Winemaker Notes
Try pairing with grilled steaks, pastas with meat sauces, rich beef stews, spicy sausages.
Blend: 39% Grenache, 35% Syrah, 16% Counoise, and 10% Mourvedre
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Sleekly structured, with smoky raspberry, savory bay leaf and cracked pepper flavors that glide along toward refined tannins. Grenache, Syrah, Counoise and Mourvèdre.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of 39% Grenache, 35% Syrah, 16% Counoise and 10% Mourvèdre, the 2015 Cote de Tablas sports a pale to medium garnet-purple color and expressive black raspberry, blackberry and red currant nose with hints of Chinese five spice and Sichuan pepper. Medium-bodied, firm and chewy in the mouth, the palate is filled with red and black fruit layers and finishes with an herbal lift.
With bold fruit flavors and accents of sweet spice, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre form the base of the classic Rhône Red Blend, while Carignan, Cinsault and Counoise often come in to play. Though they originated from France’s southern Rhône Valley, with some creative interpretation, Rhône blends have also become popular in other countries. Somm Secret—Putting their own local spin on the Rhône Red Blend, those from Priorat often include Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. In California, it is not uncommon to see Petite Sirah make an appearance.
