2022 Tablas Creek "Patelin de Tablas Blanc", Paso Robles, California, USA

ABOUT THIS WINE

The Tablas Creek Vineyard Patelin de Tablas Blanc is a blend of seven white Rhône and Rhone-adjacent varieties: Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Marsanne, Vermentino, Roussanne, Picpoul, and Bourboulenc, with fruit from eight top Rhone vineyards in Paso Robles, each vineyard selected for its quality. Like many white wines from the Southern Rhône, it is based on the crisp acids and rich mouthfeel of Grenache Blanc, with Viognier for floral, tropical aromatics and luscious stone fruit flavors, Roussanne and Marsanne for structure and spice, and additions of Vermentino, Picpoul, and Bourboulenc for brightness and texture.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

Tablas Creek is the realization of the combined efforts of two of the international wine community’s leading families: the Perrin family, proprietors of Château de Beaucastel and the Haas family of Vineyard Brands. Equally owned and run by the two families, the partnership begun in 1987 remains today as ever, even as the next generation of Haases and Perrins have stepped into leadership roles over recent decades. 

The partners searched California from the foothills of the Sierras in the north to coastal Ventura County in the south, looking for a close match to the Mediterranean climate and high pH soils of Château de Beaucastel. In 1989, they purchased a 120-acre parcel twelve miles from the Pacific Ocean in what is now the Adelaida District west of Paso Robles. They named it Tablas Creek Vineyard, after the small creek running through the property.

The property elevation averages 1,500 feet, and the shallow, rocky limestone soils are of the same geologic origin as those at Beaucastel. Summer days are hot and sunny, but the influence of the nearby Pacific cools the nights, and the remarkably Rhône-like Paso Robles climate allows the grapes to mature fully and yet retain crisp acidity. Ample rainfall in the winter allows most of the vineyard to be dry-farmed each year. Tablas Creek’s limestone-rich 270-acre estate vineyard is located in the heart of the Adelaida District, in the hills north and west of Paso Robles, about 11 miles from the Pacific Ocean. The viticulture practices emphasize quality through dry-farming and moderate crop levels. We have been certified organic since 2003.

Since 2010 Tablas Creek has incorporated many Biodynamic techniques across the estate vineyard, including their own mobile herd of sheep and alpacas. Their goal in their farming, as in their winemaking, is to maximize the expression of place from their vineyard, and to produce grapes full of intensity and character. Biodynamic certification in 2017. Tablas Creek believes in the potential for regenerative agriculture to make a meaningful contribution to solving the world's most pressing climate and resource challenges. To that end they became the first Regenerative Organic Certified® Gold vineyard in 2022.