2005 Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel (91 Points)

DATE CONSUMED

Saturday, December 8, 2012

VINTAGE

2005

WINERY/PRODUCER

Tablas Creek Vineyard

WINE NAME

Esprit de Beaucastel

TYPE OF WINE

Red blend

COMPOSITION

44% Mourvedre, 26% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 5% Counoise

SUBNAME/NICKNAME

N/A

VINEYARD DESIGNATION

Grown and bottled on the estate

REGION/A.V.A. (American Viticultural Area)

Paso Robles, California

ALCOHOL CONTENT

14.5%

PRICE PAID

$56.31 through Tablas Creek’s Collector’s Edition wine club, which includes tax and shipping (this wine is designated as a “library wine” and carries, at this day/age, a retail price of $70 and is offered only to TC’s Collector’s Edition members at a discounted price of $52.50).

WHERE/WHEN BOUGHT AND/OR HOW PROCURED

We received this wine with TC’s Collector’s Edition Fall allocation (a case of current and library releases) in September, 2012.

BOUQUET

This wine exhibits beautiful floral, spice, earth, and fruit characteristics, such as dark fruit, savory herbs, earth, and a touch of oak.

 

TASTING NOTES

I LOVE drinking perfectly-aged wines, especially since most restaurants serve (at most, generally speaking) two to three year-old releases (good luck going into a chain restaurant and ordering a 2005 red blend off of their wine list; most restaurant reds are 2010 to 2015 vintages).  That is exactly why we almost always bring our own wines to restaurants; their wines are generally way too young and way too warm.  I cannot tell you how many times I’ve dined at “nice” restaurants where they serve 2010 reds at 80 degrees.  Whenever we go out to dinner, we refrigerate our wines about two hours before we hit the road so that by the time we have our main courses the wine has had time to “warm-up” to the proper serving temperature of 60 degrees-ish.

This is a nice Paso red blend.  Being served seven years after harvest, we properly cooled-down the bottle and let it air in our Burgundy glasses for about an hour before dinner.

Being close to half Mourvedre, there’s a nice meatiness to this blend, beautifully accented by Grenache’s and Syrah’s fruitiness and spiciness.  This blend exhibits significant heft and substance, with gorgeous red and black fruit (plums, raspberries, black cherries and berries) and a healthy dose of savory herbs like rosemary and thyme, in addition to black pepper.  There’s a depth-of-flavor profile that goes long and deep, keeping this wine very interesting and delicious from start to finish.

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS

We paired this wine with pan-grilled rib eyes spiced with Kosher salt, freshly-cracked pepper, and Herbs de Provence.  I had a feeling this was going to be a rich, creamy, spicy red blend and sure enough, it was!  So the spiced rib eyes went PERFECTLY with the wine, though it would also pair well with most lamb and red beef dishes.

AGING POTENTIAL

Even though this wine is seven-plus years past harvest, there is an element of structure (acidity, alcohol, sugar, etc.) that allows this wine to shine as a “youthful” red blend.  In addition to yummy red and black fruit, significant spiciness, creamy oak, shovels of earthiness, and a depth-of-flavor most reds would envy, this wine has only begun to show is true potential.  Like all Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastels, this wine is meant to age and cellar for years.  It was probably fantastic two to four years ago but most likely has only improved with age (like me?!?!).  I would imagine this wine will continue to age and mature beautifully for another 10-plus years.

I noticed that this wine improved quite a bit with aeration.  If you have this bottle in your cellar or wine cooler/fridge, decant this wine for at least one to two hours; it only improves and evolves with every second of aeration.

SCORE (on a 100-point scale)

91 Points

Q.P.R. (QUALITY-TO-PRICE RATIO) (POOR, FAIR, GOOD, EXCELLENT)

GOOD (based on the library release price)

WINERY WEBSITE

http://www.tablascreek.com/