Winemaker Notes
This wine pairs great with cooked shellfish, roasted or grilled vegetables, rich fish dishes, and foods cooked with garlic and olive oil.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Easily my favorite of the 2011 whites, and comprised of 64% Roussanne, 26% Grenache Blanc and 10% Picpoul Blanc, the 2011 Esprit Blanc de Tablas offers up a beautifully clear, detailed and balanced profile with plenty of white peach, orange rind, buttered toast, cream and hints of hazelnut all emerging from the glass. Medium-bodied, silky and polished on the palate, with excellent acidity and freshness, this beauty can be consumed now, or cellared for a decade. Drink now-2026.
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Tasting Panel
A lovely, complete Rhone-style white with depth richness and minerality over a core of juicy green apple and citrus.
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Wine Spectator
Balanced and refreshing, this offers a toasted element, complementing the Meyer lemon, melon and peach flavors, rounded out by a lush body, juicy details and floral and mineral touches. Roussanne, Grenache Blanc and Picpoul Blanc.
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.
The largest and perhaps most varied of California’s wine-growing regions, the Central Coast produces a good majority of the state's wine. This vast California wine district stretches from San Francisco all the way to Santa Barbara along the coast, and reaches inland nearly all the way to the Central Valley.
Encompassing an extremely diverse array of climates, soil types and wine styles, it contains many smaller sub-AVAs, including San Francisco Bay, Monterey, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Paso Robles, Edna Valley, Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Maria Valley.
While the Central Coast California wine region could probably support almost any major grape varietiy, it is famous for a few Central Coast reds and whites. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel are among the major ones. The Central Coast is home to many of the state's small, artisanal wineries crafting unique, high-quality wines, as well as larger producers also making exceptional wines.