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Vintage Chart

The 2008 Tablas Creek Vineyard Grenache Blanc is Tablas Creek's seventh bottling of its 100% Grenache Blanc. The Grenache Blanc grape, a little-known but widely-planted Southern Rhone varietal, produces wines with tremendous body, good acidity, and flavors of citrus, anise, and green apple.

We use most of our Grenache Blanc in our Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc and Cotes de Tablas Blanc each year. However, we have been so pleased by the flavors and intensity of the Grenache Blanc that we decided to reserve a small quantity of Grenache Blanc for a single-varietal bottling.

As with all our wines, our Grenache Blanc grapes were grown on our 120-acre certified organic estate vineyard.

The 2008 vintage was our second consecutive drought year, with yields further reduced by spring frosts. Berries and clusters were small, leading to excellent concentration. Ripening over the summer was gradual and harvest about a week later than normal. Crop sizes were similar to 2007 and about 20% lower than usual. The low yields and gradual ripening resulted in wines with good intensity, lower than normal alcohols and an appealing gentle minerality. Our Grenache Blanc was harvested between September 16th and October 3rd.

The Grenache Blanc grapes were whole cluster pressed, and fermented using native yeasts in stainless steel tanks and one two-year-old foudre. The fermentation process took unusually long, and didn't complete until nearly a year after harvest. The final blend was assembled in July 2009, and bottled in September 2009. The wines underwent only a light cold stabilization before bottling.

The 2008 Grenache Blanc shows a clean nose of mineral, green apple, grapefruit and pear, with flavors that begin bright with lemon and lime, then broaden in the mid-palate before re-tightening on the finish with a lingering character of green apple skin and wet rocks.