Don’t tell PasoBro, but I have stated numerous times Santa Margarita grows the best BDX varieties in the AVA. Here’s a fun example–one I found languishing on a Bev-Mo shelf for PENNIES. The interesting part is: I reviewed this exact wine on release in 2014. I thought it seemed familiar. I haven’t read that review–for fear of psychological sway–but will of course as soon as I finish my thoughts today.

Dark crimson in the glass, the definite pallor of brick influencing the color. Even in a bottle stored upright its entire life, sediment dusts the shoulder. Robust dark fruit fills the nose, a toasty, almost burnt aspect to the cherry and briar contained. Maraschino and spicy raisin compete with rich blackberry patina’ed with wholesome tertiary notes and an unspecified amount of one-dimensional fruit-fade. Decanted heavily, and with air it richens with aplomb, burnished and bruised–still amply-fruited–though dark and brooding.

Tasting it shows the brutal force and focus I have noted in Santa Margarita wines on almost every meeting. Lush and rich on one hand, fiercely acidic and tannin to the point of closure on others. High notes of spice and vanilla are watery and awash in hesitation, while structure resounds effortlessly from the depths. Prickly and biting, it’s not *really* the gem I was hoping for, but at a sub-15$ price-point, where else are you going to get this sort of power? Leather and tobacco bits grace the edges of the fruit: a still-chewy gob of tar and currant. Tannin over-powers a citrus-thin finish where fruit is fighting to stay relevant–and it does, though not in over-whelming fashion. NO ONE at Broadside (or Ancient Peaks) intended–or expected–their entry-level cab to push beyond a decade, but here we have a ridiculously good wine strumming along in rather decadent form. These wines remain one of my most-oft recommended cheap cabs in Paso Robles and distributed nation-wide.

2012 BROADSIDE Cabernet Sauvignon Margarita Vyd. Paso Robles 13.7

https://broadsidewine.com/