{"id":774,"date":"2017-10-30T22:01:02","date_gmt":"2017-10-30T22:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=774"},"modified":"2017-12-04T21:45:41","modified_gmt":"2017-12-04T21:45:41","slug":"tablas-creek-vineyard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=774","title":{"rendered":"Tablas Creek Vineyard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tablas Creek Vineyard is unabashedly a corner of southern France plunked down in the middle of California, in Paso Robles to be exact.\u00a0 It is owned by the Perrin family of the southern Rh\u00f4ne valley (along with American wine importer Robert Haas).\u00a0 The Perrins are particularly known for one of the most renowned Ch\u00e2teauneuf du Pape wines, Ch\u00e2teau de Beaucastel.\u00a0 This history is important because of the vines that the family brought to the Central Coast from France.\u00a0 Going back to 1985, Haas and members of the Perrin family sought vineyard land and imported root stock.\u00a0 While the vines went through quarantine, the winemakers determined that the western fringe of Paso Robles was very similar in climate and soil \u2013 the terroir<\/em> \u2013 to that of Ch\u00e2teauneuf.<\/p>\n

Today, California\u2019s Central Coast is revered for its Rh\u00f4ne-style wines but it was not always so.\u00a0 In fact, it was the vision and generosity of the Tablas Creek owners that established these wines in that region.\u00a0 Paso Robles has long been known for Zinfandel, and still is.\u00a0 The Tablas Creek people realized that one good Rh\u00f4ne winery would be an outlier; if the region\u00a0did well with Grenache, Syrah, Mourv\u00e8dre and the other Rh\u00f4ne grapes, everyone would prosper.\u00a0 Thus they sold their vines to other wineries in Paso Robles.\u00a0 If this seems reminiscent of Robert Mondavi and Napa, so be it.<\/p>\n

Visiting Tablas Creek has its challenges as well as its rewards.\u00a0 Paso Robles is pretty far from major airports (three hours south of San Francisco\u2019s) and Tablas Creek is a fairly long drive from downtown Paso.\u00a0 Driving there along the Adelaida Road (Tablas Creek is in the Adelaida AVA) is very beautiful and there are quite a few excellent wineries along the way, so does it make sense if you only have a little time to visit to go all the way out to Tablas Creek?\u00a0 In a word, yes.<\/p>\n

You never forget while you\u2019re at Tablas Creek that you\u2019re in California, but there is a great deal to remind you of France, beginning with a signpost at the entrance that tells you that the tasting room is nine yards away and that Domaine de Beaucastel is 9009 kilometers.\u00a0 There are posters and other souvenirs for sale, heralding Perrin\u2019s French labels like La Vieille Ferme, their basic Rh\u00f4ne wines.\u00a0 That French identity carries over into the Tablas Creek wines, which come close to tasting like actual Rh\u00f4ne wines (as opposed to California Rh\u00f4ne Rangers that taste like California wines made from Rh\u00f4ne grapes).<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of Particularly Nice<\/em><\/p>\n

The tasting room is Mediterranean-style building and is expansive, while the wooden interior still somehow makes it feel warm and inviting.\u00a0 They also have a terrace with umbrellaed tables where picnicking is welcome.<\/p>\n

If you are not familiar with Rh\u00f4ne-style wines, a visit to Tablas Creek is an education.\u00a0 Tablas Creek\u2019s wines are perhaps a little more Mourv\u00e8dre heavy than in southern France, but the character certainly evokes Ch\u00e2teauneuf de Pape.\u00a0 That is especially so, in our opinion, for the Esprit de Tablas, which until a few years ago was called Esprit de Beaucastel.\u00a0 The Panoplie is their highest priced wine, and to us tastes richer and bolder than we have tasted in wines from the Rh\u00f4ne valley; it is more California than France.<\/p>\n

Even more evocative of California wine sensibilities are the single grape varietal wines.\u00a0 If the bottles are open, you can taste grapes you know, like Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir, and many that may be unfamiliar to you, like Counoise, Grenache Blanc, Picardan and Tannat.<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of Tablas Creek Vineyard.<\/em><\/p>\n

There are stunning views to be had at Tablas Creek, nestled in the foothills of the Santa Lucia mountains.\u00a0 That, taken together with the French atmosphere and the unique wines, make the long hike to Tablas Creek worthwhile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tablas Creek Vineyard is unabashedly a corner of southern France plunked down in the middle of California, in Paso Robles to be exact.\u00a0 It is owned by the Perrin family of the southern Rh\u00f4ne valley (along with American wine importer Robert Haas).\u00a0 The Perrins are particularly known for one of the most renowned Ch\u00e2teauneuf du … Continue reading Tablas Creek Vineyard<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=774"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":830,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774\/revisions\/830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}