The Data

Country   USA

Appellation   Adelaida District

Varietal   White Blend

Retail Price   $45

ABV   13%

Score   4.5 Stars/94 points

In the Glass

Brilliant, medium gold/green color.

The aromatics are very intense offering scents of wild flowers, honey, and kiwi with supporting notes of citrus zest, jasmine, and green tea.

The palate echoes the nose delivering a ripe orchard fruits-driven core with flavors of white peach, citrus zest, apricot stone, and a bees wax note on the finish that mingles with oak. The finish is long and lingering.

Medium to full-bodied and perfectly balanced with a rich but vibrant texture.

Cool Factor

Tablas Creek is a unique winery in California seamlessly marrying Old World and New World winemaking and setting the standard for Rhône varietals in California. What could be cooler?

Value Grade

At $45 a bottle it's certainly beyond many wine drinkers weeknight budget but considering the pedigree and the fact that this wine will age very gracefully we recommend it.

Analysis

The Esprit de Tablas is Tablas Creek's top-tiered white Rhône blend. It's made with a blend of 68% Roussanne, 17% Grenache Blanc, 7% Picpoul Blanc, 4% Picardan, and 4% Clairette Blanche. The grapes for this wine were grown in their certified organic and bio-dynamic estate vineyard. The five varietals were all fermented separately in a variety of vessels from neutral oak barrels to foudres (large wooden vessels), and stainless steel. The best lots are blended and then rested in a foudre for an additional eight months. The resulting wine is a serious, multilayered wine with complex fruit flavors and just a hint of oak.

How to Enjoy

If you choose to drink this wine in its youth please decant it as this will allow the aromatics to fully bloom. Serve chilled with grilled lobster, roasted duck, confit, or a Basque-style seafood stew.