2005 Vin de Paille

Production Notes

The 2005 Tablas Creek Vineyard Vin de Paille is Tablas Creek’s third bottling of this traditional Mediterranean technique for producing dessert wines. Ripe grape bunches are carefully laid down on straw-covered benches in our greenhouses, and allowed to dehydrate in the sun. When the grapes reach the desired concentration, we press them and move the juice to oak barrels for fermentation. The juice ferments until it reaches an alcohol level where the sweetness of the juice is balanced by the acids and mineral characteristics of the wine itself.

The 2005 Vin de Paille is a blend of four white Rhone grapes: Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, Viognier, and Marsanne. The grapes for our Vin de Paille were grown on our 120-acre certified organic estate vineyard.

The 2005 vintage was one of nature’s lucky breaks, with excellent quality and higher-than-normal yields. The wet winter of ’04–’05 gave the grapevines ample groundwater, and a warm period in March got the vines off to an early May flowering. The summer was uniformly sunny but relatively cool, and harvest began (relatively late for us) in the 3rd week of September. The grapes spent nearly a month longer than normal on the vine, and the resulting wines were intensely mineral, with good structure and powerful aromatics. The Viognier was harvested between September 22nd and October 8th, the Marsanne on October 10th and 11th, the Grenache Blanc between September 26th and October 26th, and the Roussanne (unusually, our last varietal harvested) between September 26th and November 7th.

The wine, after pressing, was aged in new French oak barrels for 9 months before being bottled in May of 2006. It was released in August 2007, after another year in bottle.

Tasting Notes

The 2005 Vin de Paille has a beautiful nose of apricots and dates, with significant but balanced sweetness and flavors of caramel, nectarine, marmalade and spiced pears balanced by citrusy acids. Its finish is lingering, with flavors of fig and maple syrup. We expect it to age gracefully in bottle for a decade or more.

Reviews

[...more recent Tablas Creek press]

Food Pairings

  • Berry Tarts
  • Dessert Souffles
  • Baked Apples or Pears
  • Blue Cheese
  • Tiramisu
Vin de Paille

Not Available for Purchase

Blend

  • 34% Roussanne
  • 29% Grenache Blanc
  • 24% Viognier
  • 13% Marsanne

Technical Notes

  • Sugar at Pressing: 403 g/l
  • Residual Sugar: 262 g/l
  • 10.1% Alcohol by Volume
  • 150 375ml Cases Produced

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