2004 Vin de Paille Quintessence

Production Notes

The 2004 Tablas Creek Vineyard Vin de Paille Quintessence is Tablas Creek’s reserve 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 grapes for our Vin de Paille were grown on our 120-acre certified organic estate vineyard.

In 2004, we dried all four of our white Rhone grapes (Roussanne, Viognier, Marsanne, and Grenache Blanc) on straw in our greenhouses. We then pressed the grapes and fermented the wines separately. By the middle of the winter, it was clear to us that one barrel of the Roussanne was distinctly different than the other three grapes, with tremendous richness and (we suspected) great longevity. When we blended our 2004 Vin de Paille blend, we held out this one barrel, gave it another year in our cellar to evolve, and bottled it as Vin de Paille “Quintessence“.

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. The early spring and moderate summer ripened Roussanne earlier than normal, and we harvested the Roussanne for our Vin de Paille between September 5th and September 29th.

The wine, after pressing, was aged in a new French oak barrel for 22 months before being bottled in June of 2005. It was released in December of 2006, after an additional six months in bottle.

The 2004 Vin de Paille “Quintessence” has a beautiful nose of maple syrup, caramel and ripe apricots, with flavors of honey, spice and pear, good balancing acidity and an exceptionally long finish.

Previous Vintage Reviews

[...more recent Tablas Creek press]

Food Pairings

  • Crème Brulée
  • Dried Fruit
  • Tarte Tatin
  • Aged Blue Cheeses
Vin de Paille Quintessence

Not Available for Purchase

Blend

  • 100% Roussanne

Technical Notes

  • Sugar at Pressing: 386 g/l
  • Residual Sugar: 233 g/l
  • 9.1% Alcohol by Volume
  • 50 375ml Cases Produced

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