2019 Esprit de Tablas
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The Tablas Creek Vineyard 2019 Esprit de Tablas is our flagship red blend, chosen from the best lots 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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95 points; "impressively long finish that strongly repeats the spice and floral notes": Vinous (July 2022)
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93 points & Editors' Choice; "snappy and vibrant": Wine Enthusiast (Mar. 2022)
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92 points; "coiled up, with the stuff to age": Wine and Spirits (Feb. 2022)
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94 points; "silky and polished": Purely Domestic Wine Report (Jan. 2022)
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94 points; "Layered and balanced": James Suckling (Nov. 2021)
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97 points; "Full-bodied and perfectly balanced with a dense, meaty texture": BevX (Oct. 2021)
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Outstanding Plus/Extraordinary; "structure, depth, and balance with a firm underlying backbone and a long finish": Underground Wine Letter (Oct. 2021)
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94 points; "seamless, lush, and racy with aging potential": Blue Lifestyle (Sep. 2021)
Tasting Notes
An intense Mourvèdre nose of spiced plum, sarsaparilla, loamy earth, and new leather. The palate is mouth-coating with flavors of black cherry, teriyaki marinade, baker's chocolate and iron. The long, richly tannic finish promises more rewards to come with cellar aging, and leaves lingering flavors of plum skin and roasted meats. We recommend that you drink either between now and 2024 or again starting in 2027 any time over the subsequent two decades.
Technical Details
Appellation
- Adelaida District Paso Robles
Technical Notes
- 14.0% Alcohol by Volume
- 3650 Cases Produced
Blend
- 39% Mourvedre
- 30% Grenache
- 21% Syrah
- 10% Counoise
Recipes & Pairings
Recipe Suggestions
Food Pairings
- Game
- Dark Fowl (i.e., duck)
- Richly flavored stews
- Lamb
- Asian preparation of red meats (i.e., beef stir fry)
Production Notes
The 2019 vintage began with ample rainfall the preceding winter. The wet soils delayed budbreak to a little after normal, and a cool first half of the summer delayed flowering and the ripening of our earlier varieties. Beginning the second week of July, the weather turned warm but never so warm to engage the vines' self-defense mechanism of shutting down, accelerating ripening of our later varieties and producing intense flavors. The resulting compressed harvest was completed under ideal conditions and the vintage shows both concentration and freshness, with bright acids framing ample fruit.
The grapes for our Esprit de Tablas were grown on our certified organic and biodynamic estate vineyard.
The grapes were fermented using native yeasts in a mix of 1500-gallon wooden upright fermenters, open-top tanks and closed stainless steel fermenters. After pressing, the wines were moved into barrel and allowed to complete malolactic fermentation. The Esprit's components were fermented separately, then selected for Esprit, blended in June 2020 and aged a year in foudre before bottling in July 2021.