From: Adelaida District Paso Robles, California
Blend: 43% Grenache, 33% Syrah, 19% Counoise, 5% Mourvedre
Taste & Critical Acclaim: A serious nose of brambly spice, red apple skin, wild grape jelly, and bay. The palate is poised evenly between savory and sweeter elements, with plum skin and cola deepened by dried herbs and cocoa powder. A little chalky minerality and some substantial tannins on the finish come out. This will be delicious young, with excellent complexity for this bottling, but it should also age gracefully for a decade or more. - Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
V 93 Vinous
Shimmering ruby. Cherry, black raspberry and floral qualities on the expressive, spice-accented nose. Shows excellent clarity and thrust to the sweet red and dark berry, spicecake and cola flavors, which spread out steadily through the back half. Supple, even tannins emerge slowly and add gentle grip to a long, spicy finish that strongly echoes the red fruit notes.
JS 92 James Suckling
Bright and savory plums, spiced strawberries, pomegranates and cherries to the nose that follow through to a crunchy, medium-bodied palate with a good structure. Tight and fine-grained. 43% grenache, 33% syrah, 19% counoise and 5% mourvedre. Drink now.
RP 90 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Côtes de Tablas is a barrel-sample blend of 43% Grenache, 33% Syrah, 20% Counoise and 4% Mourvèdre. Pale garnet, it is rustically styled, with aromas of red and black fruits, mushrooms, tobacco and dried herbs. The palate is light-bodied and earthy, with a rusticity to the tannins and a tobacco-tinged finish. Barrel Sample: 88-90
Pairing: Try with grilled steaks, pasta with meat sauces, rich beef stews, wood-fired pizzas, and spicy sausages. Other successful pairings include meaty appetizers (like the one we’re sharing below), sheet-pan sausage and potatoes, braised or roasted meats like braised beef short ribs, red wine braised beef, pork shoulder, oxtail, brisket, or even braised chicken thighs.
Pastelitos
Recipe from Rosa Fernandez
Adapted by Georgina Fernandez
Updated Dec. 16, 2023
About. Tablas Creek is a pioneer of California’s Rhône movement. Founded in 1989, it is the culmination of a friendship between two of the international wine community’s leading families dating back to 1967: the Perrin family of Château de Beaucastel and the Haas family of Vineyard Brands. After a four-year search, the partners chose Paso Robles, California, for its many similarities to the Southern Rhône. They began the lengthy process of importing vine cuttings, building a grapevine nursery, and creating an estate vineyard from the ground up. Today, the vineyards at Tablas Creek are proudly Biodynamic® and organic certified by Demeter USA.
Production notes. The grapes for our Côtes de Tablas were grown on our Regenerative
Organic Certified™ and biodynamic estate vineyard. The 2020 vintage began benignly, with a cool spring that delayed budbreak to a little after normal, and continued below-average temperatures through July. Beginning in August, the weather turned hot, accelerating ripening and producing intense flavors. The state’s terrible fires stayed well north of us, and the harvest finished early, under a compressed timeline but good
conditions. The vintage shows concentrated flavors, noteworthy lushness,
and lovely spice. All varietals were fermented in a mix of stainless steel and wooden upright fermenters with the use of native yeasts. After pressing, the wines were racked, blended in June 2021, aged for a year in 1200-gallon French oak foudres, and then bottled in February 2022. The wine is unfined and unfiltered.
This wine. The Tablas Creek Vineyard Côtes de Tablas is a blend of four estate-
grown Rhône varietals: Grenache, Syrah, Counoise and Mourvedre. Like
most wines of the Southern Rhône, it showcases Grenache, featuring that
grape’s characteristic generous fruit and refreshing acidity, balanced by the
spice and mineral of Syrah, the appealing briary wildness of Counoise and
the structure of Mourvèdre.
About the area, by the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance, published March 4th, 2020.