Roussanne's 2024 Comeback Tour

If you’re a fan of our Roussanne, we’re sure you’ve noticed it’s been in short supply. Last decade we were regularly making between 500 and 1000 cases of our varietal Roussanne while also using it as the lead grape in our Esprit de Tablas Blanc and a supporting player in the Cotes de Tablas Blanc. That was possible because between 2010 and 2020 we harvested an average of 41 tons of Roussanne.

Since 2021, the story has changed. We pulled out a block that was under-performing that summer, but thought we’d be OK because we’d grafted about an acre of Roussanne to established rootstocks on Jewel Ridge the year before. In addition, we planted additional acreage on Jewel Ridge and new acreage on Cote Maduena to replace it. Unfortunately, our timing was bad. The three-year drought that began in 2020 had reached critical levels by 2021, and spring frosts that hit us in 2022 pummeled our largest remaining block of Roussanne and set back the new vines we had planted. Roussanne production, which had declined to 28.1 tons in 2021, cratered to just 10.5 tons in 2022. We weren’t able to make a varietal Roussanne at all, and using every drop of the Roussanne we did harvest in our Esprit Blanc only resulted in an Esprit Blanc with 33% Roussanne, our lowest total ever.

Thankfully, the Roussanne that we harvested those years was exceptional, and the wines that we did make are some of our favorites. If you missed this week’s Instagram Live focusing on the release of the 2022 Esprit and 2022 Esprit Blanc, Neil, Chelsea, and I were all wowed by the intensity and purity of the Roussanne character in the Esprit Blanc.

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Roussanne production bounced back somewhat in 2023, but less than we’d hoped as the frost damage from the year before proved serious enough that it impacted crop levels the next year. We harvested just 26.2 tons of Roussanne, but on a positive note, that included the first Roussanne from our Jewel Ridge plantings from the 2020 grafts. Although it only came to 1.23 tons it was remarkable. In total, we were able to increase the Roussanne percentage in the 2023 Esprit Blanc and will be bottling a small (260 case) varietal Roussanne in December.

Fast-forward to 2024. One of the grapes we’re most excited about in the vineyard is Roussanne. It’s a low-vigor vine in general, and often by this point in September, the vines can look pretty ragged. This year, they’re looking full of life. This is particularly evident on Jewel Ridge, where the young head-trained, wide-spaced vines are so bushy that Neil described them today as an "octopus". You can see from the below photo what he means:

Below those enormous canopies, Roussanne clusters are sheltered from the direct sun:

We’ve already harvested our first pick off of Jewel Ridge and at 1.45 tons are already above last year’s total with roughly two-thirds of the block still to go. The fact that this Roussanne is coming in so much earlier than we're accustomed to it ripening here is a great indicator of the health of this block. That wine is currently sitting in barrel in our cellar:

It's not only the Jewel Ridge Roussanne that is looking better this year. Even our older blocks are looking vigorous, at least by Roussanne standards. The block that we call "New Hill", where I photographed this vine (left) and two of the clusters on it (right) was planted in 1999, so this is 25-year-old Roussanne, looking good:

And there’s more good news for Roussanne on the horizon:

Roussanne, while susceptible to drought, seems to respond well to rainy years. With the 80” of rain we received between the last two winters, and another year separated from the ferocious frost event of 2022, Roussanne seems recovered and ready to put maximum effort into its fruit this year.

The 7 acres of Roussanne we planted between Jewel Ridge and Cotes Maduena in 2021 will reach their 3^rd leaf this year, and while we’re not going to let them hang too much crop, we’ll get some, and will get more for sure in future years.

We planted another 5 acres last summer, so additional reinforcements are on their way.

Roussanne, our most important white variety, seems to be on its comeback tour.

Remembering John Munch: A Paso Robles Legend

By Chelsea Franchi

On Saturday, August 17^th, some 300 friends, family, and members of the Paso Robles wine community gathered to celebrate the life of John Munch. The gathering included people from the many diverse interests that John pursued, from food and wine to music to motorcycle riding and woodworking.

The thriving Paso Robles wine community of today owes its pioneering spirit to that of its founders. As is the case with so many beloved and dynamic wine areas, Paso is a region founded by renegades and dreamers. We are fortunate that so many, from Gary Eberle to Ken Volk to Niels and Bimmer Udsen, are still a part of that fabric. We at Tablas Creek are humbled and honored to call these renegades and dreamers our mentors and peers. And perhaps no one in that founding group was as creative and unconventional a dreamer as John Munch.

John became a winemaker, as he told it, by accident: agreeing to help friends from France make sparkling wines at the old Estrella River Winery, where Gary Eberle was head Winemaker. From there he became a founding partner and winemaker at Adelaida Cellars in 1981, making Adelaida one of the first ten wineries in the region. Less than a decade later, while still running Adelaida, he launched his own small winery, Le Cuvier, on his Adelaida Road property just a few miles west of Paso Robles. But even while he was winemaker at Adelaida, John was a person who always had a few irons in the fire; in the mid-1980s he had already planted Syrah on his own property, and according to lore, a barrel tasting that the Perrins and Robert Haas had of the 1988 vintage of that Syrah was influential in their decision to search the west side of Paso Robles for the property that would become Tablas Creek.

His connection to Tablas Creek was important in other ways. In 1991, John gave our very own Neil Collins his first winemaking opportunity. Neil tells the story of the day he rolled up to his interview in a 1965 Volvo held together by baling wire and duct tape. John apparently took one look at Neil’s vehicle and concluded that if he could keep that thing running, he could certainly keep a winery running. Neil got the job that would change the trajectory of his life and the lives of countless others; the ripple effect of mentorship in a tight community like Paso Robles creates far-reaching and indelible changes. 

Some things never change: to this day, a cold beer and good conversation remain the gold standard after a hard day's work

While Neil and John were working (and likely getting into plenty of tomfoolery) together at Adelaida, Tablas Creek was making forward progress. Bob Haas and the Perrins had purchased land, and vines imported from the nursery that supplied Beaucastel passed quarantine at Cornell University. While those vines were being propagated in our nursery, the partners selected a handful of Rhone varieties available in the US from trusted sources to plant and get some grapegrowing and winemaking experience. Today, we use the acronyms AV and VF to differentiate between “American Vines” and “Vignes Française” (French Vines). The American vines, planted in 1992, bore fruit starting in 1994, and Bob and the Perrins reached out John to rent space at Adelaida Cellars for an interim home to make their first vintages. The partners would fly out for harvest, and there are amazing photos from this era of Bob Haas and Jean-Pierre Perrin sitting on tanks, holding hoses, driving forklifts and operating pumps, like the one below. But they would have admitted, even then, that most of the hands-on winemaking was done by John and by Neil. And in 1997, when we finally built our winery, it was with John’s encouragement that Neil reached out to Bob and started the conversation which ended up with Neil as Tablas Creek’s winemaker, which he is to this day. Given that John mentored Neil and Neil has mentored me, I owe a personal debt of gratitude to John Munch.

