Tablas Creek Esprit de Tablas Blanc, Paso Robles 2023
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94-96
Wine Advocate
The 2023 Esprit de Tablas Blanc is a blend of 48% Roussanne, 22% Grenache Blanc, 13% Picpoul, 10% Bourboulenc, 5% Picardan and 2% Clairette Blanche. The nose is poised and composed, straddling orchard fruit, citrus rind and white flower aromas with a rich, deep nuttiness at the core. The palate is punchy, powerful and round in texture with a surprising elegance and understated quality. The finish is seamless and direct, with a pleasing phenolic grip and lifted acidity surrounding a core of rich stone fruit flavors.
The 2023 Esprit de Tablas Blanc is a blend of 48% Roussanne, 22% Grenache Blanc, 13% Picpoul, 10% Bourboulenc, 5% Picardan and 2% Clairette Blanche. The nose is poised and composed, straddling orchard fruit, citrus rind and white flower aromas with a rich, deep nuttiness at the core. The palate is punchy, powerful and round in texture with a surprising elegance and understated quality. The finish is seamless and direct, with a pleasing phenolic grip and lifted acidity surrounding a core of rich stone fruit flavors.
Wet slate and granite aromas and flavors join subtle spices on a palate of concentration and length. White licorice, citrus and apples linger with lanolin and quietly lifted lemon blossoms. Structure and generosity in equal measure. Drink or hold, but best after 2026 and for more than a decade after.
The 2023 Esprit de Tablas Blanc is gorgeous, speaking in whispers yet with so much to say. It impresses with a finessed bouquet that combines nectarines and honied florals with ginger-tinged apples and pears. The palate is silken in feel with medium-bodied weight as a pure wave of ripe pit fruits and a subtle hint of spice takes on a citrusy twang toward the close. Tactile mineral tones add a crunchy sensation through the long, perfumed finish. A glorious Esprit de Tablas Blanc that is already a total pleasure to taste, yet with the balance for a lovely evolution in bottle.
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Tablas Creek Esprit de Tablas Blanc, Paso Robles 2024
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95
Vinous
The 2024 Esprit de Tablas Blanc is zesty and deeply spiced, with a burst of ginger and lime zest complicating mint-laced green apples and hints of sour melon. It is deeply textural, silken and pliant, with saline minerality to balance, as a decadent wave of ripe pit fruits swirls beneath an air of sweet inner herbal tones. It finishes lightly structured and long, leaving a honeyed floral resonance and a tinge of sour lemon to linger. The 2024 is already a glorious example of Esprit de Tablas Blanc, yet it has the balance to age effortlessly.
Tasted as a sample from foudre well before its bottling in December, the 2024 Esprit de Tablas Blanc contains nearly all of the estate’s Picpoul and Bourboulenc due to the season’s low white wine yields. It exudes all the classic qualities readers will rightfully expect from this blend, opening with a fragrant nose of apricot, orange blossoms, spice and wet stones energized by lifted, citrus-driven accents. The palate is broad and gourmand yet retains exceptional poise and clarity, culminating in a long, round and elegantly luscious finish infused with tenacity and energy.
Lemon blossom and lightly hued honey aromas decorate the nose of this always fascinating blend of 40% Roussanne, 26% Grenache Blanc, 17% Picpoul Blanc, 11% Bourboulenc, 3% Picardan and 3% Clairette Blanche. The palate is hefty in weight though fresh in flavor, offering layers of round stonefruit set against a rocky minerality.
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