2015 Roussanne
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The 2015 Tablas Creek Vineyard Roussanne is Tablas Creek’s fifteenth varietal bottling of our most important white grape. The wine is exuberantly and elegantly in character of the Roussanne grape, with honey, honeysuckle, and pear aromatics, a rich, viscous mouthfeel with just a hint of oak, and a long, lingering finish.
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92 points; "Fresh fruit flavors show both depth and vivacity": Vinous (Nov 2017)
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90 points; "A beguiling slippery texture all well integrated": Purely Domestic Wine Report (Nov 2017)
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91 points; "fine and elegantly played": Wine Advocate (Sep 2017)
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90 points; "I love its balance": Jeb Dunnuck (Aug. 2017)
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Outstanding Plus; "This is a gorgeous Roussanne": Underground Wine Letter (May 2017)
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91 points; "dry and racy on the palate": Josh Raynolds, Vinous (June 2016)
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90 points; "hint of smoke, zippy lemon peels, touch of toast combine for a restrained take on the grape" Wine Enthusiast (May 2018)
Tasting Notes
The 2015 Roussanne has a rich nose of pineapple, honeycomb, butterscotch, jasmine, and a little cedary oak. The mouth is broad and rich, inviting, with ripe pear, beeswax, custard, baking spices and a nice savory firmness that reminded me of apple skin cleaning things up on the long finish. A wine to enjoy now or to hold for a decade or more.
Technical Details
Appellation
- Adelaida District Paso Robles
Technical Notes
- 13.4% Alcohol by Volume
- 1200 Cases Produced
Blend
- 100% Roussanne
Recipes & Pairings
Recipe Suggestions
Food Pairings
- Rich shellfish (lobster and crab)
- Sea Bass
- Mildly spicy foods (curries, gumbo)
- Stir-fries in garlic and olive oil
- Salmon
Production Notes
We use most of our Roussanne in our Esprit de Tablas Blanc each year. However, we often have some Roussanne lots in the cellar that are so powerfully characteristic of the varietal that we feel it would be a shame to lose them in a blend. In these cases, we reserve a small quantity of this Roussanne for a single-varietal bottling.
Our Roussanne grapes were grown on our certified organic estate vineyard.
The 2015 vintage saw dramatically reduced yields from the combined effects of four years of drought and cool, unsettled weather during May's flowering. Months alternated between significantly cooler than normal and significantly warmer than normal, which produced an early start to harvest but required multiple passes through most vineyard blocks during a long, drawn-out picking season. Yields were down as much as 50% in early-ripening grapes like Viognier, while later grapes like Roussanne were only down slightly. The result was a vintage with excellent concentration but unusually good acids, and wines with dramatic perfume, texture, and intensity. Our Roussanne was harvested between September 15th and October 28th.
The Roussanne grapes were whole cluster pressed, and fermented using native yeasts in neutral 1200-gallon French oak foudres (55%), neutral 132-gallon French oak puncheons (35%) and new 60-gallon barriques (10%). The lots were left on their lees for 6 months, and allowed to complete malolactic fermentation. After fermentation the lots were blended, and bottled in December 2016. The wine underwent only a light cold stabilization before bottling.