Tablas Creek and Château Beaucastel: a Wine Society tasting telling the story of how a leading Rhône domaine fell in love with California
Jason Haas of Tablas Creek and Andrew Bayley (GM of Beaucastel’s UK operation) presented this really interesting tasting, telling the story of a beautiful partnership between the Rhône and Paso Robles in California. It was organized by UK retailer The Wine Society, who work closely with both domaines.
In 1967 Robert Haas, a US importer, was looking to add wines to his portfolio, and he ended up in the cellars of famed Châteauneuf-du-Pape producer Beaucastel. This was an era when there weren’t many estate wines being made in Châteauneuf: the market was dominated by negociants and cooperatives. And even Beaucastel were only estate bottling a third of the wine they made. Haas convinced the Perrins to let him become their US importer, and a long and fruitful relationship was born.
Jean-Pierre and Francois, the sons of Jacques Perrin, came to the US to support the US market. California was an important part of these trips, and at this time a lot of now-well-known wineries were just starting up. Haas was representing quite a few of these. And the Perrin brothers were outward-looking, and they were keen to visit these wineries.
As a result of these travels, they came to believe California was a place that could make world class wines. But they were surprised that no one was planting Rhône varieties, which they reckoned could do well here. At the time it was all Bordeaux reds, Chardonnay and Zinfandel.
Over many conversations, the Perrins and Haas decided to work together producing wine in California, with an emphasis on Rhône varieties. They put together a partnership in 1985, spent four years looking for land, and found what is now Tablas Creek in 1989, which they named after a creek running through the property. It’s at 1500 feet altitude, 10 miles from the Pacific, and has predominantly limestone soils.
But they didn’t want to restrict themselves solely to the Rhône varieties already available in California. They decided to take cuttings from Beaucastel, import them into the USA and do the required quarantine. This takes 3 years. And you are only allowed six cuttings of each variety, which means when you get the vines out of quarantine you need to grow them up in order to plant a vineyard. So it took a while to get going, and the first vintage of Tablas Creek was 1997, some 12 years after they’d decided to set out on this journey.
Jacques Perrin was an impressive character, and he was a Greek historian, among other things. He pushed for recovering some of the Rhône varieties lost post-phylloxera. He went searching for these lesser known varieties that hadn’t made it through the phylloxera bottle neck. Pre-phylloxera, Mourvèdre had been the main variety in the southern Rhône, but it didn’t graft well, and so had almost disappeared. Jacques found ungrafted survivors and grafted them onto new rootstocks. And Tablas have been committed to this viticultural diversity, too.
Picardin is an example of one of these rare varieties. They planted half an acre at Tablas and in it increased the footprint of Picardin by 40%. They have a nursery, and through this Tablas have sold 5 million grape vines to 600 different wineries in California.
Tablas has Viognier and Marsanne, too, which are allowed in Côtes du Rhône but not Châteauneuf. This is in addition to 14 varieties from Châteauneuf. Tablas make the wines from each of these varieties, and bottle many alone, as well as using them in blends.
Tablas initially thought they’d be 90% red, reflecting the red dominance of the southern Rhône, but they are now 40% white.
