Tablas Creek Vineyard is a

California wine California wine production has a rich viticulture history since 1680 when Spanish Jesuit missionaries planted ''Vitis vinifera'' vines native to the Mediterranean region in their established missions to produce wine for religious services. I ...

estate producing various

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

-style blends and varietal wine. The

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

is located in the Adelaida district west of

Paso Robles Paso Robles ( ), officially El Paso de Robles (Spanish for "The Pass of Oaks"), is a city in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Salinas River approximately north of San Luis Obispo, the city is known for its hot ...

in the

Santa Lucia Mountains The Santa Lucia Mountains (sæntə luˈsiːə) or Santa Lucia Range is a rugged mountain range in coastal central California, running from Carmel southeast for to the Cuyama River in San Luis Obispo County. The range is never more than from ...

, within the

Paso Robles AVA Paso Robles Wine Country is an American Viticultural Area located in the San Luis Obispo County, California. It has approximately 33,000 vineyard acres planted with wine grapes, and is well known for its heritage varietal Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauv ...

. It is an exemplar of the

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...

blend (Southern Rhône), and has been influential in popularizing it in California.''Wine Folly''
Time to Try ‘GSM’ The Côtes du Rhône Blend
, Madeline Puckette, December 4, 2013

History

Described as the sibling winery of southern

estate Château de Beaucastel in Châteauneuf du Pape,Asimov, Eric, ''The New York Times'' (November 1, 2010)
A Sturdy Red for Winter
McInerney, Jay, ''Wall Street Journal'' (June 19, 2010)
Blending New World and Old
Tablas Creek Vineyard was founded in 1990 by Jean-Pierre and François Perrin of the Perrin family, proprietors of Beaucastel since the early 20th century, and Robert Haas, an importer and the founder of Vineyard Brands. Having searched for the appropriate ''

terroir (, ; from ''terre'', "land") is a French term used to describe the environmental factors that affect a crop's phenotype, including unique environment contexts, farming practices and a crop's specific growth habitat. Collectively, these contex ...

'' since 1985, in 1989 the Perrins and Haas chose the site, a former alfalfa farm on top of a

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...

seabed, for its soil pH and limestone base similarities to Beaucastel.Perrotti-Brown, Lisa, erobertparker.com (October 2009)
Pierre Perrin: Taking it to Tablas Creek
/ref>Yarrow, Alder, vinography.com (January 27, 2008)

Tablas Creek vineyards2

With an aim to produce Rhône-style wines made by organic principles,

vines A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselv ...

were imported from the Beaucastel vineyards, both to supply varieties previously unavailable in California such as

Counoise Counoise is a dark-skinned wine grape grown primarily in the Rhône valley region of France. Counoise is also grown in California, New Jersey, and Washington. Counoise adds a peppery note and good acidity to a blended red wine, but does not have ...

and

Grenache blanc Grenache blanc (also known as garnatxa blanca in Catalonia) is a variety of white wine grape that is related to the red grape Grenache. It is mostly found in Rhône wine blends and in northeast Spain. Its wines are characterized by high alcohol ...

, and in order to ensure the disease-free provenance of the remaining varieties. Beginning in 1990, the vines were quarantined by the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

. The first clones were released in 1992, with additional clones released over the next two decades. Planting of these French clones began in 1994. Previously, experiments had been made with American material planted in selected soils beginning in 1992. Wines were produced under the names Adelaida Hills and Tablas Hills between 1994 and 1996, with the first Tablas Creek Vineyard wines produced in 1997. Although all grapes were grown on site, the launch of the Tablas Creek Vineyard label was delayed until the majority of the wine was produced from French vines. Pierre Perrin estimates that the Tablas Creek estate with its nursery project has "probably been one of the most expensive vineyards in the world to develop". In 2009 it was reported that 50% of the sales of the Tablas Creek production takes place at the estate or through their wine club.

Production

The Tablas Creek estate extends , with approximately under vine, situated at an average elevation of . The estate annually produces ca. of wine. *;Esprit de Beaucastel The signature wines of Tablas Creek are the red Esprit de Beaucastel and white Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc made with an objective for aging. Esprit de Beaucastel is largely based on

Mourvèdre Mourvèdre (also known as Mataro or Monastrell) is a red wine grape variety grown in many regions around the world including the Rhône and Provence regions of France, the Valencia and Jumilla and Yecla '' denominaciones de origen'' (DOs) of S ...