Jean Pierre Perrin topping Tablas Creek barrels

Those first few vintages of wine from Tablas Creek grapes, made at Adelaida Cellars, were bottled under various labels including Adelaida Hills, Vineyard Drive, and Tablas Hills. In advance of John’s celebration of life, we pulled some of the original bottles he had helped craft, with the goal of picking one to provide to his celebration of life. My notes on the three wines we tasted, which were amazingly vibrant given they were all nearly 30 years old and made from third- and fourth-leaf grapevines:

1994 Adelaida Hills Assemblage Rouge
On the nose, tobacco leaf, forest floor, iodine, anise, blackberry and pomegranate. The palate is pleasantly minty and herby with dried flowers and undertones of blue fruit with cloves. The wine carries a cool dustiness with vibrant acidity but there’s a slight oxidative note on the finish. Very chewy.

1995 Vineyard Drive Red Table Wine
The nose opens with dried rose petals, stewed plum and meat drippings. The palate is dense and meaty, with iron and flint notes softened by wild strawberry and mint.  The tannins feel velvety and plush, but still carry enough of a grit to hold tight. This wine is beautiful and still going strong. 

1995 Tablas Hills Cuvee Rouge
A lovely meaty character on the nose, accompanied by lilacs, rib eye steaks, cola and clove. On the palate, cranberry and plum skin are tempered by a white pepper and black licorice spiciness. The finish seems to tumble forth and stretch forever, adding raspberry and bramble with thyme sprig. Good acids, grippy tannins, powerful. This was the wine we chose to share at the memorial.

The three wines we tasted

I asked Neil to tell me a little bit about the John Munch he knew, since the two of them had been close friends since that fateful interview in 1991. Neil described John as fearless, innovative, and hilarious. He said John was never one to gloat despite the fact that he was a brilliant musician, an incredible writer, and a great speaker. All of us who knew him remember John fondly as being an animated and passionate human with a deep well of knowledge and ability.

Neil (left) and John (right) at tastings through the years

I think John would have been delighted to taste the wines he helped Tablas Creek create. Thirty years later, they are beautiful and strong with just enough wildness to them. Cheers, John. Thank you for helping to pave the way for the next generations of renegades and dreamers of Paso Robles and beyond.

When co-workers are friends, the line between work and play becomes blurred.  Or in this case, completely non-existent

Harvest 2024 begins under ideal conditions as moderate temperatures return

At around 5am today, we kicked off the 2024 harvest with six bins of Viognier from the top of our tallest hill. Conditions were perfect; it was in the low 50s, which meant that the fruit got into the cellar chilly. As we were finishing up, the sun started to rise over the eastern hills:

As we’d expected, this was neither a particularly early beginning harvest (like 2022, when we started on August 17th) nor was it a late start (like 2023, when we didn’t bring in estate fruit until September 14th). That’s not surprising given that the first half of the summer was quite cool, though not as cool as 2023, while for six weeks starting early July it’s been hot. Now it looks like we’ve settled into an ideal pattern. Check out the temperatures compared to average (and compared to the previous six weeks) since August 12th:

The first pick is always a milestone, with the cellar team joining the vineyard crew out in the field. The crew, many of whom have been here for decades, always get a kick out of this. David Maduena, our long-time Vineyard Manager (pictured below at the back of the bin trailer) is starting his 31st harvest here.

In the cellar, we’ve been spending the last few weeks washing everything and checking that all our equipment is working properly. It’s all so empty that it feels like we’re working in a new facility. It won’t feel like that for long.

The team has already done a bunch of sampling today, and we expect some reds in tomorrow. Nothing off the estate yet (and maybe not for a week or two) but we should get the Pinot Noir from our place in the Templeton Gap and some Syrah for Patelin de Tablas. We’re thinking that yields are likely to be similar to last year, maybe a little better in grapes like Roussanne and Syrah. We’ll know more, obviously, in a few weeks. 

One thing that is clear is that we're looking at a harvest that seems more like a marathon than a sprint. There isn't any major heat in the forecast, with a minor warm-up this week (highs likely topping out in the low-to-mid-90s) followed by a weak low pressure system likely cooling things down so that our highs will be in the mid-80s. All of the red grapes on the estate, with the exception of some of the hilltop blocks of Syrah, are still in the middle of veraison. In some blocks it’s barely started. These photos of Grenache (left) and Counoise (right) were taken late last week.

All this is normal, and good. Ripening conditions appear ideal. The vines look healthy. An extended harvest always allows us more time to sample and to make better use of our tanks. It’s always good to ease into harvest rather than have it start like an avalanche. We’ll have lots more to share with you soon. Stay tuned.

Veraison 2024 suggests an early-September kickoff to harvest... then a break… then a mid-September kickoff to harvest

By Ian Consoli

Veraison, if you're unfamiliar with the term, is a physiological stage of grape development where the berries stop accumulating mass and start accumulating sugar. More visibly, red grapes start their color change from green, while white grapes take on more of a yellow tint. Both red and white grapes start to soften. The onset of veraison comes roughly six weeks before the beginning of harvest, and gives us our best estimate for what sort of schedule we're likely looking at. And it's lovely. Witness this massive Grenache cluster, from the dry-farmed section of our Crosshairs block. At roughly 10" in diameter, it showcases the vigor we're seeing in our dry-farmed blocks specifically. It's a sight to behold:

The story of this year's veraison is its irregularity. We attribute this irregularity, in part, to an early budbreak for Syrah, Viognier, and some Grenache blocks that was followed by a cool down at the end of March and start of April, culminating in a frost event on April 6^th. That cold spell forced soil temperatures down and kept the other varieties in dormancy. Between that and the series of heatwaves pushing temperatures over 100˚F (the threshold at which vines shut down for the day), we're expecting a somewhat staggered start to #harvest2024. With that observation in mind, the weather is at an optimal temperature pattern right now, and things are moving fast. I thought I'd take a quick romp through all the different red Rhone varieties to give you a sense of where each stands. At the end, I've included a chart with how this year compares to other recent years and made some predictions about when we're likely to start picking.

