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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.

Jason and Chelsea tasting Fall 2024 VINsider shipment square

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:

2024 Collectors Edition wines

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.


Sunburn and silver linings: Taking stock after 2024's first heat wave.

The cool start to the growing season feels like eons ago. For the last three weeks, since June 21st, we've been in a classic Paso Robles summer heat wave. It didn't start out all that dramatic; between June 21st and June 30th the average high temperatures were about 93°F. That was a lot warmer than the first two-thirds of the month (average high 86.5°F) but only about three degrees above average for the season. But since the calendar flipped to July, it's been scorching. The average high in July so far has been 104.4°F, with nine of the eleven days topping the century mark and a maximum high of 111.9°F on July 6th. That average is nearly 13 degrees warmer than normal in what is already one of our hottest seasons. The full picture to date:

Temperatures 2024 vs Average through July 11th

Grapevines evolved in a hot, dry climate, and do pretty well up to about 100°F. But above that there start to be consequences. The biggest of these is sunburn. If it's really hot for an extended stretch, exposed grape clusters can suffer direct damage as cell membranes break down, compromising a berry's skin and allowing the liquid inside to evaporate away. The result is hard, brown, sour raisins, as in this Marsanne cluster:

Mid-July 2024 Marsanne sunburn
The temperatures required to cause this sort of cellular damage in grapes is typically around 125°F. Even in a Paso Robles heat wave we don't ever see ambient temperatures this hot. But fruit that's exposed to the sun can see temperatures 20°F-25°F higher than the ambient air. So, when the temperatures top 100°F, we start to be at risk.

It might seem straightforward to avoid sunburn by leaving more canopy arching over the grape clusters. And we try to do that. But this desire is at odds with what we need to do to keep mildew pressures at bay. In June, we're typically working to remove any lateral shoots and tuck the canes in our trellised blocks up into the wires, all to open up the fruit zone to the free flow of light and air and the lower mildew pressures that come with good air circulation. So it's always a balance between addressing these two risks. For the same reason, we typically orient our vineyard rows in a north-south axis, perpendicular to the prevailing west-east winds. That also allows all the clusters to get some sun exposure, which is good for ripening. In a heat wave, though, this means that the clusters on the west side of a row, which are exposed to sun in the afternoon when it's hotter, are at more risk of sunburn than those on the east side of the rows. These next two photos are taken in the same Grenache block but on opposite sides of a row. First, the east side, which looks great:

Mid-July 2024 Grenache shaded

Unfortunately, the west side of the row doesn't look as happy, with sunburned berries on the outside:

Mid-July 2024 Grenache sunburn

The impact of the sunburn is uneven across different varieties. Grapes with more vigor, longer canes, and more sprawling shape (think Vermentino, or Bourboulenc, or Syrah) are mostly fine. I'd estimate that we're seeing less than 5% sunburn damage in those varieties of grape. Grapes with less canopy, shorter canes, and less vigor (think Counoise or Mourvedre) show more damage, particularly in younger blocks with less well-developed cordons. In some younger blocks I saw as much as 50% loss from sunburn, though overall across those grape varieties I'd estimate it's more like 25%.  And then there are the grapes like Marsanne, Grenache, Roussanne, and others who sit somewhere in between in growth pattern and damage. Overall, across the vineyard I'd estimate something like a 15% loss.

Unfortunately, the tools that we have to deal with sunburn are limited. There are some vineyards that are experimenting with widespread misting to bring temperatures down in peak heat times, but the infrastructure is expensive and it uses a lot of water. Others put shadecloth out to protect the fruit zones, but that's cumbersome, needs to be replaced every couple of years, and creates a ton of plastic waste that goes straight into the landfill. If it were later in the year, we could turn on our irrigation, and we've done that in some of our most stress-prone blocks, but that's more to stave off any later loss of vigor than it is a way to address the temperature of grape clusters exposed to the sun.

In terms of future options, we've talked about redeveloping vineyards along an east-west axis instead of north-south, so that the fruit zone is always shaded by the canopy. We've also talked about moving our rows farther apart from the 8 feet they are currently, so we can leave the canopies to sprawl more without worrying that they'll start to interconnect and make it difficult to get in and see what's going on. But those changes will have to wait for new plantings. Meanwhile we'll have to make do with half-measures like perhaps only tucking the canes on the east side of a row and letting those on the west side sprawl and provide more shade.

