2011 Roussanne

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.

Tablas Creek did not have an easy go of things in 2011. The spring frost took with it a whopping 40% of the year's production, including 50% of the Grenache crop and 40% of the Syrah. Thankfully, Mourvedre was largely spared as the shoots were still not out when the frost hit. I tasted slightly fewer wines than normal this year as most of the single-variety reds weren't made in 2011 because production was so severely impacted by bad weather. General Manager Jason Haas describes 2012 as a much warmer year than 2011, but without any heat spikes. Tablas Creek will bottle some of their single-variety wines, although I did not taste them during my visit. The estate has also decided to regraft their Chardonnay parcel with Counoise, so there will be no more Chardonnay. As always, Jason Haas and his team led by long-time winemaker Neil Collins have done an outstanding job with a range of wines that spans from inexpensive bottlings all the way up to the flagships. One of the major developments at Tablas Creek is the estate's decision to remove references to Chateau de Beaucastel, their Rhone partner, from wine names and labels. This move is significant for many reasons. First, Tablas Creek's wines have stood on their own for years. But I believe there is a broader context, intentional or not. And that is that Paso Robles as a region has to make wines that can succeed on their merits rather than being California versions of Rhone wines. Personally, I think that is a great message.

Beginning with the 2011 vintage there will be no more references to Beaucastel on any of the Tablas Creek labels as the Perrins and the Haas family, the two partners in this venture, believe that the winery can and should stand on its own merit and that the Beaucastel association was no longer a necessity.Winemaker NeilCollins, who is a former chef, told me that he continues to be excited by working with counoise, which is now a component of four of the five blended red wines here, "because it has a softening and civilizing effect and tones down the bullies, like having a woman working in a restaurant kitchen.It keeps things in line."