16 January 2007

TN: Turning the Tablas

[bottle]Tablas Creek 2002 “Côtes de Tablas” Blanc (Paso Robles) – Elegant and seemingly fully mature (though it would be a somewhat surprisingly early exit for this wine), showing blended nut oils with sun-desiccated flower and herb characteristics. It seems fat, then scratchy, then faded…it’s a little hard to figure this bottle out, and one immediately wonders if there might not be some very low-level taint or mild oxidation at work – but under the layers of difficulty there’s enough spicy, low-acid complexity to make it worth the effort. (12/06)

Posted by at 2:58 AM
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Thor,

I occasionally do a blog search to see who else is writing about Tablas Creek, and looked back over a handful of your thoughtful posts about us.

I wanted to respond to this one. I would think that the Cotes de Tablas Blanc 2002 would be pretty fully mature at this point. It's Viognier/Marsanne based, and designed to be appreciated relatively young. Our Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc is designed for a longer time frame, and the 2002 Esprit Blanc is still quite youthful. So, if you have any others, drink up!

Thanks,
-Jason

Friday, January 26, 2007 12:49:00 PM
Anonymous said...

One more thing that might be useful... we've put together a vintage chart that should help people who are wondering if a particular Tablas Creek wine is ready to drink.

Thanks,
-Jason

Friday, January 26, 2007 1:01:00 PM
thor iverson said...

Thanks for the comments, Jason (and for such great wines, obviously). I think I'm out of the '02 Blanc. It was fun while it lasted.

On the vintage chart: excellent work. I think this is one of the most valuable things winery web sites can provide...as long as they're maintained and updated on a regular basis.

Everyone else might want to check out the well-done Tablas Creek blog.

Friday, January 26, 2007 6:04:00 PM

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