2022 Esprit de Tablas Blanc
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The Tablas Creek Vineyard 2022 Esprit de Tablas Blanc is our flagship white blend, chosen from the top lots of six white Rhone varieties propagated from budwood cuttings from the Château de Beaucastel estate. Roussanne provides the core richness, minerality, and flavors of honey and spice, while Grenache Blanc adds green apple and anise flavors, lush mouthfeel and bright acids. Picpoul Blanc adds pineapple brightness and saline minerality, Bourboulenc provides limestoney, citrusy lift, Clairette Blanche brings clean fruitiness and chalky minerality, and Picardan finishes with a little burst of acid, further emphasizing the mineral notes.
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95 points; "full-bodied with bright acidity and complex notes of peaches, nectarines, beeswax and lanolin": JamesSuckling.com (Sep. 2024)
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94 points; "a beautiful balance of power, nuance and lift, with a mellow, soft texture lined with vibrant acidity": Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (Sep. 2024)
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94 points; "impossible to ignore. Vividly fresh and pure": Vinous (July 2024)
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94 points & Editors' Choice; "This is a lesson in white Rhône blends": Wine Enthusiast (Jul. 2024)
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96 points; "the finest white wine that I tasted in my Paso Robles Report ... stunning": Owen Bargreen (Apr. 2024)
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94 points; "a wine of great aromatic complexity, with beeswax, yellow flower pollen, almond skin and nutmeg. The palate balances the weighty elements of these white Rhône varieties with remarkable brightness and saline minerality, creating textural perfection": Decanter (Apr. 2024)
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96 points; "a ripe orchard fruits-driven core with flavors of white peach, sudachi, wet river stones, and kiwi ... long and lingering": BevX (Apr. 2024)
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93-95 points; "vibrant and mouth coating" Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (Dec. 2023)
Tasting Notes
A powerful nose of lanolin and honeycomb, lemongrass and orange blossom, like the world's most luxurious antique furniture polish. The palate is lively, rich but still light on its feet, with flavors of vanilla custard, fresh apricot, citrus pith, marmalade, and green herbs. The finish leaves lingering notes of grilled pineapple and green herbs. Drink now to enjoy its freshness or let it age for up to two decades for deeper flavors of caramel and roasted nuts.
Technical Details
Appellation
- Adelaida District Paso Robles
Technical Notes
- 12.5% Alcohol by Volume
- 1850 Cases Produced
Blend
- 33% Roussanne
- 32% Grenache Blanc
- 14% Picpoul Blanc
- 8% Clairette Blanche
- 8% Picardan
- 5% Bourboulenc
Certifications
Recipes & Pairings
Recipe Suggestions
Food Pairings
- Cooked shellfish (lobster, softshell crab, shrimp)
- Roasted or grilled vegetables (eggplant, asparagus, peppers)
- Foods cooked with garlic and olive oil
- Rich fish dishes (i.e., salmon, swordfish)
- Asian stir fry
Production Notes
The 2022 vintage was our third year of drought, but because the rain that we received came early, the vines showed good health though with cluster counts down by about 15%. Two frosts, one in April and the second in May, further reduced yields, especially in whites. A cool first half of the summer was followed by our hottest-ever August and September, producing an early start and an even earlier finish to harvest. The vintage's extremely low yields produced concentrated flavors, noteworthy texture, and intense fruit.
The grapes for our Esprit de Tablas Blanc were grown on our certified organic and biodynamic estate vineyard.
The fruit was whole cluster pressed, and fermented with native yeasts. The Roussanne was fermented in oak of various sizes: 60-gallon oak barrels, 170-gallon demi-muids, and 1200-gallon foudres, about 10% new. The other varieties were fermented in a mix of neutral oak and stainless steel barrels. All the wines went through malolactic fermentation. The Esprit Blanc was selected from the vintage's best lots, blended, and returned to foudre in April 2023, and aged an additional 8 months in foudre until its bottling in December 2023, then aged an additional 9 months in bottle before its release.