T ABLAS CREEK VINEYARD PCatelinÔTES DE de T TABLASablas 2005 2011

The Tablas Creek Vineyard Côtes de Tablas is a blend of four estate-grownThe Tablas Rhône Creek Vineyardvarietals: Patelin , de Tablas , is a blend Counoise of four red and Mourvedre.Rhône : Like Syrah, most Grenache, wines of theMourvèdre Southern and Rhône,Counoise. it Theis a blendwine of incorporates varietals, featuring fruit from severalthe fruitiness of the top of Rhône Grenache vineyards bal- in ancedPaso by the Robles, spice each and vineyardstructure selected of Syrah, for with its quality. meaty, Like earthy many notesred from wines Mourvedre from the and Rhône Counoise. Valley, it is based on the dark fruit, mineral and spice of Syrah, with the brightness and fresh acidity The 2005of Grenache, vintage was the structureone of nature’s and meatiness lucky breaks, of Mourvèdre with excel- and a small addition of Counoise for complexity. lent quality and higher-than-normal yields. The summer was TECHNICAL NOTES uniformlyGrapes sunny for the but Patelin relatively de Tablas cool, areand sourced harvest from began four (rela-regions 52% Syrah tively late for us) in the 3rd week of September. The grapes 29% Grenache in Paso Robles. Three are limestone-rich: the warmer, higher- spentelevation nearly a Adelaida month Hillslonger near than Tablas normal Creek, on thethe cool,vine, coastal- and 18% Mourvèdre the resultinginfluenced wines Templeton were intenselyGap to our mineral, south, and with the goodmoderate, struc- hilly 1% Counoise ture andEl Pomar powerful to our aromatics. south-east. Our These fi rst regionslots of provideSyrah camestructured, in on Septembermineral-laced 29th, fruit followedand excellent by acidity.Grenache We alsoon Octobersource fruit 5th, from 13.7% Alcohol by Volume the warmer heartland of the Paso Robles AVA: the Estrella District, 8460 Cases Produced Mourvedre on October 11th, and (unusually for us, our last varietalwhose harvested) mixed sandy Counoise loam soils on produceOctober juicy, 28th. darkly-fruited Syrah.

FOOD PAIRINGS All varietalsThe 2011 were vintage fermented was our second in stainless consecutive steel winter with with the healthy use rainfall, but yields were dramatically reduced by two nights of frost Grilled meats of native yeasts: the Syrah in open-top fermenters, punched on April 8th and 9th, impacting particularly the early-sprouting Pastas with meat saucesdown manually, and the other varietals in closed fermen- Roast pork loin grapes liks , , Grenache Noir and Syrah. ters withDespite pump-over the low crop aeration. loads, ripeningAfter pressing, was slow the due wines to a very were cool Beef stews racked, blended, aged for a year in 1200-gallon French oak Beef or pork stir fries summer, and harvest was roughly three weeks later than normal. foudres,Warm, and sunny then weatherbottled in during April harvest2007. The allowed wines the underwent later-ripening only avarieties light fi ltration to reach before full maturity. bottling. The long hangtime and low yields combined to produce fruit with notable richness balanced by VINEYARDTECHNICAL SOURCES NOTES The 2005higher Côtes than usual de Tablas acidity, allhas at anlow intenselyalcohol levels. Grenache nose • 18% Syrah from the Javadi 2 Vineyard (El Pomar) of rare steak, pepper and blueberry. It is juicy and rich in the • 14%43% Tablas-clone Grenache Syrah and Grenache from Starr mouth, Because with ripe the tannins April frosts and decimated a fi nish laced many withof the licorice. vineyards from Ranch24% Mourvèdre(Adelaida Hills) which we received grapes in 2010 and reduced crops throughout • 11%18% Syrah Syrah from Estrella Farms (Estrella District) Paso Robles, we were forced to seek out additional sources of fruit • 11% Syrah from (Estrella for Patelin de Tablas. We were thrilled with what we were able to 15% CounoiseHammond-Crossland District) find. Harvest began with our first lots of Syrah from Estrella Farms • 10% Tablas-clone Grenache and Mourvèdre from on September 16th and continued through October. It concluded Paso14.8% Ridge Alcohol (El Pomar) by Volume with our last lots of Mourvèdre and Grenache from Paso Ridge, • 9% Grenache and Tablas-clone Mourvèdre from Beneso, Catherine’s and Big Red on November 9th. The various Briarwood3500 Cases Vineyard Produced (Templeton Gap) lots from Tablas Creek were harvested between September 20th • 8% Syrah and Grenache from La Vista Vineyard and November 10th. (Adelaida Hills) • 4%FOOD Grenache PAIRINGS from Catherine's Vineyard (El Pomar) • 4% Mourvèdre, Grenache and Counoise from the All varietals for the Patelin de Tablas were destemmed and TablasGrilled Creek Steaks certified organic estate vineyard fermented in open-top and closed stainless steel fermenters as • 3%Pasta Grenache with Meatfrom Paso Sauces de Record (Estrella District) well as 1500-gallon oak upright casks. Only native yeasts were • 2%Rich Mourvèdre Beef Stews from Beneso Vineyard (Estrella District) used. After fermentation, the wines were racked and blended, • 2% Mourvèdre from Big Red Vineyard (Estrella District) aged in a mix of stainless steel and 1200-gallon oak foudres, and Spicy Sausages • 1% Syrah from the biodynamically-farmed Chequera bottled in May 2012. Vineyard (Templeton Gap) • 1% Grenache from Sosnove Vineyard (Estrella The 2011 Patelin de Tablas marries the spice, mineral and District) structure of Syrah with the generous fruit of Grenache, the • 1% Grenache from (El Pomar) Casa de Brio backbone of Mourvèdre and the brightness of Counoise. Drink it • 1% Syrah from Davis Vineyard (Templeton Gap) now or over the next decade.

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