There are three pieces of good news. The first is that we're starting from a position of health. Thanks to two consecutive years of good rain, the vineyard looks healthy, and the canopies are still green and lush. I drove around almost the entire vineyard today and the vines don't look ragged or otherwise stressed, and everything is still a vibrant green:

Mid-July 2024 vineyard overview

The second piece of good news is that sunburn at this time of year doesn't typically have a negative impact on fruit quality and can even be an asset. Quantity will be negatively affected, sure. But in terms of quality a bit of sunburn can act like a fruit-thinning pass, increasing the intensity of what remains. And finally, the third piece of good news is that we had some quantity to spare. I spoke to Viticulturist Jordan Lonborg yesterday and he was confident that even with the losses we were going to see a healthy crop above last year's levels. He was even thinking that this might save a fruit-thinning pass and the labor costs that would entail.

I'll leave you with one photo, so as not to have your lasting impression be that this was a disaster. Here's a Grenache block, photographed from below. This is the west side of the vine row, and you can see the clusters ripening, green and plump, while the intense green of the canopy duels with an even bluer sky:

Mid-July 2024 Grenache from below

This heat wave is forecast to break tomorrow, and next week to have temperatures average or below. We'll all be grateful. Next stop: veraison.


Tablas Creek Through Three Eras: Tasting Every Esprit de Beaucastel and Esprit de Tablas, 2000-2023

There are two ways that we try to work systematically through the collection of wines in our library. At the beginning of each year, we taste every wine we made ten years earlier. These horizontal retrospectives give us an in-depth look at a particular year, and a check-in with how our full range of wines is doing with a decade in bottle. I wrote up the results from our 2014 retrospective tasting back in January. And then each summer we conduct a comprehensive vertical tasting of a single wine, where we open every vintage we've ever made and use that to assess how the wine ages and if we want to adjust our approach in any way. This also serves as a pre-tasting for the public tasting (which this year will be July 14th) at which we share the highlights.

It was a surprise to me that it had been a full five years since we did a comprehensive tasting of our flagship red wine. We do open older vintages of our Esprit de Tablas (formerly Esprit de Beaucastel) with some regularity, but still, those piecemeal investigations are different than what you get if you look at all the vintages in one sitting. Our last time doing so was in 2019, and we've also done retrospective tastings that I've written up on this blog in 2017in 2014in 2010in 2009, and in 2006.

So, it was with anticipation that our cellar and vineyard team joined me to taste 23 vintages of Esprit last week. We started with our first-ever 2000, and finished with the newly-blended 2023. Note that there was not a 2001, as a spring frost particularly impacted the Mourvedre and we made the decision not to bottle an Esprit red that year.

Opening 23 vintages of Esprit

My notes on the wines are below, as well as each year's blend. I've linked each wine to its page on our website if you want detailed technical information, professional reviews, or our tasting notes from when the wines were first released. I've tried to be more descriptive of personality than flavor in these notes, as otherwise it would just be a litany of different ways to say dark red fruit, chocolate, and loamy earth.

