DATE CONSUMED
Friday, December 13, 2013
VINTAGE
2012
WINERY/PRODUCER
Tablas Creek Vineyard
WINE NAME
Dianthus
TYPE OF WINE
Rose
COMPOSITION
60% Mourvedre, 25% Grenache, 15% Counoise
SUBNAME/NICKNAME
N/A
VINEYARD DESIGNATION
Grown and bottled on the estate
REGION/APPELLATION/A.V.A. (American Viticultural Area)
Paso Robles, California (Central Coast)
ALCOHOL CONTENT
14.5%
PRICE PAID
$25.72 (wine club member price with sales tax and shipping)
WHERE/WHEN BOUGHT AND/OR HOW PROCURED
We received this wine in our March 2013 wine club
shipment. The retail price for this
wine is $27, but wine club members get this wine for $21.60 ($25.72 including
sales tax and shipping).
BOUQUET
I couldn’t quite obtain much (if any) of a bouquet with this
wine. Perhaps the glass/vessel wasn’t
conducive to coaxing the aromas from the wine.
I’ve never quite experienced this with any wine before; even bubbly
expresses itself aromatically out of a flute (which isn’t conducive to
expressing bouquets). Weird……….
TASTING NOTES
I was almost petrified opening this wine when I saw the
alcohol content on the bottle’s label.
I have NEVER seen a rose come anywhere close to having 14.5%
alcohol. And since we’ve been wine club
members with Tablas Creek for years, I’ve had several experiences with their
rose in the past. I’ve generally found
their rose to be heavy and somewhat leaden.
Generally, I LOVE roses made from Pinot Noir, which are usually
light-bodied, lightly-colored, and delicious.
This Southern-Rhone-styled rose is fairly dark and I assumed
it would also be heavy and leaden.
Surprisingly, despite the color and alcohol content, it’s actually quite
light and delicious. As one would
expect given its varietal content, there’s an abundance of red, tart fruits
like raspberries and strawberries, along with an abundant wallop of spices,
both savory and peppery (especially white pepper). Like any/all good wines, there’s also a wonderful earthiness that
showcases Paso’s chalky/clay soils.
This is easily the best rose I’ve ever tasted from Tablas
Creek. It’s funny/weird how previous
versions always struck me as being too heavy, but with this (relatively) dark
and high-alcohol version, it actually tastes lighter and tastier than other
vintages. If you enjoy Rhone and/or
Provence roses, this is one of the best non-Pinot roses I’ve ever had out of
California. Tough to beat!!
PAIRING SUGGESTIONS
I paired this wine with a stir-fry made from leftover pork
loin and sautéed green peppers and onions (done in a kind of Chinese
style). The rose went beautifully with
the stir-fry and would also pair gorgeously with my all-time favorite rose
companion: grilled salmon steaks. I
would imagine this wine would also pair nicely with just about any pork,
chicken, and/or seafood dish (especially scallops). But if I had another bottle of this beauty, I would definitely pair
it with salmon steaks spiced with freshly-cracked sea salt, black pepper, and
Herbs de Provence.
AGING POTENTIAL
Like any/all roses, they are made/meant to be drunk
young. But because of the age-friendly
varietals used in this blend, I would actually imagine this wine would cellar
well for another year or two (or three or four?!?!) and would probably be fine
in a refrigerator for a decade or so (if you’re crazy enough to attempt that, I
would recommend you seek immediate, intense counseling).
SCORE (on a 100-point scale)
91
Q.P.R. (QUALITY-TO-PRICE RATIO) (POOR, FAIR, GOOD,
EXCELLENT)
GOOD
WINERY WEBSITE
