Upcoming Events

We are pleased to invite you to participate in our nineteenth annual barrel tasting and sale en primeur of Tablas Creek Vineyard's remarkable wines from the outstanding 2021 vintage: Esprit de Tablas and Panoplie. Offering wine en primeur is a time-honored French tradition most often associated with first-growth Bordeaux estates. In outstanding vintages, valued customers are offered the opportunity to secure a limited quantity of sought-after wines at a special price in advance of bottling and subsequent general release. The ordering period is now open and will close on December 12th, 2022. The wines will be available for delivery or pickup in fall 2023.

The 2021 Vintage:

The 2021 vintage came after a chilly, relatively dry winter, the exception being a single storm that dropped more than a foot of rain on us in late January. The cold, dry winter produced a fruit set with smaller clusters and smaller berries, and yields were down about 25% compared to our average. The growing season was ideal, with each hot stretch followed by a cool period that allowed the vines to recover, and that combined with the low yields to produce some of our most intense fruit ever and our highest average acids since the chilly 2011 vintage. We believe that 2021 has all the hallmarks of a blockbuster year.

The Wines:

• 2021 Esprit de Tablas: Esprit de Tablas is Tablas Creek's signature red blend, always led by the dark red fruit, earth, spice and mid-palate richness of Mourvèdre (35%), along with additions of Grenache (26%), Syrah (23%), Vaccarese (7%), Cinsaut (5%), and Counoise (4%). Esprit blends with relatively high percentages of both Mourvedre and Grenache are often found in our best vintages, with the other varieties moving to secondary roles providing darker color, spice, and chewy tannins. The result is a luscious, dark-red-fruited Esprit with plenty of structure. It should drink well when young, yet age for two decades or more.
• 2021 Panoplie: Panoplie is our elite Mourvèdre-based cuvée, made in the model of Château de Beaucastel's Hommage a Jacques Perrin and selected from the top 5% of lots that come into the cellar each vintage. In 2021, we chose three exceptional lots of Mourvèdre to represent 54% of the wine, and added two lots each of Grenache (24%) and Syrah (22%). The resulting Panoplie shows Mourvèdre at its most luscious, with dark currant and plum fruit alongside a meaty, mocha density. Syrah’s black fruit and chalky tannins give the wine grip, while Grenache adds juicy vibrancy and spicy lift. A blockbuster, it will be hard to resist young but should age effortlessly for 30 years or more.
  

To Taste:

We are pleased to offer two ways for you to learn about the 2021 vintage and these two wines.

1. Visit the winery between November 15th and December 12th, when we will have samples of the new Esprit de Tablas and Panoplie for you to taste.
2. You may watch the recording of our En Premier Live! where Proprietor Jason Haas and Senior Assistant Winemaker Chelsea Franchi discuss the wines on our YouTube page.

To Order:

You can fulfill your en primeur order on our futures ordering page using your membership login information.

Alternatively, you can download a PDF order form for VINsiders, Esprit Club Members, and VINdependents and email the completed form to orders@tablascreek.com or give us a call at 805.237.1231 x236.

Additional Resources:

• Make your tasting reservations online.
• The order period ends December 12th.

Since 2014 we have begun each year by looking back with a decade's perspective at how a broad range of wines from the vintage ten years earlier have developed. This February, we will turn our attention to the 2013 vintage, the second year of a drought cycle, a circumstance that often sees wines with the best of both worlds: concentration and vibrancy. At this horizontal tasting (horizontal referring to tasting several wines from a single estate made in a single year, as opposed to vertical, which would imply a tasting of the same wine across several vintages) you can join us as we open nine different wines from 2013, including the 2013 Esprit de Tablas Blanc, 2013 Esprit de Tablas, and 2013 Panoplie.

The cost is $75 for wine club members and $90 for guests and non-members. Tickets are on sale now. If you have questions please email events@tablascreek.com or call 805.237.1231 x236.

Our flock of 150+ sheep makes up the core of our regenerative farming program, building soil health and microbial activity while controlling weeds and sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. In this family-friendly event (kids 10+ recommended) join our Viticulturist Jordan Lonborg and our Regenerative Specialist Erin Mason for a discussion of the flock's role in our program and an introduction to other key pieces of our regenerative program, including composting, cover crops, biochar, and the conscious fostering of biodiversity. We'll finish by providing a picnic lunch for everyone, with Tablas Creek wine for the adults.

$30 for wine club members, $45 for guests or non-members, and $15 for kids. Tickets will go on sale soon; meanwhile if you have questions please email events@tablascreek.com or call 805.237.1231 x236. Note that while we will have a space set aside after the event ends if people want to taste a few wines, no reservations needed, if you want a full tasting while you're here you should book that separately, for 1 or 1:30pm.