With all the press that this wine has gotten, I expected more.  For those unfamiliar with Tablas Creek, it is a winery that was started as a partnership between Robert Haas and the Perrin family, owners of the famed Chateau Beaucastel, makers of one of the world's finest Chateauneuf du Pape wines.

The "Esprit de Beaucastel" is Tablas Creek's version of a Chataneuf du Pape, blending 50% Mourvedre, 27% Syrah, 16% Grenache, and 7% Counoise.  The grapes all coming from vines propagated from the original Beaucastel French vines that made Beaucastel famous.  It is certainly an ambitous program, and holds a lot of promise.

The winery's website promises that the wine is ready to drink now, but can age for 10-15 years.  Personally, I am getting a little tired of every maker of red wine uttering these same buzz phrases.  Don't tell me your wine will age effortlessly if it won't, and don't promise me early drinking pleasure if it needs time.  The problem here, is that the wine needed more time.

The bouquet was certainly reminiscent of a true Chateauneuf du Pape, although it is much more restrained than the Beaucastel original.  On the palate, blackberries, plums and smoky flavors are all well represented.  But the wine's tannins are still too harsh.  I believe once they are tamed, the wine will be quite good.  But for now, it is just too tannic for my tastes.  (See addendum below for review after overnight decanting)

The wine retails for $40.  (I picked it up at Costco for $29).  At 40 dollars, the wine is getting close in price point to some of the better real Chateauneuf du Papes (although Beaucastel itself usually sells for twice that amount).  My point here is that if Tablas Creek wants to compete against real Chataneuf du Papes at a price similar to real Chateauneuf, it will need to match the quality of the original.  That is a tough order.  Although Tablas Creek seems to be making a concerted effort to produce high quality Rhone blends here in California, they are not on the same par as the originals, at least not yet.  Maybe as their vines get older, and they develop more experience with the grapes they have here, the quality will get better.

I score this wine 2.75 stars based on how it was drinking now (March 2006).  I suspect it will increase to the 3.5 range with more bottle age.  I wish the Tablas Creek web site had just been more forthcoming and state that the wine needs time, unless you like very tannic wines (as some people certainly do).

Purcased March 2006 for $29 at Costco Rancho Bernardo.

ADDENDUM:  O.K.  An apology is in order.  Real men admit when they make a mistake.  Having not been very impressed with the wine, I had a glass, corked the wine,  applied the Vaccu-Vin and left it overnight.  I tried it again the next afternoon with lunch.  What a difference a day made.  The tannins softened, the wine opened up, and it was a whole different wine! With the benefit of overnight decanting, I would now rate the wine as comparable to some of the mid range real Chateauneufs.  I am changing my score to a solid 3.25 stars now, with probably 3.5 stars with 1-2 years of more bottle age.  If you are going to have the wine with dinner, open it several hours in advance (if you are going to drink it now).

 

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