Ancient Peaks-A History of California Wine

Good wine is always a good story and Ancient Peaks is good wine. The Central Coast of California, blessed as it is with sunshine and warm days, fog and cool nights and frequent radical temperature variations have nestled and nourished soils that are a grape’s best friend.

Mike Sinor, Ancient Peaks Winery’s winemaker, is passionate about the place that has become his palette as he creates art for other people’s palates. “The vineyards here are incredible.” Sinor knows of what he speaks.

These vineyards were planted by the Mondavi family just north and east of San Luis Obispo, CA directly off the 101 Freeway in a town called Rancho Santa Margarita in the 1990’s. But that’s not the beginning. The beginning goes well back to the beginnings of California’s Mission heritage.

Mike Sinor inspects Oyster Ridge's 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon. Photo by Brian Davis.

Junipero Serra came through Santa Margarita establishing something called an “asistencia” here. An “asistencia” was a place to rest or replace horses, get water and food, and relax in between the Missions along California’s coast. The good Father planted several varieties of what are now known as “Mission grapes” in some of these places and Santa Margarita was one of these.

By the time the Mondavis planted the vineyards, it was apparent that the place was special. The calcareous soils, enriched by ancient oyster shells and other sea bed materials, provided a perfect environment for excellent drainage and abundant minerality.

Geologically, the vineyard sits at around 1100 feet and is, according to Ancient Peaks co-owner Karl Wittstrom, located at a spot where the tectonic plates meet and millions of years ago, one plate pushed the other up from under the ocean, leaving the soil now aptly named Oyster Ridge.

In these hills near the Santa Lucia Mountains, bisected by Trout Creek and whispered over by Pacific Coast winds, Karl Wittstrom and Doug Filipponi purchased 14,000 acres of the ranch that quite literally surrounds the town of Rancho Santa Margarita. With 966 acres under vines in various spots throughout this former Spanish land grant, Wittstrom is as passionate as his winemaker about the place.

“We’re working at keeping the vineyards as pristine as we can,” said Wittstrom. “We’ve included a lot of things that just make common sense. Doug and I are farmers by trade, that’s what we bring to this, a farmer’s way of doing things.” Some of those common sense things include an organic spray compound of citrus to keep mildew off the grapes. Wittstrom placed bat habitats all around the vineyard, too. “Their diet is 100 percent insects. We created habitat for them and so they live here throughout the vineyard and they keep the insect populations down,” he said. There are also predator habitats for owls and scarecrows are moved frequently throughout the fields. When all else fails, a vineyard hand can be seen occasionally driving around the vineyard with a shotgun to frighten off starlings and other grape eaters.

Ancient Peaks' Oyster Ridge Vineyard in Rancho Santa Margarita. Photo by Brian Davis.

Farming is at the heart of wine growing, of course. With good practices come great grapes. Sinor, a self-taught wine maker, has learned his craft by simply plying it. “He’s not doing anything special or different,” said Wittstrom of Sinor. “But the wines he’s making are phenomenal.”

Indeed, the taste profiles are beautiful and even unique. I’ve got a fairly good palate, but I wouldn’t dare to attempt a “review” of the wines as I don’t have that kind of expertise. I will say that I interview wine makers and winery owners on a weekly, sometimes daily basis. It’s quite rare that I will purchase wine from those I interview. But, I did here. And quite a bit of it, too. The Sauvignon Blanc that Sinor makes is one of the best examples of New World Sauvignon Blanc I’ve ever had. Recently, Sinor began crafting a lovely Malbec as well.

“We’re based on our history, on our experiences,” said Sinor. “But, I’m in love with the day to day process. There ain’t no plan B in my life. I want to make wine,” he said. Considering further on his comment about history and experience, Sinor commented, “It’s about listening to the wine, letting the wine make itself. When you force your opinions on the wine, you impose an experience in it. I try to approach the wine humbly and let them express what they are.”

The wine world is synthesized into taste profiles and market shares. Nothing wrong with that, it’s how one sells wine. But Mike Sinor, Karl Wittstrom and Doug Filipponi are allowing nature to take its course. That’s their business plan. And that’s not only a great story, it’s great wine as well.