Tablas Creek Esprit de Tablas Blanc 2012
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Wine Enthusiast
This historic producer’s flagship blend of Roussanne, Grenache Blanc and Picpoul offers scents of wild honey and lemon custard. The flavors walk proudly between those elements and a citrus peel bitterness, woven amidst the freshness of seltzer and morning dew.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Incorporating more Roussanne in 2012, the 2012 Esprit Blanc de Tablas checks in as 75% Roussanne, 20% Grenache Blanc and 5% Picpoul Blanc, all of which was brought up in larger foudre. Light gold in color, it has a classic Roussanne pear, lemon curd, honeysuckle and white flower-like qualities to go with a medium-bodied, seamless profile on the palate. Starting out lively and fresh, it gains in stature and depth with time in the glass, so a decant is recommended if drinking soon. I’d drink bottles over the coming 2-3 years, but it will have at least a decade of evolution.
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Tasting Panel
Rich, minerally style and crisp, racy, nicely balanced flavors; complex and layered; long and idiosyncratic. 75% Roussanne, 20% Grenache Blanc, 5% Picpoul Blanc.
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Tablas Creek is a pioneer of California’s Rhone movement. Founded in 1989, it is the culmination of a friendship between two of the international wine community’s leading families dating back to 1967: the Perrin family of Chateau de Beaucastel and the Haas family of Vineyard Brands. After a four-year search, the partners chose Paso Robles, California for its many similarities to the Southern Rhone and began the lengthy process of importing vine cuttings, building a grapevine nursery, and creating an estate vineyard from the ground up. Today, the vineyards at Tablas Creek are proudly Biodynamic® and organic certified by Demeter USA.
Full-bodied and flavorful, white Rhône blends originate from France’s Rhône Valley. Today these blends are also becoming popular in other regions. Typically some combination of Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier form the basis of a white Rhône blend with varying degrees of flexibility depending on the exact appellation. Somm Secret—In the Northern Rhône, blends of Marsanne and Roussanne are common but the south retains more variety. Marsanne, Roussanne as well as Bourboulenc, Clairette, Picpoul and Ugni Blanc are typical.
Paso Robles has made a name for itself as a source of supple, powerful, fruit-driven Central Coast wines. But with eleven smaller sub-AVAs, there is actually quite a bit of diversity to be found in this inland portion of California’s Central Coast.
Just east over the Santa Lucia Mountains from the chilly Pacific Ocean, lie the coolest in the region: Adelaida, Templeton Gap and (Paso Robles) Willow Creek Districts, as well as York Mountain AVA and Santa Margarita Ranch. These all experience more ocean fog, wind and precipitation compared to the rest of the Paso sub-appellations. The San Miguel, (Paso Robles) Estrella, (Paso Robles) Geneso, (Paso Robles) Highlands, El Pomar and Creston Districts, along with San Juan Creek, are the hotter, more western appellations of the greater Paso Robles AVA.
This is mostly red wine country, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel standing out as the star performers. Other popular varieties include Merlot, Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot, Syrah, Grenache and Rhône blends, both red and white. There is a fairly uniform tendency here towards wines that are unapologetically bold and opulently fruit-driven, albeit with a surprising amount of acidity thanks to the region’s chilly nighttime temperatures.