REVIEWS
Wine Advocate (Aug. 2009)
Wine Spectator (Mar. 2009)
Tanzer's IWC (Nov. 2008)
Wine Advocate (Jun. 2008)

HOW IS IT DRINKING?
Vintage Chart

The 2006 Tablas Creek Vineyard Mourvèdre is Tablas Creek's fourth varietal bottling of Mourvedre. The wine shows the rich cherry, fig, mocha and spice flavors, medium to full body, and a spicy, appealing finish of saddle leather and loam of the Mourvedre grape.

We use most of our Mourvedre in our Esprit de Beaucastel each year. However, we feel that this is a grape, often dismissed as "just a blending varietal", that is capable of making tremendously rich and balanced single-varietal wines as well. When we have particularly intense and characteristing lots of Mourvedre, we try to reserve a limited quantity for a single-varietal bottling.

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

The 2006 vintage was a study of contrasts, with a cold, wet start, a very hot early summer, a cool late summer and a warm, beautiful fall. Ample rainfall in late winter gave the grapevines ample groundwater, and produced relatively generous crop sizes. The relatively cool late-season temperatures resulted in a delayed but unhurried harvest, wines with lower than normal alcohols, strong varietal character, and good acids. The Mourvèdre was harvested throughout late October and completed the vintage on November 9th.

The Mourvedre grapes were destemmed and then fermented using native yeasts in a balance of small open-top and enclosed stainless steel tanks. After three weeks, they were pressed and moved to 1200-gallon foudres to complete their fermentation. The Mourvedre lots were blended in June of 2007, when we added 10% Syrah to give a touch of black fruit and mineral to the wine. It was aged for an additional year in a 1200-gallon foudres and bottled in June 2008. The wine underwent only a light filtration before bottling, and should be expected to throw a sediment over time.

The 2006 Mourvèdre displays a classic nose of roasted meats, plums and spice. Juicy and full in the mouth, it features lingering notes of plum, currant, coffee, chocolate and leather, with a long mineral finish. We expect it to drink well for a decade or more.