We spotted our first color in the vineyard in Syrah on July 23rd. Now, a little more than two weeks later, every variety is showing at least the first stages of color change, and the early grapes are mostly red. I'll start with Syrah, as usual the first Rhone red to enter version and the fastest to change colors, and go roughly from most-veraison to least. The cluster here is a bit ahead of the average in the vineyard, and I'd estimate that we're probably around 80% through veraison in Syrah overall:

Next is probably Muscardin. It came in second last year and we were unsure whether it was unusual or not, since it is our newest arrival and we don't have many years of history. As we're getting to know it better, it does seem to go through veraison on the early side. It's not as dark red as Syrah (nor will it be at harvest) but overall it looks like it's about 60% of the way through:

Grenache is next in line, at roughly 40% veraison overall. It's always a particularly pretty grape to watch change color, with the berries turning jewel-like in the sun. Look for lots more Grenache pictures in the next month:

Next is Mourvedre. Mourvedre is an unusual grape in that it can start going through veraison on the early side, but is one of the last to be picked. This characteristic long-ripening period means it just takes longer than the others do in this stage. These clusters are fairly typical, and I'd estimate it is 30-40% through veraison overall:

Counoise is the next one up. It is relatively impossible to find clusters with color at the lower parts of the Counoise block, with clusters similar to the one below about mid-way up. The clusters at the top of the block have a bit more color, putting our estimate around 20% veraison overall. Note the characteristic large berries still have some growing to do:

Veraison in the last three Rhone varieties we grow are just getting started or nearly non-existent.

Cinsaut is surprising because it's not typically a late ripener, and the literature says it ripens pretty much in sync with Grenache. But the cluster below was one of just a few with any color at all. Maybe 5% veraison overall:

Terret Noir took some searching to find any color. This cluster, with a few pink-purple berries in a sea of green, is about as advanced as it gets. I'd estimate we're around 2-3% on Terret overall:

Vaccarese simply had no color at all. I searched through the entire block (which isn't difficult, given it's only eight rows) and couldn't find a single berry with color. Vaccarese tends to be one of the latest varieties to reach veraison every year.

Although it's less visually exciting than with reds, white grapes also go through veraison. The grapes turn from green to something a little yellower and soften and start to get sweet. They also become more translucent. The process happens over a continuum as it does in the reds. Viognier goes first, followed by Vermentino, Marsanne, and Grenache Blanc, with Picpoul and Roussanne bringing up the rear. You can see the slight translucency that the berries of Grenache Blanc (left) and Vermentino (right) are starting to pick up:

While the veraison posts you're likely seeing from your favorite wineries may make it seem like veraison is a moment, like Christmas, it's probably better understood as a continuum, like winter, and first veraison is like first frost, or first snowfall. It will likely be a week until all the Syrah clusters at Tablas are red, and 3-4 weeks until the last clusters of later grapes like Mourvedre and Counoise have finished coloring up.

While six weeks is a good basic guide for the duration between the onset of veraison and the beginning of harvest, it's not totally constant and will be influenced by the weather that we get in the interim, as well as by the amount of fruit the vines are carrying and the inherent tendencies of the different varieties. For example, a consistently cool summer and a plentiful crop in 2010 gave us a full seven weeks between veraison and our first harvest, while 2021's consistent heat and low yields gave us just a five-week interim. Each vintage since 2010 is compiled in the chart below, with each year linked to Jason's blog post about that year's version:

 

Year	First Veraison Noted	Estate Harvest Begins	# of Days
2010	July 30	September 16	49
2011	August 5	September 20	47
2012	July 25	September 5	42
2013	July 17	August 26	40
2014	July 9	August 23	45
2015	July 18	August 26	39
2016	July 13	August 18	36
2017	July 20	August 30	41
2018	July 29	September 10	43
2019	July 30	September 4	36
2020	July 21	August 25	35
2021	July 21	August 24	34
2022	July 12	August 17	36
2023	August 7	September 14	38
2024	July 24	?	?

Using the range of durations between first veraison and first harvest (34 to 49 days), we can try to predict when we might begin harvest in this irregular year. Those raw numbers suggest that we’ll start sometime between August 27^th and September 12^th, which seems safe enough but also a wide range. Vineyard Manager Jordan Lonborg sees us beginning harvest on the first week of September for grapes that bloomed before the cool down, like Viognier and Syrah. Then, we'll likely have two slow weeks before the real push of harvest begins. The weather between now and then will determine where in the range we'll fall, influenced as well by the crop levels, since lighter crops ripen faster than heavier ones.

Overall, we're seeing crop levels similar to last year, with exciting standouts in much-needed white varieties like Grenache Blanc, Picpoul, Marsanne, and Bourboulenc. It is interesting because, even with all the rain we received the last two winters, we see relatively small berries, but large cluster sizes make up for it. That may be due to the hot summer. We averaged highs of 98.5˚F in July and 99.3˚F so far in August. Heat is good until temperatures exceed 100˚F and the vines shut down for the day. Those periodic shutdowns can result in uneven ripening. As we push to the second half of August, we're in a perfect heat pattern in the mid-90's, and everything should proceed as scheduled if this pattern continues.

What's next for the vineyard? We'll watch the different grapes go through veraison. That progress is already happening fast, and the view in the vineyard is changing daily. We'll be posting regular photos of veraison's progress on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages. In a few weeks, we'll start sampling the early varieties, looking for the moment when the flavors are fully developed and the balance of sugars and acids is ideal. In the cellar, we've already started to get ready by finishing our blending of the 2023s and pulling out and checking on all the tanks and equipment we'll need once harvest begins. It's likely too that we'll see some grapes from Patelin or Lignée vineyards, and from the Haas Vineyard Pinot Noir, before anything comes off our estate. Those grapes should start coming in a couple of weeks.

So, now we wait and enjoy the show. We have an idea of how much time is on our timer, and we know Mother Nature has pushed “start”.

AI and Wine Marketing – A Current Assessment

By Josh Kaiser

Exploring AI's Role in Wine Marketing

In today's world, artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a distant concept that’s associated only with science fiction; it has seamlessly become a part of our everyday lives, whether we realize it or not. From voice-activated assistants like Alexa and Siri to personalized recommendations on Netflix and Spotify or Grammarly helping edit this blog for grammatical errors, AI is everywhere, doing its best to make our lives more convenient and tailored to our preferences while providing moments of unintentional comedy as we realize the limits of the technology. Marketing is one area that has seen a boom in the use of AI recently, with marketers looking to leverage the tool to streamline their processes and make their content more personalized. With its rise in popularity, I’ve been studying the many uses of AI in business during my time at Cal Lutheran University as well as my previous internship before Tablas Creek. When I arrived at Tablas for my summer marketing internship, Ian (our Director of Marketing) suggested we dive into AI’s potential uses at a winery like Tablas Creek to better understand its capabilities, figure out its shortcomings as well as strengths, and decide if we think AI might be a viable tool in wine marketing.

