2019 Tablas Creek Vineyard, Vermentino, Adelaida Disctriict, Paso Robles.
The latest release of Tablas Creek’s Vermentino is one of the best and is perfect for Summer days, afternoons and evenings with excitingly fresh detail and a vividly pure form, its crisp and lively personality make it exceptionally well suited for warm weather and lighter cuisine. This vintage Vermentino marks Tablas Creek’s eighteenth bottling of this traditional Mediterranean varietal that thrives in a variety of soils and is widely planted though still not as well as respected as it should be and it has made a big impact in California in recent years finding a home in Paso Robles, thanks to Tablas Creek and their French Partners Chateau de Beaucastel for bringing their Chateauneuf du Pape cuttings over. Vermentino goes by a few names including Favorita in Piedmonte Italy and Rolle in parts of France and it arguably is best expressed band at its best on the Island of Corsica where it is called Vermentinu. While known principally in Sardinia, Corsica, and Northern Italy, Vermentino is also grown in the Rhone Valley, and as mentioned it is part of the collection of varietals in the famous Chateauneuf du Pape as well as in Côtes de Provence as a minor partner with Clairette and Marsanne. In California, the Vermentino grape has a few interesting champions, of course Tablas Creek, but also Randall Grahm of the iconic Bonny Doon Vineyard, who even makes a sparkling example, one of the first to bring Rhone style wines to a wider audience, in fact Grahm has told me that Vermentino could be one of the most important white grapes in the State with huge potential and the ability to counter the effects of climate change. Other important bottlings of California Vermentino include Ryme Cellars in Sonoma, where Megan and Ryan Glaab make two unique version, one with skin contact and Monterey’s Arroyo Seco AVA has fine expressions of Vermentino as done by Mark Chesebro, as well as Unti Vineyards in Dry Creek, where Mick Unti makes a striking version, to name a few of people finding a place of pride for this varietal in their lineups.
The 2019 Tablas Creek Vineyard Vermentino is dynamically vivid and brightly focused with a racy array of lemon/lime, white peach and subtle tropical notes, turning on the vibrant acidity mid palate adding some tangy tangerine, melon and wet stone in a zippy dry white wine that, while lighter in frame, has a nice sense of depth, mineral tones and extract. There is delicate floral notes and a sea shore salinity that make this vintage of Vermentino stand out and make it lip smacking, it is totally refreshing and entertaining on its own and great with food, especially sea foods, sardines, oysters, mussels in both and or creamy cheeses. The 2019 Tablas Creek Vermentino is 100% single varietal and comes from organic vines in the West Side of Paso Robles in the Adelaida District as was fermented exclusively in stainless steel, with Tablas’ winemaking team led by Neil Collins looking for vibrancy and purity of flavors. At 13% natural alcohol, the new Vermentiono feels electric and taut with near perfect balance between ripe fruit and tangy lift, thanks to the long cool even growing conditions. I am a huge Vermintino fan, especially the wines mentioned above and enjoy it in many different styles from the richer Tuscan and Sardinian versions, grown on sandy soils and clay or partial volcanic, that can be quite full bodied to the stony Corsican wines where they rival Chablis for class and complexity. The Corsica Vermentinu is not monolithic or done one way, the Island has many different soils and micro climates and the wines are produced using various methods and aged in diverse ways, like stainless, large cask and even amphora, as well with some getting lees aging too. Some of the best examples are imported by Kermit Lynch, look for Arena, Yves Leccia, Clos Canarelli and especially Domaine Comte Abbatucci. Tablas Creek has brought the best of the Rhone to California and they excel in their white wine examples from the zesty briny fresh Vermentino and Picpoul to the waxy Marsanne, plus Grenache Blanc as well as the powerful and oily rich Roussanne, these are all prime and thrilling wines to explore hitting the full range of what these grapes can do! The Vermentino was everything it promised to be at the beach and pleases without pretense or loudness, it is a joyous brisk white that with provide lots of fun over the coming year.
($27 Est.) 91 Points, grapelive