Tablas Creek

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve, Editor

Here are some of the wines that we consumed with our Christmas feast. Before you get too judgemental, there were five adults at dinner and it was a leisurely dinner. Most of the wines that we had were red, including a Tablas Creek Syrah, a Warm Lake Estate Pinot Noir (which didn’t get photographed) but also a Riesling from Luxembourg. These wines were drunk with my homemade Turducken (a chicken stuffed into a duck and then stuffed into a turkey), salad, scalloped potatoes, Cajun dressing and creamed spinach.

After dinner, it was coffee, a cranberry and orange trifle (made with pannetone) and my homemade liqueur, Fiori di Sicilia…

I hope that your holiday feasts turned out as well!

Happy Holidays!

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By Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Yes, you can’t fool me twice.

The other night, Kevin and I were drinking, er, tasting a fine selection from Tablas Creek, the Vermentino.

Naturally, when he started tasting his first pronouncement was that the wine tasted of oysters.

To which I say, “What? Ewwww”.

Part of the reason is that I have issues with oysters. I can only eat them cooked. I mean really cooked. Like fried. But still, once I get over the thought of the mouthfeel of a raw oyster.. and manage not to vomit, I understand the flavor that he is talking about. A minerality… chalky with a touch of the sea.

At least that is how I would describe those flavors. But as I hear the word “oyster”, I close my eyes and try to block out the gag-reflex response that the word brings up in me, I concentrate on the flavor.

And surprisingly, I don’t taste it. But I do taste the minerals.

Another thing that I don’t taste are the green apples and limes that the label indicated would be there. But, eh… I can live with that, so long as I don’t have to think about the oyster.

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Yes, a wine dinner is about the interplay of food and wine. But the celebration is really about the wine.

And the Tablas Creek wines are worth an ovation…

The vineyard, which is a joint venture between the Haas and Perrin families went about their decision to make wine together a little different from most partnerships. They thought about the kind of wine that they wanted to make and sought out an appropriate location for growing the proper types of grapes. Maybe it is the geographer in me, but I love that approach because place matters. And it is especially important if you are making European style wines as terroir is their essence.

In the case of Tablas Creek, the goal was to create wine similar to those from the Rhone Valley in France. What do you need? A Mediterranean climate and limestone in the soil are a good start. And where do you find those things (other than the south of France?) Paso Robles, California?

And so that is where the winery was started. The cuttings for the vines were taken from Perrin et fils’, Chateau Beaucastel property where it remained under quarantine for three years and then another couple of more years being grown and propagated. The end results are blended wines that have the flavor and depth of those from the Cotes du Rhone.

The wines selected for our tasting included:

Cotes de Tablas Blanc 2006, a blend of 59% Viognier, 32% Marsanne, 6% Grenache Blanc and 3% Roussane. This wine was light and acidic with an apple taste and was delicious with the citrus in the Halibut Gravlax.

Roussanne 2006, tasted of honey and pears with a richer, more golden color then previous wine, along with more mouthfeel. It was served with the King Salmon and matched the spicy herb sauce.

Mourvedre 2006, another of Tablas Creek’s single varietal wines was paired with the super rich Pork Belly au poivre. It combines the “work horse” of the Rhone Valley, Grenache, with the Syrah that is more typical of the Northern Rhone and contained black fruit and bacony smoke to balance the chewy tannins.

Cotes de Tablas Rouge 2006, is a blend of 72% Grenache, 11% Syrah, 9% Mourvedre and 8% Counoise. It was dry at the beginning and finished almost jammy. It stood up to the strong flavors in sirloin course, the chorizo and the garlic.

The last wine was amazing on a couple of different levels for me. Having done a lot of research about different kinds of wine… and having studied more French than the average high school student, I knew what the last wine was, although I had never had it before.

Vin de Paille Quintessence 2005 Paille in French literally means straw which is important to the process of how this wine is made. The grape clusters are layed out on straw mats and are allowed to dry. This allows the sugars to concentrate in the grapes and is in essence the warm climate version of ice wines. It tasted of caramel and honey and spice and I am sorry to have more.

To that end, I have taken the advice of our able host, Jason Haas, and signed up for the wine club. This way, I can get more information about their wine… at a discount.

Meanwhile, if you are looking for Tablas Creek wines in Chicago, you can contact:

Howard’s Wine Cellar
1244 W. Belmont Avenue
Chicago, IL 60657

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I think that I mentioned last week that I was planning on attending the Tablas Creek wine dinner at David Burke’s Primehouse. Well, on October 15th, I did. And so did Kevin.

I love these kinds of events because you get to hang around with foodies who are passionate about their vino as they are about their food. Add in winemakers who are passionate about their product and you have a great evening.

The menu:

More about the wines later…..

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Kevin and I are going! Hoping to see you at David Burke’s Primehouse.

Make a reservation at Open Table:

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