REVIEWS
Vinography.com (Jan. 2008)
Tanzer's IWC (Nov. 2007)
Wine Advocate (Aug. 2007)

The 2006 Tablas Creek Vineyard Vermentino is Tablas Creek's fifth bottling of this traditional Mediterranean varietal, known principally in Sardinia, Corsica, and Northern Italy. It is also grown in the Rhone Valley (particularly Côtes de Provence) where it is known as Rolle. The Vermentino grape produces wines that are bright, clean, and crisp, with distinctive citrus character, refreshing acidity and surprising richness.

When we imported our Châteauneuf du Pape clones, our contact in the French nursery service included the Vermentino because he believed it would thrive in the rocky limestone soils of Paso Robles. We have planted about an acre of Vermentino, and it has indeed thrived here.

As with all our wines, our Vermentino 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 Vermentino was harvested in one day on October 19th.

The Vermentino grapes were whole cluster pressed, and fermented using native yeasts in stainless steel to emphasize the minerality of the grapes. To further retain the bright citrus character of the wine, we prevented it from going through malolactic fermentation. The wine was bottled in February 2007.

The 2006 Vermentino shows a clean, mineral nose featuring peppered citrus and pear. Flavors of green apple and lime are heightened by refreshing acidity, good richness, no evidence of oak and a lingering finish.