The Data

Country   USA

Appellation   Paso Robles

Varietal   White Blend

Retail Price   $25

ABV   13%

Score   4.5 Stars/95 points

In the Glass

Brilliant, medium gold/green color.

The aromatics are very intense offering scents of nectarine and quince with supporting notes of grapefruit, honeysuckle, and mint.

The palate echoes the nose delivering a ripe orchard fruits-driven core with flavors of white peach, apricot stone, custard, and citrus zest. The finish is long and lingering.

Medium-bodied and perfectly balanced with a 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

Selling at $25 a bottle this California-made and Rhône-inspired white checks all of the boxes for accessibility, complexity, and pure hedonistic pleasure. It's a bargain in our book.

Analysis

This complex and delicious white is a careful blend of five varietals: 40% Grenache Blanc, 19% Roussanne, 21% Viognier, 15% Marsanne, and 5% Clairette Blanche. This wine is always driven by the vintage and how each varietal reacts to the vintage. Grenache Blanc is the primary driver here as it has consistently been the dominate varietal in the six vintages we have reviewed. The 2020 vintage was quite cool with below-average temperatures through July that became hot in August accelerating ripening and creating intense flavors. All varietals for the Patelin Blanc were whole-cluster pressed and fermented with native yeasts in stainless steel tanks to preserve the fresh and crisp fruit flavors. After fermentation the wines were racked, then blended and bottled in May of 2021.

How to Enjoy

The most important factor in service of this wine is to treat it like a chilled red wine. Allow this wine plenty of time to breathe and if the bottle is to be consumed in one sitting consider decanting it further encourage the flavors and aromatics to fully bloom. Pair with bold but simple fish and fowl dishes especially those featuring citrus.