2013 Grenache Blanc

I tasted through this year's new and upcoming releases with long-time winemaker and vineyard manager Neil Collins and assistant winemaker Chelsea Franchi, who has been at Tablas Creek since graduating from Cal Poly in 2008. Franchi has become more deeply involved in the winemaking here in recent years, a time when, as Collins said, "the vines are really coming into maturity and showing what the vineyards can deliver." There's a serious dedication to bush vine-planting (en gobelet) and dry farming at the estate, a process that requires considerable extra labor and raises the risk of decreased yields, but which most winemakers, including Collins, Franchi and the Haas and Perrin families, are convinced allows for maximum site expression and wine concentration.

The Tablas Creek wines have an admirable track record for rewarding cellaring, all the way down to the entry-level bottlings, so readers are well-advised to stash a few bottles away, assuming they have patience and storage space. Please note that the flagship Esprit de Beaucastel bottling is now called Esprit de Tablas because, as Collins and Jason Haas have pointed out, "Tablas Creek stands on its own now and shouldn't have to lean on the Beaucastel name any more."