1998 Rouge

Rouge: The Beginning

After years of searching, Robert Haas (Vineyard Brands) and the Perrins (Château de Beaucastel) found the perfect site for their new estate in the steep and stony hills west of Paso Robles. Tablas Creek Vineyard was conceived with the same vine selections as Beaucastel: Mourvèdre, Grenache, Syrah and Counoise. Organic farming techniques in the vineyard allow our grapes to be the purest expression of the warm climate and the calcareous clay soils in which they grow. Fermenting with native yeasts and selective blending of the varietals, as practiced by Beaucastel for 150 years, allow the wine to best express its rich and elegant esthetic qualities. We have left no stone unturned in our effort to make Tablas Rouge a forceful statement of its outstanding terroir.

Production Notes

Tablas Rouge is estate bottled from vines grown on the Tablas Creek Vineyard Estate cultivated without the use of herbicides or systemic pesticides. Only hand hoeing, cover crops, mulch, scorching and mowing are used for weed control. Natural predatory insects, “Bordeaux Mixture” and sulfur control pests and fungi.

Tasting Notes

The 1998 Tablas Creek Vineyard Rouge is an outstandingly successful wine in the unusually cool 1998 vintage. Harvest began in mid-October and finished in mid-November. Fortunately, warm and dry late Autumn weather allowed the grapes to mature to produce a deeply colored, richly fruity and elegant wine. Grapes from our imported French vines contribute intriguing complexity in addition to layers of bright fruit. The wine has a beautiful round silhouette and an inviting softness, finishing with excellent length.

Updated tasting notes from a December 2010 vertical tasting can be found on the Tablas Creek blog.

Reviews

[...more recent Tablas Creek press]

Rouge

Not Available for Purchase

Blend

  • 44% Mourvèdre
  • 24% Grenache Noir
  • 21% Syrah
  • 11% Counoise

Technical Notes

  • 13.8% alcohol by volume
  • 2
  • 230 cases produced

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