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Reviews

Stephen Tanzer (Sep. 2006)
Wine Advocate (June 2005)

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The 2004 Tablas Creek Vineyard Roussanne is Tablas Creek's third national release of its 100% Roussanne. The wine is exuberantly and elegantly in character of the Roussanne grape, with honey, honeysuckle, and pear aromatics, a rich, viscous mouthfeel with just a hint of oak, and a long, lingering finish.

We use most of our Roussanne in our Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc each year. However, we often have some Roussanne lots in the cellar that are so powerfully characteristic of the varietal that we feel they would be too dominant in a blend. In these cases, we reserve a small quantity of this powerful Roussanne for a single-varietal bottling.

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

The 2004 vintage was excellent, with a very early spring balanced by a long, warm (but rarely hot) summer. The extended ripening cycle gave the grapes intense aromatics, pronounced minerality, and good structure. The early spring and moderate summer ripened Roussanne earlier than normal, and we harvested it between September 5th and September 29th.

The Roussanne grapes were whole cluster pressed, and fermented using native yeasts half in stainless steel and half in small French oak barrels. The wine was left on its lees for 6 months, and allowed to complete malolactic fermentation. After fermentation the wines were blended, and bottled in May 2005. The wines underwent only a light cold stabilization before bottling.

The 2004 Roussanne is a vibrant expression of the Roussanne grape. Aromas of pear, honeysuckle and hazelnut and spice are followed by a wine of rich texture, honey, pear and lemon zest flavors, moderate acidity and a long minerally finish.