2010 Full Circle Pinot Noir

Production Notes

The Tablas Creek Vineyard 2010 Full Circle Pinot Noir is Tablas Creek's first bottling of this renowned Burgundy grape from the small vineyard outside Robert Haas's family home in Templeton. We named the wine Full Circle because it reflects his career: from a start introducing America to the greatness of Burgundy, through decades focusing on grapes from the Rhone, he's now growing Pinot at home.

After importing our Châteauneuf du Pape clones, we brought in selections of a few other high quality (non-Rhone) clones as part of an effort to expand our nursery business, including Pinot Noir.  Although we eventually decided that our nursery should remain focused solely on the Rhone grape varieties we grow, we planted two rows of Pinot Noir near our nursery to produce enough vine material for the 2.5 acre vineyard around founder Robert Haas's house in Templeton.  The Templeton Gap has been long recognized for its marine influence and resulting microclimate that is the coolest in the Paso Robles AVA, and the Haas Vineyard is in one of the coolest pockets of Templeton, near Santa Rita Creek. This vineyard is farmed organically by the Tablas Creek Vineyard team.

The 2010 vintage saw healthy rainfall after three years of drought. The ample early-season groundwater and a lack of spring frosts produced a good fruit set. A very cool summer delayed ripening by roughly three weeks, with harvest not beginning until mid-September and still less than half complete in mid-October. The long hangtime and cool temperatures combined to produce fruit with intense flavors and dark color at low alcohol levels. The Haas Vineyard Pinot Noir was harvested on September 28th.

The grapes were fermented in a one-ton microfermenter using native yeasts. After pressing, the wine was moved into two one-year-old Marcel Cadet 60-gallon barrels, for a hint of oak.  The wines stayed on their lees, stirred occasionally, for a year and a half before they were blended and bottled in May 2012.

Tasting Notes

The 2010 Full Circle shows shows a classic old world Pinot Noir nose of sweet spices, black tea, plum and earth.  The mouth leads with loamy minerality and follows with purple fruit, good acids and granular tannins, and shows a long, clean, spicy finish.  Drink now or over the next decade.

Recipe Suggestions

[...more recipes]

Food Pairings

  • Roast pork loin
  • Veal
  • Roasted Chicken
  • Spicy sausages
Full Circle Pinot Noir

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Blend

  • 100% Pinot Noir

Technical Notes

  • 13.6% Alcohol by Volume
  • 52 Cases Produced

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Upcoming Events

Celebrate Paso Robles Wine Festival with Tablas Creek

Join us for the Paso Robles Wine Community's biggest celebration! We'll pour Esprit de Beaucastel at Friday's Reserve Event and a range of new releases at Saturday's Grand Tasting. And all weekend we'll have special wines open at the winery and will be taking tours to visit our herd of sheep, alpacas and donkeys. Sunday 11am to 1:30pm enjoy Chef Jacob Lovejoy's small plates, free with a tasting. Details & more events »

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