The Data

Country   USA

Appellation   Paso Robles

Varietal   White Blend

Retail Price   $28

ABV   12.5%

Score   4.5 Stars/94 points

In the Glass

Brilliant, medium gold/green color.

The aromatics are intense, offering scents of white peach, wet river stones, and kumquat with supporting notes of bees wax, apricot stone, and quince.

The palate echoes the nose delivering a tropical and orchard fruits-driven core with flavors of lemon curd, lychee, meringue, and lemon. 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 under $30 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

The Tablas Creek Patelin de Tablas Blanc is always a fun blend of Rhône varietals with Grenache Blanc in the lead. This year’s blend is comprised of 49% Grenache Blanc, 22% Viognier, 10% Marsanne, 10% Vermentino, 4% Roussanne, 3% Picpoul Blanc, and 2% Bourboulenc — typically a blend of five varietals in 2022 we get seven. This wine is always driven by the vintage and how each varietal reacts to the conditions of the growing season and how each finished wine impacts the goal of the blend. The 2022 vintage was their third year of drought but luckily some rain did come early in the season. Multiple frosts in April and May further reduced yields leading to a cool beginning of summer and a very hot August and September. An early harvest revealed low yields with intense fruit that can be witnessed in the glass. 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 2023.

How to Enjoy

The Patelin de Tablas needs nothing but a glass being the perfect aperitif while pairing beautifully with citrus and garlic accented poultry and seafood — especially prawns and scallops.