  • 2000 Esprit de Beaucastel (35% Mourvedre, 26% Syrah, 25% Grenache, 14% Counoise): A fully mature nose that leans fully into the earthy, black olive savoriness, though there's also black cherry fruit and a little minty lift. The palate is even more savory, with lots of loamy earth and iron. Chewy texture. Still some significant tannins and an iodine note on the end. The fruit may be fading a bit and this on the end of its run. But what a run it has been.
  • 2002 Esprit de Beaucastel (57% Mourvedre, 27% Syrah, 10% Grenache, 6% Counoise): A bit on the dense side, lacking some of the lift in the 2000. But packed with dark chocolate and leather, with a brambly black fruit note and a meaty spice cabinet, potting soil earthiness. A little on the monolithic side, but impressively concentrated still.
  • 2003 Esprit de Beaucastel (50% Mourvedre, 27% Syrah, 16% Grenache, 7% Counoise): Like the best parts of the two previous wines, with more refinement than the 2000 and more vibrancy than the 2002. A pretty sweet tobacco and milk chocolate character on both nose and palate, with a plummy note and great acids. My favorite of the oldest vintages.
  • 2004 Esprit de Beaucastel (50% Mourvedre, 27% Syrah, 17% Grenache, 6% Counoise): Powerful and structured, savory, with oak forest and bittersweet chocolate notes and substantial tannins. A nice licorice note provides some lift. Not terribly giving now, though there's plenty there and it's in nice balance. 
  • 2005 Esprit de Beaucastel (44% Mourvedre, 26% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 5% Counoise): Leaps out of the glass with a meaty, smoky nose, that also has these vibrant red fruit elements. Very inviting. The palate is open in a way the previous wines weren't, with noteworthy freshness and a minty eucalyptus note over the fruit and leather notes. Felt both mature and fresh, which was a lovely combination.
  • 2006 Esprit de Beaucastel (45% Mourvedre, 28% Grenache, 22% Syrah, 5% Counoise): The nose has a confected note that was a reflection of its era, when we were pushing for more ripeness, but also a bay-like herbiness providing contrast. The palate is concentrated and the most extracted of any of the wines we tasted, with a figgy density and a little grittiness to the tannins. Not my favorite style of Esprit, though it's undeniably impressive.
  • 2007 Esprit de Beaucastel (44% Mourvedre, 29% Grenache, 21% Syrah, 6% Counoise): A roller-coaster of a wine, with powerful fruit, meatiness, and minty lift. The palate is luscious and densely tannic, with a licorice sweetness and an iodine-like minerality giving contrast to the currant fruit. This seemed young still to us, and just starting to hit what should be a long peak.
  • 2008 Esprit de Beaucastel (38% Mourvedre, 30% Grenache, 26% Syrah, 6% Counoise): Very different from the vibrancy of the previous few vintages, quieter with milk chocolate and sugarplum. On the palate, pretty, mature flavors of anise, chaparral, and fig. I thought it was starting to tire out a bit on the palate, with just a hint of oxidation. This wine, which was a favorite of many of us when it was 10-15 years old, may be starting on the downslope.
  • 2009 Esprit de Beaucastel (40% Mourvedre, 28% Syrah, 27% Grenache, 5% Counoise): A more structural nose, with menthol and bay, iron and grape candy. Quite young-tasting, with plenty of tannin and a licorice note flowing into pipe tobacco and currant fruit. There's still a hint of the hardness that this wine inherited from the exceptionally low yields in this frost vintage, but the concentration of fruit carries it. Given how much this has improved just in the last six-to-eight years, I tend to think it's still getting better.
  • 2010 Esprit de Beaucastel (45% Mourvedre, 30% Grenache, 21% Syrah, 4% Counoise): A quite different nose, more black fruited with a pine forest note that speaks of the cool year. The mouth has a lovely dark chocolate and blackberry preserve coolness, with a floral violet note that we all loved. Fresh and youthful, but elegant too. A consensus favorite among its cohort, and in a lovely place.
  • 2011 Esprit de Tablas (40% Mourvedre, 30% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 10% Counoise): Some similarities to the 2010 in tone, though there's a Campari-like herby lift that didn't appear in the 2010. On the palate, like the 2010 with a little more tannic grip, leather and brambles and star anise overlaying the black fruit.
  • 2012 Esprit de Tablas (40% Mourvedre, 30% Syrah, 21% Grenache, 9% Counoise): A much more red-fruited nose is reflective of the warm year and generous yields of 2012. Mid-weight and pretty with a red raspberry note and a little florality. Not our most concentrated and impressive Esprit, it's undeniably pretty and drinking very well now. I'd tend to drink mine sooner than later.
  • 2013 Esprit de Tablas (40% Mourvedre, 28% Syrah, 22% Grenache, 10% Counoise): Though still more red fruited than black, this shows more complexity than the 2012, with pancetta-like meatiness and a pithy blood orange freshness on the nose. The tannins are a bit more present as well, providing backbone to the flavors of sweet spice, charcuterie, and cherry cola.
  • 2014 Esprit de Tablas (40% Mourvedre, 35% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 5% Counoise): A clean, pretty nose like grape candy and fresh green herbs. The mouth is red-fruited like 2012 but more concentrated, with raspberry and bramble, dried leaves and green tea. There's a Rhone-like garrigue note we all liked a lot. This is the highest percentage of Grenache that we ever used in Esprit, and it feels it, in a nice way, but could maybe have benefited from a little more of the darker grapes.
  • 2015 Esprit de Tablas (49% Mourvedre, 25% Grenache, 21% Syrah, 5% Counoise): Like a more ethereal version of 2014, with tart pie cherries on both the nose and palate, given definition with green herbs and teriyaki spice. On the palate, pomegranate and red licorice and Campari notes, all high tones. This will undoubtedly gain more depth over time. Not a particularly great showing for a vintage that's been one of my favorites in recent tastings, and possibly entering a closed period.
  • 2016 Esprit de Tablas (46% Mourvedre, 31% Syrah, 18% Grenache, 5% Counoise): More black fruited than any vintage since 2011 and meatier than any vintage since 2007, with bramble, licorice, teriyaki marinade and wild strawberry notes, great texture, and this persistent bay-like herby lift. Complex and complete, powerful without any hint of overripeness. A consensus favorite among the wines that are about a decade old. 
  • 2017 Esprit de Tablas (40% Mourvedre, 35% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 5% Counoise): An appealing nose, like the 2016 evenly balanced between red and black fruit, with spicy teriyaki and cool eucalyptus elements. The palate shows currant and plum fruit, expressive and textured, with plenty of tannin but no hardness. A treat. 
  • 2018 Esprit de Tablas (40% Mourvedre, 27% Syrah, 23% Grenache, 10% Counoise): A quieter nose, pretty with cola and meat dripping notes and a little violet florality. The mouth is beautiful, with plum and sweet spices. Pretty and long but balanced. Like a slightly less dramatic 2017.
  • 2019 Esprit de Tablas (39% Mourvedre, 30% Grenache, 21% Syrah, 10% Counoise): Red fruited with an lifted notes like menthol and wild strawberry, meat and wet stone. The palate showed cherry skin grip with red licorice and chalky tannins. Focused and intense with serious tannins, this has a long life ahead. 
  • 2020 Esprit de Tablas (40% Mourvedre, 30% Grenache, 21% Syrah, 5% Counoise, 3% Vaccarese, 1% Cinsaut): A nose of raspberry and chalk, sweet butter and rosemary. The mouth is generous with redcurrant and graphite, candied orange peel and a creaminess that reminded me of vanilla custard. A wine we're happy to remember from a year most of us would prefer to forget.
  • 2021 Esprit de Tablas (35% Mourvedre, 26% Grenache, 23% Syrah, 7% Vaccarese, 5% Cinsaut, 4% Counoise): Juicy on the nose, but deepened with an herby bitters note. On the palate, dark, savory, structured, and full of promise, with mouth-filling texture and a lingering crushed rock minerality. A baby.
  • 2022 Esprit de Tablas (40% Mourvedre, 28% Grenache, 22% Syrah, 4% Vaccarese, 3% Counoise, 3% Cinsaut): Very purple on the nose, with boysenberry and candied violet notes, lupine florality, and a confectioner's sugar sweet dustiness. The mouth shows cooler notes of cedar, grape candy, and aromatic bitters. Substantial tannins, good acids, and lingering minerality are all the pieces of something great. Will be bottled in August.
  • 2023 Esprit de Tablas (33% Mourvedre, 31% Syrah, 26% Grenache, 6% Cinsaut, 2% Counoise, 2% Vaccarese): A dark nose with Syrah in the forefront right now: black fruit and guanciale, mocha and spicy Mexican chocolate. On the palate that darkness mellows to mint chocolate, blackberry cobbler, and a little minty lift. Plush texture and tannins cloaked in fruit and chalky mineral notes. Very, very exciting.

