2018-C Omen Red Blend, Sierra Foothills, California (750ml)   

_{A Monthly Wine Club Selection}
Why be a prisoner of The Prisoner? This Omen is a good sign…big and chewy, with intense flavors of blackberry, blueberry, bramble and spice; peppered with notes of cedar and oak and firm, gripping tannin. And it’s a bargain to boot!

The grapes for the Omen blend are 63% Zinfandel, 21% Syrah, 8% Barbera and 8% Petite Sirah. Each vineyard was picked separately, the grapes were crushed/de-stemmed and cold-soaked 3 days before fermentation with an extensive skin maceration (10 to 20 days). The resulting wines were carefully blended then aged in French oak (30% new, 70% neutral) for 9 months before bottling. Wine in its purest form tends to be romanticized, often times referred to as “bottled poetry”; the fundamental business structures are rarely considered when shopping for and enjoying it, and rather, we sort of assume that a winemaker’s profession is purely passion-driven. Atlas is a new generation farming company with over 40 years of combined expertise farming and developing vineyards around the world. Partners Alexandre Remy, Barry Belli and Mike Cybulski respect and honor traditional farming practices but also actively seek and implement innovative ideas and concepts. By sourcing fruit from ‘hidden gem vineyards’ from lesser-known wine regions in Oregon and California, keeping barrel-aging to the minimum and forgoing the traditional winery ownership, instead opting for an alternating proprietorship at Perry Creek Winery in Fair Play, Alexandre convinced his partners that they could craft affordable and crowd-pleasing wines while operating a sustainable and profitable business. This enables Atlas Wine to produce affordable, hand-crafted wines that leverage a “Vines to Bottle” approach—made solely from AVA grapes, yeast, oak and the minimum amount of sulfur necessary. No mega-purple, no DCDM, no added sweeteners or mouthfeel agents. Just great tasting wine—bold and with a lot of personality!