We thought this info might be useful or interesting to our readers as well.

Image generated by Gemini AI using prompt: "Please tell me what AI software looks like in an image."

State of AI Today

Artificial Intelligence is a field of software engineering concerned with building computers and machines that can reason, learn, and act in a way similar to how a human can, using its access to a vast information database. AI has seen a major rise in popularity over the last several years, and the many uses for AI software have fueled a tech boom over the past few years. From risk assessment in finance, to streaming service algorithms and online shopping recommendations, to more personal uses like designing diets and workout plans, there are thousands of AI programs for just about any need you can think of.

Uses for AI in Marketing

Based on my previous experience with AI systems, I was aware of how easily one can get overwhelmed by the number of options there are out there. To stay focused we took into account all the potential uses we were interested in, and narrowed it down to three main categories of features that seem to be in the broadest use:

• Generating written content such as social media captions, website information, emails, or blog posts. We found AI can generate copy of varying length for all these different channels quickly and easily. Whether you need a catchy Instagram caption or multiple email drafts, you simply instruct the AI software on what you want (for instance, an Instagram caption detailing different Rhone grape varieties) and poof! In seconds, the software scans its vast database and uses its knowledge about Instagram post captions and grapes from the Rhone Valley to generate text that is formatted like a caption and should fit the parameters set. That’s the plus side. There are two negatives, neither insignificant. First, there are still real issues with the reliability of the information generated, especially when working with more obscure topics like unusual grape varieties or topics where information in one part of the world may or may not have relevance in another, such as viticulture or weather phenomena. Quite often, the information generated by the AI was factually incorrect or interpreted in a way that wasn’t quite right. That means that every result has to be checked and cannot be used directly from the software. The second negative was that the language was often full of adjectives and adverbs: flowery and sometimes overdone. There’s a classic bit of writing advice that is “show, don’t tell”. The AI output always skewed toward the “tell” side.
• Generating photos. There are now programs that allow you to input any text and it will generate an image of what you input. While this was pretty impressive, the accuracy was certainly not perfect, and the systems often generate random additions to the photo on top of what you asked for. Think of the photos that circulate online where upon closer investigation people have extra fingers, or the lighting is inconsistent from element to element. One use we were hoping for was to find AI software that would allow us to edit text on an image while keeping the same font – think updating the vintage on a bottle in a lifestyle shot -- but we never got an image that we found convincing. AI still struggles with adding or editing text on images.
• We found that many marketers are using AI to assist in brainstorming ideas for all sorts of different content. A big part of marketing is trying to stay on top of trends and come up with fresh ideas to engage with your audience, and AI should theoretically be a great help in both of those. Instead of the marketing team scrolling through hours of social media posts and websites to try and discover new trends, AI can generate trending topics, hashtags, headlines, keywords, and even titles of trending music for things like Instagram Reels in mere seconds. This can be useful, although a critical aspect is ensuring the system has real time data. Some AI engines do not have up to date databases, for instance before the update in September of 2023 ChatGPT only had data up to 2021, two years behind. Meaning the “trending” ideas it generated would be what was trending in 2021, not current day. Real time data is becoming more and more common, so you probably don’t need to worry too much, but it’s definitely something to be aware of.

Concerns with AI

As with any new technology there are a few concerns that anyone experimenting with AI should be aware of.

• Probably the biggest issue with AI as of now is the information that the programs generate is not yet reliable enough to trust. It’s still necessary to carefully read and make edits to all the content an AI engine puts out. This is exacerbated in an age where misinformation on the Internet is all too common.
• Many systems also do not have data that is current and up to date. While this might not matter for rephrasing text or brainstorming ideas, it can be an important drawback when you’re looking to share information on new research or topics on which there is relatively little data available online.
• The content generated can sound robotic and not flow well, or just have a tone that feels inappropriate to your business. There are now things that can be done to train the AI in a tone or voice to try and avoid this (by giving the software content from a website, social captions, blog posts, etc. you can “teach” the AI your tone and how you write), but it is difficult to fully teach the system a voice, and there will often still be times that it does not come out the way you envisioned.
• Photo generation and editing is still lagging. Sure, AI can turn a text prompt into a photo quickly, but the accuracy was lacking. When generating photos there would always be a few details off, or a few unwanted additions. We hoped to find a program that easily edits text on images, like changing the vintage or the percentages of the grapes in on a wine label in a photograph. This could save needing to retaking photos each bottling. However, we found AI struggles greatly when trying to edit small details of text on images, and in general the photo sector of AI has a long way to go (the picture below illustrates one example of an attempt to change the vintage, as well as blend percentages on an Esprit de Tablas. The system tried to match the font and the size, but as you can see it was not very successful). In fact, strangely-rendered text is one of the surest tells on an AI-generated image at the moment. That said, now that apps like Photoshop and Illustrator are adding AI capabilities, I have no doubt the photo sector of AI will advance rapidly.

Bottleshot adjustment attempted using Canva AI

Pricing

In AI, as in much of life, you get what you pay for. Although the free versions of AI software like Chat GPT get a lot of the press, we found that they are often quite limited. These tools can handle simple tasks such as rewording sentences or generating synonyms quickly. There are also paid platforms such as JasperAI (starting at $40/month per account) or HypotenuseAI (starting at $56/month) which offer more advanced features including generating images or creating automated email workflows. In general, the paid platforms offer:

• A free version or free trial with minimal capabilities and limited trial periods aimed at enticing users to upgrade
• A basic tier, ranging from $10 to $50 per month, suitable for individuals or small teams interested in a few basic tools, with additional capabilities
• A premium tier around $60 to $80 per month, offering more accounts, more features, and increased personalization.
• Some platforms also provide more flexible “business” plans, that advertise “custom” or “flexible” pricing. These are targeted towards larger teams who are ready to heavily invest in AI, and likely offer more robust and personalized capabilities. But these were expensive enough that we didn’t try them out.

One challenge (or opportunity, depending on your perspective) is that at this stage of AI’s life there are a dizzying range of engines to choose from. Do enough digging that you find a software that fits what your needs may be. Then plan to put in the time to train that software to your liking. And expect that in order to access the latest technology, data, and optimal user interface, you’ll likely have to go beyond a free engine or the free introductory version of the platform you choose.

Key Takeaways

AI's ability to streamline tasks and personalize experiences is undeniable, however, as our exploration has shown, there are also notable challenges and limitations, particularly regarding the accuracy and reliability of AI-generated content.

