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The
Côtes
de Tablas wines are aimed at more of a Côtes du
Rhône style, while the Esprit
wines are more of a Beaucastel style.
35% of
the Tablas Creek production is sold in California.
2005
Côtes de Tablas Blanc, Paso
Robles, Tablas Creek Vineyard, 13.9%
All estate wine, from tank by tank selection.
An interesting nose with some herbes de provence notes. Full, and a bit
straightforward on the
palate. Very long
and deep.
2005 Grenache
Blanc, Paso Robles,
Tablas Creek Vineyard,
15.3%
A light, fragrant, floral nose. Quite
delicate on the palate with really good balance.
Really nice and elegant, especially at such a
high alcohol level: I would never guess this was over 15% abv. There are some marked
apple flavours.
2004
Roussanne, Paso Robles,
Tablas Creek Vineyards, 14.3%
All the roussanne wines (including the Esprit blanc) are held for six
months
more ageing. This
is partly barrel
fermented and part in stainless steel.
This has a minerally, nutty nose with quite moderated roussanne
characteristics. The
minerally notes
recur on the palate too. This
is a very
interesting wine with lots of quite character.
It actually seems quite French.
2004 Esprit
Blanc, Paso Robles,
Tablas Creek Vineyards, 14.7%
The Esprit blanc is always based on roussanne, but the proportion
varies each
year between 45% and 75%: the 2004 is 65% roussanne.
A minerally, limestoney nose with candied
lemons and a hint of garrique. Very
pure
and precise palate – very clean and focussed, which Jason
Haas puts down to the
influence of the picpoul in the blend: they used to use viognier, but
now use
picpoul, which Jason believes gives it a
“laser-like” precision.
A very impressive wine.
2005
Rosé, Paso Robles, Tablas
Creek Vineyards,
14.8%
A mid raspberry red. They
have tried
making delicate rosés but that hasn’t worked in
Paso Robles. This
has spent three days on the skins (hence
there is no syrah in the blend). The
mourvèdre is quite evident on the nose with a nice
earthiness: a good nose with
nice fruit and very good balance.
This
isn’t going to set the world on fire, but it isn’t
meant to. Nice.
Very Good (just). 85/100
2004
Côtes de Tablas Red, Paso
Robles, Tablas Creek Vineyards
This is grenache-based (unlike the Esprit which is mainly
mourvèdre). Jason
Haas believes that the Californian
climate can exaggerate grenache to the extent that it can become a
caricature
of itself: blending softens the edges.
This has
a strong strawberry nose with fruity, smoky notes.
It has a light and fresh character and to me
is actually a little reminiscent of the 1994 Beaucastel – in
fact it feels
quite burgundian.
2004
Mourvèdre, Paso Robles,
Tablas Creek Vineyards, 14.3%
This has lots of black fruit on the nose, but none of the stink that
can often
be associated with mourvèdre in southern France. Very precise on the
palate, and it does feel
very Rhône like, but like a young vine mourvèdre. Jason Haas tells me that
the “prettier”
mourvèdre grapes go into this wine, while the bigger ones go
into the
Esprit. This is an
impressive wine. Very
long with a lovely spicy feel
after. Very Good
Indeed. 91/100
2004 Syrah,
Paso Robles, Tablas
Creek Vineyards,
14.5%
The Haas and Perrin families have come to the conclusion that syrah
does better
at Tablas Creek than at Beaucastel, and they think that Paso Robles
might be
the best place in California for syrah.
This has
perfumed blackberry fruit with lots of violets on the nose. There is quite a perfumed
feel on the palate
too. Very nicely
balanced with no
jamminess whatsoever. This
seems to me a
very pure expression of syrah. Mid
tannins come across on the finish.
2004 Esprit,
Paso Robles, Tablas
Creek Vineyards
A gently
meaty
nose with a bit of leather and plenty of blackberry fruit. The palate is nicely
balanced, initially it’s
fairly fresh, but it also has real depth and a fair bit of
concentration. It
has a really good structure, but isn’t
over-tannic. What
tannins there are are
chewy rather than sandy.
2004 was
a more spicy year, while 2003 has produced more sunny, open wines. The reds show a similar
profile to
Beaucastel: they drink well young, but then close down for –
well, they’ve not
quite worked out how long they close down for yet!
The 2003 and 2004 reds are still okay now,
but the 2002 reds are now very tightly closed.
2003 Esprit,
Paso Robles, Tablas
Creek Vineyards,
14.8%
This is quite different to the 2004 on the nose –
there’s much more red fruit,
raspberry and mint. Very
open on the
palate with lots of elegant red fruit.
There’s some noticeable acidity in this wine too.
2004 Vin de
Paille, Paso Robles,
Tablas Creek Vineyards, 13%
They have tried other methods of making sweet wines at Tablas Creek,
but they
haven’t worked. The
grapes for this are
dried out for three to four weeks in the greenhouses of the former
Tablas Creek
vine nursery. It is
mainly roussanne.
It has a very pure, pungent nose with honey, some almonds and a hint of
grappa,
together with a floral, almost muscatty note behind.
On the palate, it’s pretty luscious
stuff. Nicely
balanced, with good
acidity with some sweet wheat and corn syrup flavours rather than an
obvious
fruit character, which makes it a little odd.
Not over concentrated and although there’s that
corn syrup flavour, it’s
not at all syrupy. On
the finish, some
fruit flavours come through. Very
Good. 88/100
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Last updated: 2 January 2008