2002 Panoplie
In exceptional vintages, Tablas Creek Vineyard produces small quantities of Panoplie: a Mourvèdre-based cuvée from meticulously selected grapes, made in the model of Château de Beaucastel’s Hommage á Jacques Perrin. In 2002, only 190 cases were produced.
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2002 Panoplie Included in March 05 VINsider Shipment
The 2002 Panoplie was made available exclusively to Tablas Creek Vineyard’s VINsider club members. One bottle was included in the March 2005 club shipment, with limited availability to reorder. In addition, VINsiders who reserved this wine as futures in December, 2003 received their wine in September 2004.
We have more information on the VINsider wine club.
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93 points: "Wonderfully pure and vibrant": Stephen Tanzer (July 2005)
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95 points: "A great success": Wine Advocate (Aug. 2004)
Tasting Notes
The 2002 Panoplie is a dense purple-red in color. It is spicy and rich, with a ripe fruit nose of raspberries and plums, along with roasted almonds and nutmeg. The complex palate is intense, layered, elegant, soft, and voluptuous. It has a wonderfully long, clean fruit finish.
Updated tasting notes from a June 2019 vertical tasting can be found on the Tablas Creek blog.
Technical Details
Appellation
- Paso Robles
Technical Notes
- 14.7% alcohol by volume
- Limited production of 190 cases
Blend
- 80% Mourvèdre
- 13% Grenache
- 7% Syrah
Recipes & Pairings
Production Notes
The 2002 vintage was tremendous: warm and sunny, with cool nights that prolonged the hangtime of the grapes. The warmth and long hangtime led to grapes that were concentrated, rich, and ripe, but with good balance as well as ripeness. Our first lots of Syrah came in on September 10th, followed by Counoise on September 17th, and Grenache and Mourvèdre both on September 24th. The beautiful fall weather allowed us to bring in fruit when it was at peak ripeness, and allow other blocks to continue to mature. The harvest continued through October, with the last lot of Mourvèdre safely in the cellar on October 28th.
The grapes were fermented using native yeasts in open and closed stainless steel fermenters. After pressing, the wines were moved into barrel, blended, and aged in 1200-gallon French oak foudres before being bottled in April, 2004. Panoplie is unfined and unfiltered.
The Tablas Creek Vineyard Panoplie 2002 is a barrel selection of the most intense lots of Mourvèdre, Grenache, and Syrah, all estate-grown varietals propagated from budwood cuttings from the Château de Beaucastel estate.