A few concluding thoughts:

  • The overall quality of the wines was exceptionally high. I asked everyone around the table to pick seven favorites, and 15 of the 23 vintages got at least one vote. Top vote-getters included 2000 (7 votes), 2003 (4), 2005 (4), 2010 (7), 2016 (6), 2017 (5), 2019 (4), and 2023 (4). I was pleased that there were favorites among our oldest and youngest wines, and everything in between.
  • It felt to us like there were three distinct eras in our Esprit history. The first of these eras, between 2000 and 2007, leaned toward opulence, but also had this wild edge to them. Lots of fruit, tannin, meat, and spice, with fruit tone that leaned a little more black than red. The second era stretched from 2008 to 2015, and showed redder fruit tones and greater refinement. These were less bombastic wines, less tannic, but also less concentrated. As they get to their teenage years, it also seems that they might be a little less long-lived, though we're still looking at 15-20 years of outstanding drinking at least. Finally, there's a third era that started in 2016 and continues through today. To my mind, these wines have the best of both worlds. There's more black fruit than we were getting in that 2008-2015 era, though it's still usually secondary to the red fruit. There are fresher acids than we were getting in either of our first two eras. There's concentration to the fruit, persistence to the texture, and vibrancy to the herby non-fruit elements that are welcome and complementary. And this comes without the higher levels of extraction and alcohol that we saw in our early years. Is it a coincidence that 2016 was the first year that we were farming the whole vineyard Biodynamically? Or a function of the increasing number of head-trained, dry-farmed lots that we now have to choose from in blending? It's fascinating to think about.
  • The blend is not a particularly good guide to the wine's character. If you think about it, that's probably not surprising. One of the main levers we have to keep a consistent balance of fruit and structure is the ratio of Grenache to Syrah. In more structured, tannic vintages (think 2007, 2011, or 2019) we tend to add less Syrah and lean heavier into Grenache to make sure we have the appropriate level of vibrancy. And in more open, juicier vintages (think 2003, or 2012, or 2018) we tend to rely on higher percentages of Syrah to add structure and depth. So don't assume that the years with more Syrah are going to show more black fruit and tannin than the years with more Grenache.
  • Don't forget the vintage chart. We update this chart several times a year based on the results of tastings like these, wines we open in the normal course of life, and feedback we get from customers and fans. It's there whenever you want it.
  • Sound fun? Join us on July 14th! We will be hosting a version of this event that is open to the public, and Chelsea and I will be leading the discussion and sharing insights into how the wines came to be the way they are. The vintages we have tentatively chosen to share are 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2023. You can read more about the event, and get your tickets, here.