Despite these hurdles, the potential of AI is vast, and its continuous evolution promises even greater capabilities in the future. For now, it's important to approach AI with a balanced perspective, leveraging its strengths while remaining vigilant about its shortcomings. Ultimately, AI is a tool that, when used thoughtfully and judiciously, is already capable of enhancing marketing efforts and providing value to our, or your, audience. But thankfully (as a marketing professional) it seems like it’s going to be a while before it can step in and do our job for us, particularly at a place like Tablas Creek where we value the human touch and authenticity of real experience. If we can use AI to enhance bringing that experience to you, we will. But the journey with AI is just beginning, and we look forward to navigating it together!

Artificial Intern image created by DeepAI using prompt: "Make the person in the image look like a robot"

Introducing Alouette, a chillable Grenache for which we leave the glass bottle behind

While we make a lot of wines at Tablas Creek, we don’t make a lot of new wines at Tablas Creek. Yes, we’ve added a few varietal bottlings in recent years, and we launched the Lignée de Tablas series in 2023. Those are always exciting. Before that, you have to go back to our Le Complice, which we came up with in 2017. But if you read my red blending blog from a couple of months ago, you’re already aware that we’re adding a new wine to our portfolio: a chillable Grenache that we’re calling Alouette.

Grenache always produces a range of wines here at Tablas Creek, from the chewy, black cherry and licorice lots that we use in our Panoplie and Esprit de Tablas to the spicy, red cherry and chalky mineral lots that typically form the base of our Cotes de Tablas and go into our varietal Grenache. It’s also a famously great rosé grape, because it comes with good fruit and good acid, and doesn’t need a lot of skin contact to pick up that fruit character. In the vineyard, it’s vigorous and generally productive, making large clusters of large berries and ample canopy to shade and ripen them.

Grenache’s vigor can lead to wider swings in production than any other grape we grow. A moderate year might give us three tons to the acre, where with Mourvedre we might get two. A productive year might see Mourvedre increase to three tons an acre, while Grenache could double to six. That means that in order to have enough Grenache in the lean years we sometimes have to be creative in the productive ones. This year, when we began our blending trials, it was clear we would have to find a home for a lot of Grenache. In fact, we had nearly as much Grenache as we did all our other reds combined! So after we blended Panoplie, Esprit, En Gobelet, Le Complice, and Cotes de Tablas (all of which include a healthy chunk of Grenache) we still had enough Grenache left to make nearly 3000 cases. From that we decided to make two wines: our traditional varietal bottling of Grenache, from the more classic, structured, deeper lots, and a new wine from the highest-toned, palest, and juiciest lots that we’re calling Alouette. In character it’s somewhere between a dark rosé and a light red, with high-toned cherry and cranberry fruit flavors, bright acids, a hint of tannin, and a lightly herbal finish like all the parts of a wild strawberry, from leaves to flowers to fruit.

The name Alouette literally translates from the French as “lark”, with both the meanings that it carries in English. Yes, the songbird, but also something done on a whim, or for fun. It’s also the first line of a common French children's song that I learned in middle school French class and which (I’m sorry) I’m guessing many of you are already humming to yourselves. It’s a fun name to say, has a fun meaning, and should be a great fit for a wine that’s eminently fun to drink.

As for a package, we’ll be sharing this wine in two ways. For our sales from the winery, we’re putting it into our three-liter boxes. This is a red wine that is lovely served chilled, so a box, which you can stash in your fridge and pour a glass from whenever you want, will be ideal. For the restaurant and wine bar world, we’re putting it into our 19.5-liter kegs. From there it can be poured by the glass or carafe while maintaining maximum freshness.

You might notice what we’re not putting the wine in: glass bottles. While they are unmatched at holding wine that you want to keep for years or decades in your cellar, they’re not a great container for wine that’s going to be opened and consumed in the near team. As we’ve written about in our blogs on the Patelin de Tablas boxes we’ve been making, glass is heavy and fragile, and requires lots of energy to mine, melt, mold, and transport.

When you look at the carbon footprint of various packages, both boxes and kegs pencil out well ahead of glass bottles. Stainless steel kegs are essentially infinitely reusable, and despite the additional energy costs of having to ship them back to their point of origin, our partners at Free Flow Wines have calculated that they offer a 76% reduction in carbon footprint compared to the 26 bottles required to hold the same volume of wine, not to mention the two-plus cases of cardboard cases and extra labels, capsules, and corks. They’re also zero-waste, which appeals to us. The 3L bag-in-box offers something like an 84% savings in carbon footprint compared to four glass bottles, as well as four pounds of savings in weight and a nearly 50% savings in packaging volume.

Plus, once you open a bottle, oxygen starts its destructive work on the wine within, and you only have a matter of days, perhaps a week if you’re careful, before the wine is compromised. With boxes, you have several weeks of prime drinking if it’s living in your fridge. With a keg, you have months.

Not that we expect it to be around that long.

Look for an email announcing the release of the Alouette the week of August 12^th.

Tasting the Wines in the Fall 2024 VINsider Wine Club Shipments

Each spring and fall, we send out a selection of six wines to the members of our VINsider Wine Club. We have three variants each time: our classic (mixed) selection, which includes reds, whites, and the occasional rose, a white wine selection, and a red wine selection. In many cases, these are wines that only go out to our club. In others, the club gets a first look at wines that may see a later national release. Before each shipment, we reintroduce ourselves to these wines (which, in some cases, we may not have tasted since before bottling) by opening the full lineup and writing the notes that will be included with the club shipments. With Neil in Europe, I sat down yesterday afternoon with Senior Assistant Winemaker Chelsea Franchi and we dove into this fall's collection.

We base each year's fall shipments around the newest releases of the Esprit de Tablas and Esprit de Tablas Blanc, and this fall is no exception. But there's a lot more to these shipments than the Esprits. In our classic (mixed) shipment we have included three varietal wines, two reds and one white, which together dive deep into Grenache. The white is our Grenache Blanc, while the reds are both Grenaches: ours off our estate and a fascinatingly different one from the Santa Lucia Highlands which is the newest wine in our Lignee de Tablas program. Finally, we're including the newest vintage of our small-production En Gobelet blend, selected entirely from our head-trained, dry-farmed vineyard blocks. We think it's one of the most compelling classic shipments we've ever put together, and the additional wines that will go into the red wine and white wine selection shipments are super cool as well. I'm excited to get them in our members' hands soon.

