2022 Tablas Creek Vineyard, Patelin de Tablas Rouge, Paso Robles.
One of the best values in the Tablas Creek lineup is the Syrah based Patelin de Tablas Rhône blend, which is 54% Syrah, 29% Grenache, 13% Mourvèdre, 3% Counoise and 1% of the ultra rare Chateauneuf du Pape grape Terret Noir in this vintage, making for a savvy almost Gigondas style offering with a bit less natural alcohol and a cool toned dark berry flavor profile with snappy spices, delicate florals and crushed stones. The medium full palate revolves around boysenberry, bramble berry, cherry, plum and strawberry fruits, along with wild fennel, a touch of cured meat, sandalwood, pepper, voilette, chalk dust and blood orange. This 2022 feels nice and fleshy, textural and ripe, with supple tannin structure and a youthful cut of acidity and a nice mineral note with just a touch of earthy character, maybe thanks to the dose of Mourvèdre here, but overall it’s a very pleasing version. All varietals, the winery says, for the Patelin de Tablas were fermented separately and de-stemmed with natural yeasts in a mix of upright oak fermenters and stainless steel tanks and aged in used (neutral) 1500-gallon oak upright tanks for close to six months before bottling.
The Patelin de Tablas Rouge, as the winery explains, incorporates fruit from several of the top Rhône vineyards and districts in Paso Robles, nearby, most of which are organic, with each vineyard selected for its quality and because most were planted with the originally Tablas sourced cuttings. The name Patelin translates to neighborhood and the grapes come from the mainly surrounding Westside communes, including the Adelaida District, Templeton Gap, Estrella District, El Pomar, Geneseo District and a tiny amount of Grenache and Terret Rouge from the Tablas Creek Estate Vineyard. Tablas goes on the say, the sites include vines in the limestone-rich, warmer, higher-elevation Adelaida District near Tablas Creek, the cool, coastal-influenced Templeton Gap to the south, and the moderate, hilly El Pomar to the south-east. These regions provide a core of structured, mineral-laced fruit and some excellent acidity, while others from the warmer heartland of the Paso Robles AVA, in the Estrella and Geneseo Districts, whose mixed sandy loam soils produce juicy, denser and vibrant Syrah. Tablas, thanks to the commitment of the Haas and Perrin families, continues to thrill us with a stunning array of authentically Rhône styled Red, White and Rosé offerings.
($28 Est.) 92 Points, grapelive