1999 Reserve Cuvee
The Tablas Creek Vineyard Reserve Cuvée 1999 is a blend of four estate-grown varietals, propagated from budwood cuttings from the Château de Beaucastel estate. The wine is based on the dark red fruit, earth, spice and mid-palate richness of Mourvèdre, with additions of Grenache for forward fruit, approachability and lushness, Syrah for mineral, aromatics, and back-palate tannins, and Counoise for brambly spice and acidity.
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Reserve Cuvée: The Beginning
In the early years of Tablas Creek, we produced just one red wine and one white wine, and called these Rouge and Blanc. Beginning in 1999, we separated our red production into two wines: the Reserve Cuvée (which the next year we would rename Esprit de Beaucastel) and the Petite Cuvée (which would become the Cotes de Tablas).
Like the Esprit de Beaucastel, the Reserve Cuvée is a selection from our most compelling lots, blended for elegance, richness, and longevity.
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4 stars; "Beaucastel in California": Decanter (Dec. 2002)
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"The Anti-Merlot": Forbes Magazine (Aug. 2002)
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90 points: Wine Advocate (Feb. 2002)
Tasting Notes
The 1999 Reserve Cuvée is a deeply colored, richly intense, highly extracted wine, redolent of ripe cherries, raspberries, currants and blueberries held together in a velvety tannic structure. We expect it to age for a decade or longer.
Updated tasting notes from a May 2019 vertical tasting can be found on the Tablas Creek blog.
Technical Details
Appellation
- Paso Robles
Technical Notes
- 14.7% alcohol by volume
- 2208 cases produced
Blend
- 40% Mourvèdre
- 27% Grenache Noir
- 23% Syrah
- 10% Counoise
Recipes & Pairings
Recipe Suggestions
Production Notes
The grapes for our Reserve Cuvée were grown on our 120-acre certified organic estate vineyard.
The 1999 Reserve Cuvée is a powerful expression of the outstanding 1999 vintage. The crop was small and concentrated. The harvest took place starting in September under ideal conditions and continued through October. The lots were fermented separately with native yeasts, then blended in the spring of 2000 and aged in 1200-gallon foudres until the wine's bottling in July of 2001.