The classic shipment includes six different wines:

2023 GRENACHE BLANC

• Production Notes: The 2023 vintage saw our three-year drought break with a bang, as the winter dropped nearly 50 inches on us. This was followed by our coolest summer since 2011, and we were less than half harvested on the date we finished in 2022. But warm, sunny weather in October and the first half of November gave us time to bring the grapes in in lovely shape. Yields were still low on whites, though much improved over 2022. For the varietal Grenache Blanc, we chose mostly lots fermented in stainless steel (for energy), with a smaller addition from foudre (for roundness). The lots were blended in May 2024 and bottled under screwcap the next month.
• Tasting Notes: A nose of crushed rock and verbena, lemon pith and sarsaparilla. The mouth has Grenache Blanc's signature mouth-filling texture and bright acids, flavors of lemon drop, wet stone, and citrus leaf. Somehow at the same time explosively juicy, creamy, and bright. Drink now and over the next few years.
• Production: 906 cases
• List Price: $40 VINsider Price: $32

2022 ESPRIT DE TABLAS BLANC

• Production Notes: Our third consecutive drought year, 2022 saw yields further reduced by a rare May frost that particularly impacted our whites. You might have expected the hot vintage that followed to produce dense, alcoholic wines, but we found the opposite. Perhaps because the vines were under so much stress, we harvested grapes with bright acids and this lovely ethereal quality. Because of the vintage's scarcity, we ended up using our full production of Roussanne (33%), Picpoul Blanc (14%), Clairette Blanche (8%) and Picardan (8%) in the 2022 Esprit Blanc, and added 32% Grenache Blanc and 5% Bourboulenc to ensure we had both texture and brightness. As we have done since 2012, we returned the blend to foudre after it was assembled in May 2023 and aged it through the subsequent harvest before bottling it in December 2023. We've been letting it deepen in bottle ever since.
• Tasting Notes: A powerful nose of lanolin and honeycomb, lemongrass and orange blossom, like the world's most luxurious antique furniture polish. The palate is lively, rich but still light on its feet, with flavors of vanilla custard, fresh apricot, citrus pith, marmalade, and green herbs. The finish leaves lingering notes of grilled pineapple and green herbs. Drink now to enjoy its freshness or let it age for up to two decades for deeper flavors of caramel and roasted nuts.
• Production: 1812 cases
• List Price: $60 VINsider Price: $48

2022 GRENACHE

• Production Notes: As often happens here, our hottest years produce Grenache with a lovely pale garnet color with expressive high notes. That's perfect for our varietal bottling, where we always try to choose lots that emphasize Grenache's freshness and avoid riper lots that tend toward higher alcohols. The lots were blended in June 2023 and aged in neutral oak until its bottling in February 2024.
• Tasting Notes: A high toned nose of wintergreen and black pepper, cranberry and grenadine. On the palate, bright acids with flavors of plum skin, cherry hard candy, leafy green herbs and sweet spice. There is Grenache's signature youthful tannic grip on the finish, with lingering notes of aromatic bitters. This seems to us a Grenache to drink on the sooner side, probably in the next 4-6 years.
• Production: 872 cases
• List Price: $45 VINsider Price: $36

2022 LIGNÉE DE TABLAS HOOK VINEYARD GRENACHE

• Production Notes: Lignée is French for "lineage" and the Lignée de Tablas Hook Vineyard Grenache is our first red release in a new tier of wines that features single-vineyard expressions of Tablas Creek clones. The Hook Vineyard is part of the Hahn property in the Santa Lucia Highlands, about 60 miles northwest of Tablas Creek in Monterey County. The cool, coastal-influenced 122-acre vineyard is mostly planted to Pinot Noir, but also includes 21 acres of Grenache Noir from Tablas Creek clones. The climate, quite different from Paso Robles and on the coolest edge of where Grenache will ripen, leads to very long hang times, dark colors, and thick skins, making this 100% Grenache a fun contrast to our higher-toned expression of the grape. It was fermented in closed stainless steel fermenters to preserve its tension, then aged in large, neutral upright French oak fermenters for a year before being bottled in April 2024.
• Tasting Notes: Deeper in both color and tone than our estate Grenache, with notes of dates and black pepper, balsamic glaze and cassis, brown butter and mountain sage. On the palate, black cherry and new leather, and a lovely umami teriyaki/soy depth. The finish shows baked warm earth, beef jerky, and dark chocolate. Drink now and over the next decade.
• Production: 1088 cases
• List Price: $40 VINsider Price: $32

2022 EN GOBELET

• Production Notes: Our fifteenth En Gobelet, a non-traditional blend all from head-trained, dry-farmed blocks, and mostly from the 12-acre block we call Scruffy Hill, planted in 2005 and 2006 to be a self-sufficient field blend. These lots tend to show more elegance and minerality than our closer-spaced irrigated blocks, although in 2022 the wine shows a lovely balance of power and freshness. We chose a blend of 43% Grenache, 27% Mourvedre, 18% Syrah, 6% Counoise, and 6% Tannat, with the Grenache and Counoise providing lift, the Syrah and Tannat providing structure and tannin, and the Mourvedre earth, loam, and ageworthiness. The wine was blended in June of 2023, aged in foudre, and bottled in April 2024.
• Tasting Notes: A vibrant nose of spearmint and wild strawberry, loamy earth and iron, fresh fig and star anise. The palate is gorgeous, with a pure beam of red raspberry and redcurrant fruit given structure with a graphite-like minerality and deepened by a butter shortbread richness. Lovely now, but should also evolve and deepen for up to two decades.
• Production: 811 cases
• List Price: $65 VINsider Price: $52

2022 ESPRIT DE TABLAS

• Production Notes: As always, the Esprit is based on the red fruit and meatiness of Mourvedre (40%). The relatively equal proportions of Grenache (28%, for sweet spice and bright acids) and Syrah (22%, for dark color and savory, tannic richness) are a good indicator of the vintage's overall balance and quality. We finished the blend with 4% Vaccarese (for black fruit and minerality) and 3% each Cinsaut (for warm purple fruit and sweet spice) and Counoise (for vibrancy and wildness). At blending, we found it expressive, with a lithe energy that we thought would broaden into lovely depth and richness over time. The blend was put together in June 2023 and aged a year in foudre before bottling in August 2024.
• Tasting Notes: The nose is expressive, clearly Esprit: seemingly equally balanced between red and black fruit, with notes of black raspberry and mint, graphite, new leather, and sandalwood. The mouth is like a mixed berry crumble, complete with the warm baking spices and the buttery, toasty, salty crust. Plum skin-like tannins come out on the finish and promise years of meaty development. Enjoy any time in the next 25 years.
• Production: 2925 cases
• List Price: $70 VINsider Price: $56

Three additional wines joined the Grenache Blanc and Esprit de Tablas Blanc in the white wine selection shipment (members will get two bottles of the Esprit Blanc):

