planted grapes here in the late 1700s. The modern vineyard began when the Mondavi family planted Margarita Vineyard in 1999.
In 2005 the Filipponi, Rossi, and Wittstrom families took full ownership and named the winery for the Santa Lucia peaks that shape the climate. Production began with the 2006 vintage.
Quarry is that ranch in a Cabernet bottle: a dedicated selection from warmer blocks, still carrying the marine-moderated edge of Santa Margarita.
Give it lamb, rosemary, and a slow beef pot
Quarry wants browned protein and a little herb. Lamb chops pull olive and tobacco. Mushroom brisket meets dark fruit and cocoa spice.
Two plates. One rosemary lamb chop. One beef brisket with wild mushrooms. Both can take chalky Paso tannin.
Decant 30 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. Wide bowls. This Cabernet is often better on night two.
Lamb Chops with Red Wine and Rosemary
Lamb gives the tannins something to hold, while rosemary pulls anise, tobacco, and savory olive.
Why it works: Red currant and plum brighten the lamb. Oak spice echoes the pan sauce.
View Recipe for lamb chops with red wine and rosemary (opens in a new tab)
Beef Brisket with Wild Mushrooms
Slow-cooked beef and mushrooms meet the Cabernet in dark fruit, cocoa, earth, and black olive.
Why it works: Mushroom umami smooths the chalky tannin and lets the coffee-cinnamon finish stretch.
View Recipe for beef brisket with wild mushrooms (opens in a new tab)Put this Quarry Cabernet in the cart
Estate Margarita fruit. Tasting Panel 92. Twenty dollars against a $48 typical retail.
Put it in the cart. This is the Ancient Peaks bottle for a table that wants Paso Cabernet with a ranch story, not a slogan.
