Another Fantastic Red Blend from Paso Robles (Ambyth 2008 Maiestas (93 Points)

COMPOSITION

61% Syrah, 18% Mourvedre, 15% Grenache, 6% Counoise

PRICE PAID

$45

BOUQUET

This wine has a gorgeous, floral nose!  The very first thing that leaps out of the glass is a bouquet of flowers (hence the term), along with suggestions of red fruit, earth, spices, and oak.

TASTING NOTES

Upfront disclosure: we visited Ambyth’s tasting room/home and it was EASILY the best wine tasting experience of our lives!

We bought tickets to Paso Robles’ “Pinot and Paella Festival” and decided to take my parents with us and to do a little wine tasting before the festival.  I made an appointment with Ambyth and arrived at the winery on a cold, blustery day.  The moment we parked my parent’s SUV and started to head towards the tasting room, Phillip (Ambyth’s owner and winemaker) came out of his beautiful house and said that it was too cold to do a wine tasting in their tasting room and that we should join them in their home for the tasting.  We went up the hill to their beautiful home and were treated to a FANTASTIC tasting of their estate-grown wines, olives, and olive oil.  Needless to say, the experience was unforgettable; the wines, olives, and olive oil were extraordinary.  Phillip and Mary’s hospitality was beyond belief and the entire experience was something that I will always remember until the day I die!

Ambyth’s wines/vineyards are biodynamic, dry farmed, head trained, unfined and unfiltered, utilizing native yeasts.  Their wines are purposely low in alcohol (when was the last time you had a California red blend at only 12.5% alcohol?!?!) and reveal a purity of essence that few California wines could ever hope to accomplish.

Thanks to low alcohol and being Demeter certified, the wine’s terrior shines through like few wines dare.  The first, most-noticeable trait of this fantastic blend is bright, pure red and black fruits like strawberries, cherries, raspberries, and blackberries.  There’s an unbelievably wonderful balance of fruit, spices like rosemary and black pepper, earthiness, and the PERFECT amount of oak.  This wine is absolutely, perfectly well-balanced; this blend exhibits fantastic acidity, the previously-mentioned low alcohol level, and a depth of flavor that most Paso Rhone blends would envy.

This wine is labeled “Maiestas,” which, in Latin, means “Majestic Dignity.”  Ambyth is a Welsh term for “forever.”  Based on both terms, I would imagine this wine would still be “Forever Majestically Dignified” a million years from now.  I will assume that I won’t live to be a million years old, but if a bottle of Ambyth’s 2008 Maiestas were to get lost in somebody’s cellar for a million years, I would assume it would probably taste “majestically dignified” even after all those years!

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS

We drank this beauty with lamb chops spiced with Kosher salt, black pepper, and Herbs de Provence.  The wine and lamb chops could not have gone better together!  This wine would also pair well with just about any other red beef dish (thanks to the 61% Syrah), along with prime rib, grilled steak, and rack of lamb.

AGING POTENTIAL

This wine is drinking gorgeously right now, and although Ambyth doesn’t use sulfites (which most wineries add to their wines as a preservative), based on its structure (alcohol (or lack-thereof), acidity, sugar, etc.), this wine will probably continue to age beautifully and mature gracefully for another 15+ years.

SCORE (on a 100-point scale)

93

Q.P.R. (QUALITY-TO-PRICE RATIO) (POOR, FAIR, GOOD, EXCELLENT)

GOOD – EXCELLENT

WINERY WEBSITE

http://www.ambythestate.com/

Complete tasting notes can be found at http://vino-pinionated.blogspot.com/