2020 Cotes de Tablas
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The Tablas Creek Vineyard Côtes de Tablas is a blend of four estate-grown Rhône varietals: Grenache, Syrah, Counoise and Mourvedre. Like most wines of the Southern Rhône, it showcases Grenache, featuring that grape's characteristic generous fruit and refreshing acidity, balanced by the spice and mineral of Syrah, the appealing briary wildness of Counoise and the structure of Mourvèdre.
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92 points; "Bright and savory": James Suckling (Oct. 2022)
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92-93 points; "expressive, spice-accented nose": Vinous (July 2022)
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Extraordinary; "richness and depth with layers of plum and cassis fruit": Underground Wine Letter (Jun. 2022)
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95 points; "a complex and luscious beast of wine with a massive potential to age and develop": BevX (May 2022)
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92 points; "lovely rich and long blend of four Rhône varieties, bursting with berries": Blue Lifestyle (May 2022)
Tasting Notes
A serious nose of brambly spice, red apple skin, wild grape jelly, and bay. The palate is poised evenly between savory and sweeter elements, with plum skin and cola deepened by dried herbs and cocoa powder. A little chalky minerality comes out along with some fairly substantial tannins on the finish. This will be delicious young, with excellent complexity for this bottling, but should also age gracefully a decade or more.
Technical Details
Appellation
- Adelaida District Paso Robles
Technical Notes
- 13.5% Alcohol by Volume
- 989 Cases Produced
Blend
- 43% Grenache
- 33% Syrah
- 19% Counoise
- 5% Mourvedre
Recipes & Pairings
Recipe Suggestions
Food Pairings
- Grilled steaks
- Pastas with meat sauces
- Rich beef stews
- Spicy sausages
Production Notes
The grapes for our Côtes de Tablas were grown on our Regenerative Organic Certified™ and biodynamic estate vineyard.
The 2020 vintage began benignly, with a cool spring that delayed budbreak to a little after normal, and continued below-average temperatures through July. Beginning in August, the weather turned hot, accelerating ripening and producing intense flavors. The state's terrible fires stayed well north of us, and the harvest finished early, under a compressed timeline but good conditions. The vintage shows concentrated flavors, noteworthy lushness, and lovely spice.
All varietals were fermented in a mix of stainless steel and wooden upright fermenters with the use of native yeasts. After pressing, the wines were racked, blended in June 2021, aged for a year in 1200-gallon French oak foudres, and then bottled in February 2022. The wine is unfined and unfiltered.