TABLAS CREEK Esprit de Tablas 2017

(Adelaida District, Paso Robles, CA) $60

Modeled on (and in partnership with) Chateau Beaucastel, one of the great wines of France, Esprit from Tablas Creek is one of the best Rhône-style wines in the United States. It’s what I call a “cooling red,” meaning that its irresistible sense of freshness is vibrant. It’s also a wine packed with personality. From the mourvèdre (40%), it gets a deep primordial earthiness; from the grenache (35%), a rush of cherry preserves; from the syrah (20%) comes a spicy white pepperiness. Plus a little counoise (5%) to tie it all together. There’s also a wonderful minerality and mineraly rockiness woven throughout the wine, thanks perhaps to the limestone chalkiness found in some of the soils of Paso Robles (but almost no where else in California). At about $12 a glass, Esprit isn’t an inexpensive wine, but it might just transform your Saturday night sometime this fall. For its part, Tablas Creek has been one of the leading pioneers of Rhône varietals in the U.S. (14.5% abv)

94 points KM

Available at Tablas Creek Vineyard