2023 LIGNÉE DE TABLAS ZACA MESA GRENACHE BLANC

• Production Notes: For the second Grenache Blanc in our Lignée de Tablas series, in 2023 we were able to source grapes from the Zaca Mesa vineyard roughly 70 miles southwest of Tablas Creek in the Santa Ynez Valley AVA. Santa Barbara County Grenache Blanc has a distinctive almost Sauvignon Blanc-like white grapefruit character that we've always loved, and the Zaca Mesa vineyard was one of the first vineyards there to source grapevines from us. This 100% Grenache Blanc was fermented in stainless steel and bottled in May 2024 under screwcap to preserve it at maximum freshness.
• Tasting Notes: A nose of fresh lychee, oyster shell, anise, mint, and honeydew melon. On the palate, more honeydew melon, crushed rock, white grapefruit, and sweet spice, with Grenache Blanc's signature mouth-filling texture. Drink now and over the next few years.
• Production: 208 cases
• List Price: $35 VINsider Price: $28

2023 PICPOUL BLANC

• Production Notes: For the first time in six years we were able to include our Picpoul Blanc in a wine club shipment. This 2023 is our fifteenth varietal bottling of this traditional Southern Rhône white grape, used in Châteauneuf du Pape as a blending component, and best known from the crisp light green wines of the Pinet region in the Languedoc. On its own, it shows the vibrant acids for which it is valued, along with a tropical lushness from the generous Paso Robles climate that gives it complexity you'd never see in its homeland. We use the majority of our production for our Esprit de Tablas Blanc, while reserving a small quantity for this varietal bottling. The lots selected for the Picpoul Blanc bottling were a roughly equal mix of neutral-oak and stainless steel lots, blended in March 2024 and bottled in June 2024.
• Tasting Notes: A nose of fresh pineapple and sea spray, mint, and orange oil. The palate is like a dry version of a piña colada, from the pineappley brightness to a creamy richness reminiscent of coconut. The finish is clean, vibrant, and delineated, with a lingering mineral petrichor note that keeps the final impression clean and bright. Drink now and over the next few years.
• Production: 181 cases
• List Price: $40 VINsider Price: $32

2023 BOURBOULENC

• Production Notes: Our fifth-ever bottling of Bourboulenc and one of the only ones outside of the Rhone. Bourboulenc is known in France to make wines with bright acids, fresh fruit aromatics, rich texture, and a distinctive nutty character. In just a few years, it's become a favorite here. Most of what was chosen for our varietal Bourboulenc was fermented this year in a single concrete egg. That was supplemented by about 15% from a stainless steel-fermented lot for a little extra brightness. It was bottled in June 2024.
• Tasting Notes: A nose of fresh almond and kiwi, lime leaf, mandarin orange, and white tea. On the palate, richly textured but still bright, with flavors of marmalade and citrus blossom, marzipan and Meyer lemon meringue. The finish shows lemon drop and chalky mineral notes and a pithy textural bite. Our experience aging Bourboulenc is limited, but we plan to drink ours over the next few years.
• Production: 180 cases
• List Price: $40 VINsider Price: $32

Two additional reds joined the Grenache, Lignée Hook Vineyard Grenache, En Gobelet and 2022 Esprit de Tablas in the red wine selection shipment:

2022 FULL CIRCLE

• Production Notes: The thirteenth vintage of our Full Circle Pinot Noir, grown on the small vineyard outside the Haas family's home in Templeton, in the cool (for Paso) Templeton Gap AVA. Its name reflects Robert Haas's career: from a start introducing America to the greatness of Burgundy, through decades focusing on grapes from the Rhone, one of his last acts was to plant Pinot at his home and oversee our first few vintages. Harvested before the early-September heat wave that defined the 2022 vintage, the grapes were fermented in one-ton microfermenters, two-thirds de-stemmed and one-third with stems for a more savory profile, punched down twice daily by hand. After pressing, the wine was moved into a mix of one-year-old and two-year-old Marcel Cadet 60-gallon barrels, for a hint of oak. The wine stayed on its lees, stirred occasionally, for 10 months, before being blended and bottled in August 2023. We've aged the wine in bottle for an additional year since then.
• Tasting Notes: An appealing nose of maraschino cherry, cola, cedar, fennel, and Chinese five spice. The palate is classic Pinot Noir: red cherry, salted caramel, sarsaparilla, and a little hint of sweet oak. The finish shows sweet baking spices and chalky tannins. Drink now and over the next decade.
• Production: 251 cases
• List Price: $55 VINsider Price: $44

2018 ESPRIT DE TABLAS

• Production Notes: When possible we try to offer interesting contrasts between related wines. With this library vintage of Esprit, we give VINsiders a chance to compare two drought vintages whose challenges we navigated by focusing on lots with freshness. The 2018 Esprit is based as always on Mourvedre (40%), and in this vintage noteworthy for its lift and minerality we found that the darkness and density provided by Syrah (27%) was essential and we needed a little less of the bright spiciness of Grenache (23%). Counoise (10%) rounds out the blend with brambly notes and sweet spice. The wine was bottled in July 2020 and has been aging in our cellars since then.
• Tasting Notes: An inviting nose of blackcurrant and cinnamon, rosemary, chocolate, and a mineral iodine note. The palate is lovely, with flavors of Mexican hot chocolate, cherry fruit leather, saddle leather, and a licorice note that is brightened on the finish with tangy plum skin acids. It's lovely now and still youthful; enjoy it any time over the next two decades.
• Production: 4325 cases
• Library Price: $80 VINsider Price: $64

The tasting was a great way to hone in on the character of our two most recent vintages. 2022 is a vintage that shows outstanding vibrancy: clear, delineated flavors and bright acids, with plenty of fruit to back it up. 2023 is remarkable year unlike any we've seen in more than a decade and likely to be even rarer in the future: a cool vintage with a delayed but unhurried harvest that produced wines with intense flavors, vibrant acids, and uncommon depth. Both seem like they'll offer pleasure whether people drink the wines soon or wait. We can't wait to find out what our members think.

If you're a wine club member, we've got a range of options for you to try these wines. We are planning to host a live in-person pickup party on Sunday, October 20th. Neil, Chelsea, and I will be hosting another virtual pickup party the evening of Friday, October 25th. And we'll again be offering club members who visit the opportunity to choose the shipment wines as their tasting flight between mid-September and early-October. Consider this a "save the date"; we will be putting details on all this on our VINsider News & Updates page and announcing them via email soon.

