2017 Syrah
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The 2017 Tablas Creek Vineyard Syrah is Tablas Creek’s eleventh varietal bottling (but first since 2014) of the noble northern Rhone red grape. The wine displays the character of the Syrah grape exuberantly and elegantly, with classic flavors of bacon fat, wood smoke, blackberry and mineral, and should reward time in bottle to mature.
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93 Points; "persistent finish, which features dusty tannins and a resonating floral note": Vinous (Feb. 2020)
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92+ Points; "Medium to full-bodied, the fruits are savory and restrained in the mouth, firmly framed by pleasantly chewy tannins and good freshness, finishing long.": Wine Advocate (Oct. 2019)
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90-92+ Points; "beautifully balanced and has a layered, seamless texture": Jeb Dunnuck (Nov. 2018)
Tasting Notes
A vibrant nose of black raspberry, tobacco leaf, mint, white pepper, Chinese five spice, and laquered wood. The mouth is fresh, with flavors of blackberry, crushed rock, cedar spice, and teriyaki. The finish shows black cherry and mineral, with a touch of austerity from the youthful Syrah tannins and a little sweet oak. Decant in advance if drinking soon, or age up to two decades.
Technical Details
Appellation
- Adelaida District Paso Robles
Technical Notes
- 13.6% Alcohol by Volume
- 450 Cases Produced
Blend
- 100% Syrah
Recipes & Pairings
Recipe Suggestions
Food Pairings
- Grilled steaks
- Lamb
- Cassoulet
- Spicy sausages
Production Notes
We use most of our Syrah as a part of our Esprit de Tablas and Côtes de Tablas blends each year. However, we believe that Paso Robles is one of the world's great environments for Syrah, and in favorable vintages we try to reserve some particularly classic barrels of Syrah for a single-varietal bottling.
The 2017 vintage saw our drought end with a bang, as we received 43 inches of rain and saw our rainiest month ever in January. The wet soils delayed budbreak to a normal time frame, and produced such a healthy vineyard that we saw canopy sizes and cane lengths we hadn’t seen in years. The summer began relatively cool, but was punctuated by two heat spikes, one in early July and the other in late August, that accelerated ripening and produced intense flavors. The resulting vintage shows the health of the vines with a combination of concentration and freshness, with bright acids framing powerful fruit.
The grapes for our 2017 Syrah grapes were grown on our certified organic and biodynamic estate vineyard.
The Syrah grapes were destemmed and then fermented using native yeasts in small open-top stainless steel tanks. After two weeks, they were pressed, and moved to a balance of new and old French oak barrels to complete their fermentation. The wine was assembled in May of 2018 and aged for nearly another year in a 1200-gallon foudre before being bottled in April 2019.