Tablas Creek Esprit de Tablas Blanc 2022 Paso Robles, California
Six grapes in this, with Roussanne normally dominating. Roussanne (33%, lower than normal because of frost), Grenache Blanc (32%), Picpoul Blanc (14%), Clairette Blanche (8%), Picardin (8%), Bourboulenc (4%). Textured and fresh with nice pear and citrus, as well as a hint of melon. There’s a hint of mint, with a twist of almond, too. Some honey, too. It’s rich, but there’s freshness and balance, and it should age nicely. 94/100
Tablas Creek Esprit de Tablas Blanc 2012 Paso Robles, California
Just three varieties as others were in quarantine at the time. Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, Picpoul Blanc. Nice aromatics of toast and spice with some peach and melon. On the palate, this is nicely broad and rich, with nuts, sweet melon and peach, and also a nice mandarin and lemon edge to it. This has aged beautifully, picking up weight while at the same time maintaining definition and freshness. 94/100
Tablas Creek Esprit de Tablas Rouge 2022 Paso Robles, California
Mourvèdre (this is red fruited and gives mid-palate richness, with nice tannins that aren’t hard, but chewy, as well as a forest element, and as it ages it gives more meaty elements as well as truffle and leather). Grenache (this is all about exuberance with bright fruit and liquorice and spice; it’s a golden retriever puppy of a grape). Syrah (seriousness – structure, backbone, spice). Counoise (a grape Beaucastel love, the Rhône version of Gamay, light in body and tannin with low alcohol). Vaccarèse (this would have gone extinct without Jacques Perrin, and it’s sensitive to powdery – it is the only grape in the Rhône that is black fruited with high acid, showing bright blackberry character). Cinsault. This has wonderful spicy detail to the fresh blackberry and black cherry fruit. There’s good concentration here with some ripeness, but there’s also some structure. Hints of olive and black pepper, as well as a rich core of cherry and plum fruit. Such lovely depth and harmony here, without a hint of overripeness. 95/100
Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel 2010 Paso Robles, California
This is the last year they called this Esprit de Beaucastel. Mourvèdre, Grenache, Syrah and Counoise. Nice depth here with some malty richness and sweet cherries and plums, showing some meaty evolution and nice softness to the tannins. Nice grippy structure. This has some development, and is drinking very well now. 92/100
Tablas Creek Panoplie 2021 Paso Robles, California
13.5% alcohol. Mourvèdre, Grenache and Syrah. Homage from Beaucastel is Mourvèdre dominated. At Tablas, they thought in their best years they thought they should be doing something different. 700 cases a year, for the wine club and also the Wine Society in the UK. Mourvèdre dominated, 54% Mourvèdre. Complex, detailed and fine grained with good structure. Blackcurrant, blackberry and pepper, with nice graininess. Structured but not too grippy. There’s an innate richness, but also freshness, with herbs, pepper and spice. Such a beautiful wine. 95/100
Beaucastel was established in 1909 and has been in the family for five generations. The southern Rhône is famous for red wines, but of late the region has been focusing a lot more on whites. Beaucastel’s whites are 6% of their production but they are looking to increase this.
They are famous for being one of the few properties using all 13 permitted varieties for their red Châteauneuf-du-Pape. They also focus on Mourvèdre, with at least 30% of this in the blend each year. Counoise is also important and it’s at 10% in the blend each year, which helps bring the alcohol down in many years. Grenache is all about fireworks, says Andrew. It has swagger and really wants to show off, and dominates the blend when the wine is young. In older vintages, there’s the Syrah background and then the Mourvèdre starts to take over, with leathery, evolved fruit.
Beaucastel is a 100 hectare vineyard with a road cutting through it. One side is Côtes du Rhône, and this makes Coudoulet. It’s great value: Beaucastel at a discount.
Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 2022 Rhône, France
This is Roussanne dominated (75%), with Grenache Blanc, Picardin, Clairette and Bourboulenc. This is concentrated and rich, but also really fine, with crystalline citrus fruit, some hints of honey, a touch of peach and melon. It’s rich, softly textured, unctuous and luxurious, but it feels light, too. Very fine and expressive. Long, tapering finish. Very fine. 96/100
Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 2020 Rhône, France
This is rich and ripe with sweet pear and peach fruit and nice density. It’s showing just the first stage of evolution, with a touch of melon and mandarin, and then some crystalline citrus. Beginning to develop some honeyed notes, with nice spicy detail. This is really good, and beginning to enter its teenage years, so I’d leave it for a few more before drinking. 94/100
Famille Perrin Gigondas Clos des Tourelles 2020 Rhône, France
This is from the Perrin family. Mainly Grenache, with some Syrah, with a touch of Cinsault. Sandy soils high up in the hills at 350 m. This is supple and fresh with nice black cherry and blackberry fruit with some nice freshness. Hints of olive and cured meat with nice ripeness allied to some freshness. Very stylish. 94/100
Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2019 Rhône, France
This is bold and rich with sweet black cherries and blackberries as well as some fine spicy notes. This is ripe and luxurious, but there’s also nice balance. Some olive and meat in the mix with good concentration and weight. Latent power here. 94/100
Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2009 Rhône, France
Leather, herbs, spice and a hint of earth on the nose. This has developed quite a bit. Nice concentration and weight with a distinctive savoury character. Earthy, spicy and dense with real appeal. Mature and complex, offering a lot of pleasure now. 93/100