If you're not a wine club member, and you've read all this way, then why not join us while there's still a chance to get this fall shipment? Details and how to join are at tablascreek.com/wine_club/vinsider_club

Tasting the Library Wines in the Fall 2024 VINsider "Collector's Edition" Shipment

Each summer, I taste through library vintages of our Esprit and Esprit Blanc to choose the wines for the upcoming VINsider Wine Club Collector's Edition shipment. We created the Collector's Edition version of our VINsider Wine Club back in 2009 to give our biggest fans a chance to see what our flagship wines were like aged in perfect conditions. Members also get a slightly larger allocation of the current release of Esprits to track as they evolve. This club gives us a chance show off our wines' ageworthiness, and it's been a great success, generating a waiting list each year since we started it.

Each of our flagship wines goes through different stages of life. I'll start by giving a quick summary of those phases and where each of the two wines that we'll be sending out this year fit in.

For the Esprit de Tablas Blanc, there are three or four phases each vintage goes through. In its youth, within a few years of bottling, you get lush fruit, medium-to-full body and texture, and tropical notes, with underpinnings of mineral and cedary structure. Both our current release (the 2021 Esprit Blanc) and the release that will be coming out this fall (the 2022 Esprit Blanc) are in that phase. After a few years, the tropical, fruity notes mellow into something more honeyed, the texture becomes richer, and the mineral and savory structural notes become more pronounced. This is the phase that the 2018 Esprit de Tablas Blanc that we'll be sending out to Collector's Edition members is in. If you're looking forward, there's a phase (for some, not all vintages) where the honey flavors caramelize and the color deepens, but the texture is still rich and the structure evident. This is a phase that can be intellectually interesting but often isn't the most pleasurable because it can come across as a touch oxidative, and we note it on our vintage chart as "Hold - Closed Phase". Then finally the wine emerges out the other side, the texture and color lighten, the oxidative notes resolve into something more like roasted nuts, and the minerality comes to the fore.

The Esprit de Tablas has a similar multi-stage evolution. Within a few years of release the wines are robust, with lots of fruit, plenty of structure and tannin, and sweet spice notes. Then there's a stage where the fruit calms down, the tannins start to soften, and you start to notice more of the loamy, earthy Mourvedre-driven savoriness as well as the saline minerality that we get from our calcareous soils. That's the stage that the 2016 Esprit de Tablas is in right now. The wine has greater complexity and depth than it did when it was young, but the primary impression of the fruit is of freshness, not age. There will likely be two more stages to come. First will likely (though not for certain) come a point where the wine's fruit becomes secondary to the structural and mineral elements and the wine might come across as a little hard. If I had to guess when this would happen, it would be sometime in 2027-28, but that's just a guess for now. And it might not happen. But whether or not it does, there's sure to be a further stage after where the meaty, leathery side of these grapes comes to the fore, the fruit goes from fresh to more compote, the sweet spice deepens to something like mocha, and the tannins become supple. That can last for another 10-15 years before the wine finally fades.  

While most of our vintages of Esprit go through similar stages, the vintage that creates each wine is unique. The library wines in this year's selection both come from moderate drought vintages, where the below-average rainfall kept things concentrated but the vines had enough vigor to maintain good freshness. In a blog from 2022 where I was trying to connect people who loved one vintage with others like it, I described each year in the following way:

• 2016: Even though we were still in the drought, rainfall was a bit better than the previous years, and the vineyard healthier under our new Biodynamic protocols. Yields recovered to relatively normal levels from 2015's punishingly low totals. A warm summer produced intense wines, both reds and whites, with dark colors and the structure to age. Similar vintages: 2002, 2006, 2019. [You can read my recap of the 2016 vintage here.]
• 2018: As played out a decade earlier, a strong vintage that was overshadowed by blockbuster years on either side, producing elegant wines that were easy to underestimate. The growing season was slightly cooler than average except for a scorching midsummer (July through mid-August). Things cooled back down for harvest, and we picked with outstanding acids, solid concentration, and slightly above-average yields. This appears to be one of our greatest white vintages, and a strong red vintage though maybe not with the long aging of our best years. Similar vintages: 2008, 2013. [My recap of the 2018 vintage can be found here.]

Both the 2016 Esprit and the 2018 Esprit Blanc showed a lovely balance of fruit and mineral, structure and openness, and richness and elegance when I opened and tasted them today. The pair:

My tasting notes:

• 2018 Esprit de Tablas Blanc: Still a youthful pale gold color. An appealingly complex nose of sweet green herbs (lemongrass and thyme), honeycomb, cedar, and lanolin. On the palate, mouth-filling with flavors of vanilla custard, marzipan, preserved lemon, and a little pithy bite. The long finish shows both richness and brightness. 66% Roussanne, 21% Grenache Blanc, 8% Picpoul Blanc, 3% Picardan, and 2% Clairette Blanche. Would be amazing with roasted lemon chicken.
• 2016 Esprit de Tablas: Our most black-fruited vintage since 2011, with a meaty, pancetta-like note on the nose that is reflective of the higher-than-normal percentage of Syrah and which promises further development to come. Flavors of bramble, licorice, teriyaki marinade and wild strawberry, great texture, and a persistent bay-like herby lift on the finish. Complex and complete, powerful without any hint of overripeness. 46% Mourvedre, 31% Syrah, 18% Grenache, and 5% Counoise. Would shine with anything from a leg of lamb to spicy sausages to pasta with wild mushrooms.

The complete Collector's Edition shipment is awfully exciting, at least to me, between the combination of the library vintage and all the 2022s -- which have a lovely vibrancy that belies the heat of the vintage -- including a chance to compare our estate Grenache with a Grenache that we sourced from the Hook Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands for the first red in our Lignée de Tablas program:

• 2 bottles of 2016 Esprit de Tablas
• 1 bottle of 2018 Esprit de Tablas Blanc
• 3 bottles of 2022 Esprit de Tablas
• 2 bottles of 2022 Esprit de Tablas Blanc
• 1 bottle of 2022 En Gobelet
• 1 bottle of 2022 Grenache
• 1 bottle of 2022 Lignée de Tablas Hook Vineyard Grenache
• 1 bottle of 2023 Grenache Blanc

We will be adding to the Collector's Edition membership, subject to available space, in the next month. If you're on the waiting list, you should be receiving an email with news of whether you've made it on for this round. We add members, once a year, in the order in which we received applications to the waiting list. If you are currently a VINsider member and interested in getting on the waiting list, there's a good chance we'll be able to get you in this year. You can upgrade to the Collector's Edition online or by giving our wine club office a call. And if you are not currently a member, but would like to be, you can sign up for the VINsider Wine Club Collector's Edition, with all the benefits of VINsider Wine Club membership while you're on the waiting list.

Those of you who are members, I'd love to hear your thoughts.  And thank you, as always, for your patronage. We are grateful, and don't take it for granted.