The Data

Country   USA

Appellation   Adelaida District

Varietal   Red Blend

Retail Price   $70

ABV   13.5%

Score   4.5 Stars/96 points

In the Glass

Brilliant, deep ruby color.

The aromatics are intense, offering scents of bramble and five spice with supporting notes of black currant, saddle leather, and cocoa nibs.

The palate confirms the nose delivering a black fruit-driven core with flavors of black plum, elderberry, black tea, garrigue, and slate. The finish is long and lingering with chewy tannins.

Medium to full-bodied and perfectly balanced with a meaty yet nimble texture.

Cool Factor

Tablas Creek is a unique winery in California seamlessly marrying Old World and New World winemaking with beautiful Paso Robles fruit. They have set the standard for Rhône varietals in California. What could be cooler?

Value Grade

This is a wine for an occasion. It's pure class and worthy of aging and enjoying with your dearest friends so we find it to be a relative value in today's market.

Analysis

The 2021 Esprit de Tablas is a charming and nuanced Châteauneuf du Pape tribute created in Paso Robles by Tablas Creek. This is Tablas Creek’s flagship red blend and it never fails to impress. It's crafted with a blend of 35% Mourvèdre, 26% Grenache, 23% Syrah, 7% Vaccarese, 5% Cinsaut, and 4% Counoise. The blend changes from vintage to vintage but the Esprit de Tablas is always led by Mourvedre — although this is the lowest portion of the varietal in our nine vintages of tasting. The 2021 vintage is among the very best in recent memory at Tablas Creek. The grapes for the Esprit de Tablas were grown on their certified organic and biodynamic estate vineyard. The grapes were fermented with native yeasts in wooden, upright, 1,500-gallon fermenters. The best lots were blended in June 2022 and then rested in a foudre for an additional 12 months before bottling in July 2023. This wine will only get better with time in the cellar — leave it for at least a decade.

How to Enjoy

This dense and rich wine really needs to be decanted to be fully enjoyed. It does drink well now but it needs years in the cellar for it to show you all that it has. Pair with duck breast, roasted lamb, or beef braised in red wine.