2012 Grenache Blanc

Once again, Tablas Creek has turned out a mind-bending number of fabulous wines, from delicious entry-level whites and reds all they way up to the top selections, which remain very reasonably priced considering the quality. General Manager Jason Haas describes 2012 as a vintage with generous yields. Haas adds that 2013 followed a similar ripening curve, but the vines were into the second year of a drought cycle, so yields were lower than 2012 by about 20-25%. In addition to these current and future releases I also tasted a handful of library wines, which I include here for further context and ease of reference.

Jason Haas told me that his family and the Perrins have now eliminated references to Chateau de Beaucastel from all of the Tablas Creek wines (the last to go was the Esprit de Beaucastel, which is now called Esprit de Tablas) because "the winery can by now stand on its own merit and successes without leaning on the Beaucastel name.We're proud of being a leader in Paso and want everything we do to reflect that."As we tasted through this year's set of releases, Haas commented that while the estate "has built its reputation on mourvedre, in the cooler vintages, meaning lately, we lean much more heavily on grenache," which ripens earlier.In addition, grenache makes wines that are much more accessible and popular with the overwhelming majority of visitors that this popular destination regularly hosts.Indeed, on the Friday afternoon I visited here in September there were upwards of five dozen customers milling around the new tasting rooms and out on the patios, and they were buying.