2017 Atlas Wine Company Omen Red Blend Sierra Foothills 750 ml

Sourced from the fastest rising wine region on the West Coast, the 2017 Omen Red Blend is an omen...a very good one for the future of California’s Sierra Foothills terroir. Inky and generous, this is French-born winemaker Alexandre Remy’s celebration of California sunshine, showing bold notes of blackberry jam, dark chocolate, and espresso with hints of clove and licorice. 

The Sierra Foothills’ generous sunshine and poor, mineral-rich soils put forth red grapes of deep and complex character which are pulling California’s best talent out of Napa and into the hills: Andy Erickson (Favia, Harlan, Screaming Eagle) makes his Rompecabezas red wine there. Marco Cappelli of Miraflores (formerly of Swanson) is producing Cabernet, Helen Keplinger (Bryant Family, Kenzo Estate) is making a red wine, and Philippe Melka is producing Andis Wines, all in the same region.

But Omen’s blend of Zinfandel, Barbera, Syrah, and Petite Sirah is tailor-made for fans of juicy, gulpable reds is available for a fraction of the price of the competition, and delivers textbook California ripeness and complexity that make it ideal to enjoy with a burger, pizza, or on its own, by the (very generous, of course) glass. Wine Enthusiast loves it too, calling this value red a “no-brainer,” in its glowing review where it also praised its “velvety texture that soothes the palate.” 
 
We spoke with Alexandre while walking one of Omen’s iron-rich source vineyards in the Sierra Foothills, where he told us about how he forged a winemaking career. It was, in large part, because some winery interns in his native (and tradition-bound) France told him he couldn’t—he needed a winemaking degree, they said, while his was is in food science.

“The concept of a challenge is a true motivator for me,” he told us, recalling the spark that set him on his path. “So I took my backpack and traveled the world, going country to country, learning winemaking from scratch, starting by washing equipment and pruning vines, and eventually managing an entire winery.”
 
That fierce defiance separates Alexandre from many of his peers, as does his lack of desire—to make expensive wine, that is. He’s not interested in it at all. Instead, he puts all of his focus on bottlings like Omen Red Blend, which deliver impeccable quality for under $20 bottle. That’s only possible because he has sought out and discovered some of the best fruit-sourcing values in California...but his sources won’t be secret for long, so don’t wait to get in on this limited-production red.