Tanzer's IWC (Nov. 2008)
Wine Advocate (Jun. 2008)

HOW IS IT DRINKING?
Vintage Chart

The 2007 Tablas Creek Vineyard Antithesis Chardonnay is Tablas Creek's eigth bottling of this traditional Burgundian varietal. In the early 1990s, we imported all our Rhone varietal cuttings from France. At the same time, at the request of a Sonoma winery, we imported the hightly regarded small-berry, low-vigor Chardonnay clone named "La Vineuse" and planted 1.5 acres to produce a small amount of bud wood for sale. Three years later, we got our first small crop of Chardonnay.

After tasting the grapes, we thought them so compelling that we made the "Antithesis" Chardonnay our first non-Rhone bottling, as well as our first single-varietal wine. We have continued to produce a small amount each year since.

As with all our wines, our Chardonnay grapes were grown on our 120-acre certified organic estate vineyard.

Chardonnay thrives in our chalky clay soils (much like those of Burgundy), and the cool nights in Paso Robles serve to balance the warm, sunny days. We chose a terraced north-east facing blcok above our grapevine nursery for the Chardonnay.

The 2007 vintage was the product of three yield-reducing factors. Both 2006 and 2005 were relatively high-production years, and we expected less production in 2007. In addition, the previous winter was dry (just over 30% of normal rainfall) and cold, both of which contributed to small berries and small clusters. Ripening over the summer was gradual and harvest just slightly earlier than normal. Crop sizes were down between 15% and 30% compared to 2006. The low yields resulted in wines with tremendous concentration, good acids and phenolic ripeness at lower than normal alcohols. The Chardonnay, as usual our earliest-ripening varietal, was harvested in one day on September 1st.

The Chardonnay grapes were whole cluster pressed, and fermented using native yeasts in a mix of neutral oak and stainless steel barrels to preserve the wine's varietal and mineral character. The wine went through full malolactic fermentation in barrel. It was bottled in July 2008.

The 2007 Antithesis is intensely Chardonnay in character: pale gold in color, with a nose of lemon, pear, and mineral, a rich palate of spiced pear, citrus and butter, balanced by fresh acidity and a long, clean finish.