The 2004 Tablas Creek Vineyard Vermentino is Tablas Creek’s third 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.
Our Vermentino 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. Unusually, there were periods of harvest when we were harvesting all our white grapes simultaneously. The Vermentino was harvested in one day on September 15th.
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 April 2005.
As part of our ongoing research movement toward Stelvin screwcaps for our aromatic whites and our Rosé, we have bottled the 2004 Vermentino in screwcap. We are convinced that this will keep the wine as pristine as possible, preserving its aromatics and freshness.
The 2004 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.
[...more recent Tablas Creek press]
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We are proud to have been named a finalist for "Best Winery Blog" at the 2013 Wine Blog Awards. This is the sixth consecutive year we've been finalists, and we've taken home the trophy twice, in 2008 and 2011. We'd love to make the 2013 awards a three-peat, and look back at nine favorite posts of the last year. More »