Tablas Creek Blanc 2015

Tablas Creek is the realization of the combined efforts of two of the international wine community's leading families: the Perrin family, proprietors of Château de Beaucastel, and the Haas family of Vineyard Brands. It was a collaboration, the likes of which had not been since Jagger and Bowie recorded Dancing in the Street.

The big difference being Tablas Creek is one of the most celebrated Californian brands ever to focus on Rhone blends, while Jagger & Bowie managed to produce the worst cover of Dancing in the Street of any band to take a stab at the hit. Quite a feat when you consider Phil Collins, Human Nature and Atomic Kitten have all recorded a version... That poor song.
Tablas Creek Blanc has an intense nose, very Rhone-like, of peach pit, honey, key lime, and white flowers. The palate is dense and concentrated yet still lively, with flavours of fresh peach, baking spices, watermelon rind and sea spray.

No Martha & The Vandellas songs were desecrated during the writing of this tasting note.

Tablas Creek is the realization of the combined efforts of two of the international wine community’s leading families: the Perrin family, proprietors of Château de Beaucastel, and the Haas family of Vineyard Brands. Robert Haas has played a leading role in the American wine industry for over half a century. As a buyer for his family's New York retailer M. Lehman starting in the 1950s, Haas travelled through the cellars of France, establishing a formidable reputation as a wine taster while forging lifelong relationships with premier wine producers.

In the mid-1960s he set out on his own to import fine estate wines from Burgundy, Bordeaux, the Loire, Alsace and the Rhône Valley, where he met the Perrins of Château de Beaucastel and convinced family patriarch Jacques Perrin to appoint him the Perrins' exclusive American importer. Through his importing business Vineyard Brands, he worked closely with Jacques' sons Jean-Pierre and Francois Perrin, establishing Beaucastel as one of the international wine community's leading estates.

Over the course of two decades traveling around the United States together to promote their French wines, Haas and the Perrins became friends, and emerged convinced that the Rhone grape varieties so well suited to the sunny south of France would thrive in California's Mediterranean climate. In 1985, the families began looking for property.

Robert Haas was recognized by the Paso Robles Wine Community as 2007 Wine Industry Person of the Year, and in 2014 he received a lifetime achievement award from Rhone Rangers for his contributions to the American Rhone movement. Haas passed away in March 2018. Tributes to his remarkable career appeared in Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The New York Times. His son Jason, who has run the estate since the mid-2000's, was voted by his peers 2015 Paso Robles Wine Country Wine Industry Person of the Year and 2017 San Luis Obispo County Wine Industry Person of the Year.

The Perrin family has received numerous international awards, including the prestigious 2018 Meininger Award for Wine Family of the Year. In addition, Jean-Pierre and Francois Perrin were named Men of the Year by Decanter Magazine in 2014.
The grapes for our Côtes de Tablas Blanc were grown on our certified organic estate vineyard. All varietals for the Côtes de Tablas Blanc were whole cluster pressed and fermented in stainless steel to emphasize their clean crisp flavours and preserve their aromatics. Only native yeasts were used.