We’re always game to sample new offerings from the team at Tablas Creek, so when we got our hands on these four reds not long ago, we wasted no time finding out what they are all about.
2005 Tablas Creek Paso Robles Cotes de Tablas Rouge, 43% Grenache, 24% Mourvedre, 18% Syrah, 15% Counoise, 14.8% alc., $22: Deep, dark color, almost opaque, with lots of Rhône-ish briar, bramble, roasted meat and iron over deep, dark plum, berry and currant in flavor and aroma, all accented with something like a note of root beer. Full bodied, well structured and considerably brawnier than last year’s model, this is drinking very well right now, and it has the stuffing to age and develop for at least three to five years.
2005 Tablas Creek Paso Robles Esprit de Beaucastel Rouge, 44% Mourvedre, 26% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 5 % Counoise, 14.5% alc., $45: Deep, dark smoky color, not quite opaque, and like the Cotes de Tablas, bigger, brawnier and more rambunctious than the previous vintage; it shows and intense core of rich dark plum and berry, accented with shades of wood smoke, grilled meat, fine leather and a little briar-bramble. Full bodied, well structured and long on the finish, this is already an excellent palate coating red, especially with an hour’s worth of air, but it will certainly improve with some time in the bottle, as it’s without question a 10-year wine.
2005 Tablas Creek Paso Robles Syrah, 14.5% alc., $35: Nice dark color, with rich dark black and red plum and berry shaded with underbrush-briar-bramble, leather and a hint of root beer, all anchored to an earthy base. Full bodied, well structured and powerful, with some youthful rough edges that smooth out nicely with an hour’s worth of air; five years or so in the cellar should do it even better. A very solid Left Coast Syrah.
2005 Tablas Creek Paso Robles Mourvedre, 14.3% alc., $35: Slightly murky dark color, being more in the red fruit spectrum on the somewhat perfumed nose; flavors of smoky grilled meat and black plum, berry and cherry. Rich, full-bodied and well built, this is already delicious, at a perfect state of ripeness with no excesses, and it offers lots of promise for further development.
- From Champagne Tablas Swan Zin (a real mixed bag of goodies)
Reporting from Day-twah,
geo t.