, with additions of Grenache, Syrah and

. Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc is based on

Roussanne Roussanne is a white wine grape grown originally in the Rhône wine region in France, where it is often blended with Marsanne. It is the only other white variety, besides Marsanne, allowed in the northern Rhône appellations of Crozes-Hermitage ...

with additions of

and

Picpoul blanc Piquepoul, Picpoul, or Picapoll is a variety of wine grape grown primarily in the Rhone Valley and Languedoc regions of France as well as Catalonia, Spain. It exists both in dark-skinned (Piquepoul noir) and light-skinned (Piquepoul blanc) v ...

. *;Côtes de Tablas The Côtes de Tablas wines are produced to be consumed young. The red Côtes de Tablas is a blend of four grape varieties Grenache, Syrah, Counoise and Mourvèdre. The white Côtes de Tablas Blanc is a blend of Viognier,

Marsanne Marsanne is a white wine grape, most commonly found in the Northern Rhône region. It is often blended with Roussanne. In Savoie the grape is known as ''grosse roussette''. Outside France it is also grown in Switzerland (where it is known as ' ...

and

. *;Patelin de Tablas The Patelin de Tablas wines debuted with the 2010 vintage, and include some Tablas Creek fruit and fruit purchased from other Paso Robles vineyards. The Patelin de Tablas red is a blend based on Syrah, with Grenache, Mourvedre and

. It's good with appetizers. The Patelin de Tablas Blanc is a blend of

, Viognier,

, and

Tablas Creek vineyard sign saying distance to Beaucastel

*Panoplie A low-production cuvée made only in exceptional years, with a production profile similar to the Beaucastel wine "Hommage á Jacques Perrin", Panoplie consists of Mourvèdre blended with portions of Grenache and Syrah. *;Antithesis Apart from the line of Rhône-style wines, the Anthisesis is a low-production 100% Chardonnay made from a Burgundian clone named La Vineuse. *;Varietal wines Tablas Creek produces a wide range of varietal labeled wines including Roussanne, Grenache blanc, Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Picpoul blanc, Counoise, Viognier, Bergeron,

Vermentino Vermentino is a light-skinned wine grape variety, primarily found in Italian wine. It is widely planted in both Sardinia and Liguria (wine), Liguria, to some extent in Corsica, in Piedmont under the name Favorita, and in increasing amounts in Lan ...

and

Tannat Tannat is a red wine grape, historically grown in South West France in the Madiran AOC, and is now one of the most prominent grapes in Uruguay, where it is considered the "national grape". Tannat is also grown in Argentina, Australia, Brazi ...

. *;Rosé The Tablas Creek Rosé is made from Mourvèdre with additions of Grenache and Counoise. *;Dessert wines These consist of a Vin de Paille blended from Grenache blanc, Viognier, Roussanne, and Marsanne, a Vin de Paille titled "Quintessence" made from Roussanne, and a Vin de Paille titled "Sacrerouge" made from Mourvèdre. *;Glenrose Vineyard Made only in 2002 vintage, from a single vineyard plot situated at above , the cuvée consists of Syrah, Mourvèdre, Grenache, Counoise.

Nursery

Since the 1990 program to propagate grape vine clones from the Beaucastel vineyards, followed by the three-year U.S. Department of Agriculture quarantine, the vine nursery was finally established in 1992. Between 1993 and 2003, the estate produced over 1,000,000 vine grafts on site, and the sale of plant cuttings to other wine producers remains a part of Tablas Creek's business, although since 2004 Tablas Creek has contracted with NovaVine Nursery in Santa Rosa, California to produce and market their vine material. The cloned grape varieties cultivated in the nursery available for purchase include classic Rhône grape varieties – Mourvèdre, Syrah, Grenache, Counoise, Roussanne, Viognier, Grenache blanc, Marsanne, Picpoul blanc – as well as Vermentino and Tannat.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Tablas Creek Vineyard official website

Tablas Creek Vineyard blog
Wineries in San Luis Obispo County, California Companies based in San Luis Obispo County, California Buildings and structures in Paso Robles, California Paso Robles, California Santa Lucia Range 1997 establishments in California