There is no question in my mind that Tablas Creek is one of the greatest California wineries. Established here in Paso Robles in 1989, the founders did everything right from the very beginning: selection of vines and location, establishing a state of the art winery and establishing a great staff of professional experts to take care of everything from planting, growing, harvesting the grapes to bottling and marketing. In short, it was the perfect trifecta! And this excellence has not gone unnoticed! Tablas Creek’s estate was the first vineyard in the world to receive Regenerative Organic Certification in August 2020.
Jason Haas is the second generation proprietor of Tablas Creek. He learned the wine business at an early age, accompanying his father Robert Haas on European wine-buying trips and spending two summers working at Château de Beaucastel. After obtaining an undergraduate degree in Economics from Williams College and a Master’s in Archaeology from Cornell, Jason spent a four-year stint managing a tech company in Washington, DC. He moved to Paso Robles to join Tablas Creek in April of 2002. As General Manager of Tablas Creek since 2006, he oversees the business, winemaking, and sales and marketing operations. (To read an earlier article that covers the Tablas Creek Vineyard history  click here and  to read my last Tablas Creek Vineyard article which covered the Tablas Creek Vineyard spring releases as well as a mention of what to expect this fall  click here.  Also to read about the fascinating story of Tablas Creek click here.   And to learn about their wine club which will keep y0u updated on all new releases which can be purchased directly from the winery click here).
The Tablas Creek Vineyard fall releases are now available. They include red and white Rhone varietal wines from the 2020 and 2021 vintages. And, as always, the wines are stunning and represent great value. They drink beautifully now but will repay extended ageing as well. Jason Haas is very positive on the 2020 vintage and  believes that the 2021 vintage  is even better and may turn out to be one of the greatest all time vintages!  Below is his description of the vintages:
2020: The growing season was challenging, with below-average rain, a cool early summer followed by record-breaking heat in early August and mid-September, wildfires to our north and south, and, oh, a pandemic. The heat produced an early, compressed harvest. Whites turned out to be outstanding, with a lusciousness bolstered by good acids. We’re still getting to know our reds, but they appear strong as well, with intense fruitiness and good tannic bite.
2021: It’s our most recent vintage, so take this with a grain of salt, but I think 2021 has produced wines that rival the best we’ve seen in our history. Yields were reduced by a dry, chilly winter, with 13 of the 16 inches of rain coming in one January storm. The summer was lovely except for a July heat spike, and harvest unfolded in ideal conditions, with each warm stretch followed by a cool-down to give the vines (and us) some time to recover. The resulting wines have concentration and freshness, juicy appeal but structure, and (as we often see in our best years) well defined varietal character. Seemingly equally strong for both whites and reds.
What more could you ask for? I have placed my order as I always do for the current releases. And I continue to increase my inventory of Tablas Creek wines making sure I have a good quantity to drink as they mature. I encourage you to do the same. Make no mistake these wines will be cellar treasures!  So don’t miss them!!

WHITE WINES

2021 Patelin de Tablas Blanc
This wine is a blend of five Rhone varities: 54% Grenache Blanc, 7 % Roussanne, 29% Viognier, 9% Marsanne, and 1% Bourboulenc. The wine incorporates fruit from five different top quality vineyards in Paso Robles. The production was 2900 cases. Light yellow in color the wine has a peach tinged perfume with hints of citrus and on the palate shows elegance and finesse with peach and citrus nuances with a faint floral undertone and is balanced with a nice crispness on the finish – Outstanding Plus.   $28

2021 Cotes de Tablas Blanc
Made with 44% Viognier, 32% Grenache Blanc, 14% Marsanne, and 10% Roussane. The production was 1215 cases. Light golden yellow in color the wine has a faint apricot tinged perfume with a faint underlying exotic floral tinge. On the palate it is lush, rounded, and supple with a myriad of flavors including apricot and peach nuances with a faint honey undertone and a long faintly citrus tinged finish – Outstanding Plus.   $35

2020 Espirit Blanc de Tablas
This is the Tablas Creek flagship white blend which is sourced from the top lots of six white Rhone varieties (48% Rousanne, 28% Grenache Blanc, 14% Picpoul Blanc, 5% Bourboulenc, 4% Clairette Blanche, and 3% Picardan) propagated from budwood cuttings from the Chateau de Beaucastel estate. The production was 1880 cases.
With a light yellow color the wine has an exotic floral tinged perfume with hints of citrus. On the palate it shows complex fruit flavors with hints of exotic tinged peach and citrus and great intensity, flavor, balance, and length on the palate – Extraordinary.     $50

RED WINES

2021 Patelin de Tablas
This wine is 43% Syrah, 28% Grenache, 23% Mouvedre, and 6% Counoise. The grapes were sourced from 12 of Paso Robles top Rhone style vineyards. The production was 2570 cases. With a deep red color the wine  has a lovely black cherry perfume with a floral undertone and on the palate is very elegant and flavorful with floral spice tinged black fruit flavors. Delicious to drink now but with the promise of a long life ahead – Outstanding Plus.   $28 

2020 Mouvedre
The production of this wine was 140 cases. With a dark red color it has a deep plummy perfume with faint hints of chocolate. On the palate it has layers of dark fruit chocolate tinged flavors and is supple, rich, and full. Balanced with intensity and and long lasting finish this is a real tour-de-force – Outstanding Plus.    $45 

2020 Esprit de Tablas
This is the Tablas Creek flagship red blend which is sourced from the top lots of  red Rhone varieties (with Mouvedre, Grenache, and Syrah making up 90% of the blend and Counoise, Vaccarese, and Cinsault representing the balance) which were propagated from budwood cuttings from the Chateau de Beaucastel estate. The production was 3480 cases.
Dark red in color the wine has a gorgeous plum and black cherry perfume with faint hints of chocolate and exotic spice. On the palate there is a myriad of black and red fruit flavors accented by a floral spice undertone and the wine is impeccably balanced with a long lasting finish – Extraordinary.   $65