Our Wines

Tablas Creek Wines

Tablas Creek is dedicated to producing wines from the grapes traditional to France's Rhone Valley.  As in the southern Rhone, most of our wines are blended for balance and complexity.  Our winemaking, including native yeast fermentation and aging in 1200-gallon French oak foudres, preserves the wines’ expression of their soil, climate, and varietal character.  All wines except the Patelin de Tablas and Patelin de Tablas Blanc are produced entirely from grapes grown on our certified organic estate vineyard.

While our three core blends are available in national distribution, many of our small-production wines, including the Panoplie, are available only direct from the winery: through our wine club, by ordering online or by visiting Tablas Creek Vineyard.

If you are curious how a bottle in your cellar is drinking, we encourage you to download our vintage chart.

Tablas Creek Vineyard wines

Esprit de Beaucastel

Our signature wines are the Esprit de Beaucastel, based on Mourvèdre, and the Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc, based on Roussanne. These wines are rich, balanced, and ageable, and should reward time in bottle to mature.

Côtes de Tablas

Our Côtes de Tablas, based on Grenache, and Côtes de Tablas Blanc, based on Viognier, are blended to be lushly fruity and appealing, approachable sooner than our Esprit de Beaucastel wines. These wines are based on the Rhône Valley’s signature red and white grapes, and should be recognizable to devotees of the Rhône's best rich yet balanced examples.

Patelin de Tablas

Beginning in 2010, we launched our Patelin de Tablas Blanc, based on Grenache Blanc, and Patelin de Tablas, based on Syrah. These wines include fruit from some of Paso Robles’ top Rhône vineyards in addition to Tablas Creek, and are blended to be bright, fresh and clean, and to offer exceptional value. The Patelin de Tablas Blanc debuted nationally in April, and the Patelin de Tablas in September.

Dry Rosé

Each year, we make a small amount of our Mourvèdre-based dry Rosé.  To the rich, complex Mourvèdre we add small amounts of zesty, fruity Grenache and spicy, bright Counoise.

Varietal Wines

In addition to our blends, we often release small quantities of our limited-production Rhône varietal wines. These wines include classic Rhone varieties we make almost every year (including Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre), unusual Rhone varieties we make occasionally (including Picpoul Blanc, Counoise and Marsanne) and non-Rhones we've found work great in Paso Robles (including Vermentino, Antithesis Chardonnay, and Tannat).

Small-Production Blends

We are proud to make available, exclusively from the winery, wines such as our elite Panoplie, made in the style of Beaucastel’s Hommage a Jacques Perrin, and our En Gobelet, made exclusively from head-pruned, dry-farmed vineyard blocks.

The Panoplie and our other limited-production blends can be purchased online through the Tablas Creek Wine Shop, or by visiting the Tablas Creek Vineyard winery.  Many are available exclusively to members of the Tablas Creek Wine Club.

Dessert Wines

In vintages which allow it, we produce small amounts of dessert wines using the vin de paille process.  This traditional technique begins with laying ripe (but not overripe) bunches of carefully hand-picked grapes on straw to dehydrate in the sun.  When the grapes have reached the desired concentration, they are moved to the cellar, pressed and fermented slowly in oak.  The result is sweet wines with richness, balance, and a freshness unusual among dessert wines. 

We make three different vin de paille-style wines.  Our Vin de Paille is a blend of four white Rhone grapes: Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, and Viognier.  Our 100% Roussanne Vin de Paille "Quintessence" is made from a single barrel of the most intenst Roussanne.  And our 100% Mourvèdre Vin de Paille "Sacrérouge" is, we think, the only wine of its kind made anywhere in the world.

Upcoming Events

Paso Robles Rhone Rangers Experience 2/19

Join the 40+ members of the Paso Robles Rhone Rangers chapter for a seminar, lunch and tasting on everything Rhone and Paso Robles. Event tickets, including the seminar, lunch and grand tasting are $75, and tickets for the Grand Tasting alone are just $25. Details & More Events »

Tablas Creek News

February Featured Wine: 2009 Tannat

Each month, we feature a wine that we feel is showing particularly well, and offer that wine at a 10% discount.  The 2009 Tannat is dark and smoky, rich with fruit yet powerfully structured. The Wine Advocate gave it 90-93 points and called it "absolutely fabulous...with an opulent, full-bodied personality graced with exquisite inner perfume". Read more » or order online »

On the Blog: Mapping out Tablas Creek's future

February 1, 2012

It's been a busy couple of years for us. We expanded our winery, launched the Patelin de Tablas wines, and dove into Biodynamics. But perhaps the biggest investment we've made in the long-term success of Tablas Creek is the purchase of the 150-acre parcel to our south. Read more »