Tablas Creek Wine Dinner at Cafe Maxx Thursday August 20th 7pm

Another event that was just added to the calendar is this dinner with Tablas Creek Winery with the National Sales manager Tommy Oldre.  We have followed this winery since it's inception as it is the most exciting Rhone style wine producer to enter upon the California wine scene ever because of the notoriety of the Perrin family from Chateau Beaucastel famous for the Chateaunuef Du Pape and Cuvee Jacques Perrin wine.  We will be offering a selection of current release wines from this producer paired to a five course tasting menu by Chef Oliver Saucy.  Dinner is $95 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463.

Tablas Creek Wine Dinner at Cafe Maxx
with Special Guest Tommy Oldre
Thursday August 20th
7pm

Reception

Grouper with orange sauce
Wild mushroom tartlette
Cured pork, honey mustard, cornichon
Lobster and garlic butter

Tablas Creek Rose Paso Robles 2008
List $27            Sale $23.76      Case $275

Winery Notes:  The 2008 Rosé is vibrant and fully dry, rich with spice and fruit. It has aromatics of sage, plum and watermelon, flavors of strawberries and cherries, fresh acidity and a lingering finish. Pair it with Mediterranean cuisine, Spanish tapas, preparations with garlic and olive oil... or just enjoy it outside on a sunny day.

First Course

Pinenut crusted tuna, tomato jam & tappenade

Tablas Creek Cotes de Tablas Blanc Paso Robles 2007
List $22.50       Sale $19.80      Case $230

(88-90 Points)  The 2007 Cotes de Tablas Blanc, a blend of 38% Viognier, 25% Marsanne, 20% Roussanne, and 17% Grenache, offers up aromas of honeysuckle, white currants, apricots, and quince as well as a hint of tropical fruits. This medium-bodied, refreshing, zesty white should drink well for 2-3 years.  Wine Advocate # 178, Aug 2008

Second Course
Basil fed escargot with crostini, leeks, Penod  & Swiss chard
Trenne pasta with apple bacon sausage, mushrooms, pearl onions and Provincal herbs

Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc Paso Robles 2005
List $41.75       Sale $36.74      Case $426

(93 Points)  The 2005 Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc is a combination of 70% Roussanne and the rest mostly Grenache Blanc and a touch of Picpoul that sees no new oak. It reveals classic notes of honeyed marmalade, intense tropical fruits, impressive underlying minerality, and a chalky character in its big, dry, full-throttle personality that is bursting with character as well as intensity.  Wine Advocate # 172, Aug 2007

Third Course
Braised veal cheeks, Brie polenta, Broccolini floweretts and thyme

Tablas Creek Cotes de Tablas Rouge Paso Robles 2006
List $22.50       Sale $19.80      Case $230

(89 Points)  The more challenging 2006 vintage has produced a lighter-styled, medium-bodied, soft, pleasant 2006 Cotes de Tablas, a blend of 72% Grenache, 11% Syrah, 9% Mourvedre, and the rest mixed varietals. It exhibits a dark ruby color, medium body, soft fruit, plenty of red currant and smoked duck notes, and hints of licorice as well as mint.  Wine Advocate # 178, Aug 2008

Fourth Course
Selection of French artisan cheeses

Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel Rouge 2005
List $45.00       Sale $39.60      Case $459

(92 Points)  The 2005 Esprit de Beaucastel is a 3,500-case blend of 44% Mourvedre, 26% Grenache, 25% Syrah, and 5% Counoise. Its dense ruby/purple hue is accompanied by a beautiful perfume of road tar, camphor, meat, Provencal herbs, blackberries, cassis, cherries, licorice, and pepper. This Beaucastel-like beauty boasts full body, excellent tannin and structure as well as good accessibility. Enjoy it over the next decade.  Wine Advocate # 177, Jun 2008

Dessert Course
Assorted Finger Desserts

Tablas Creek Vin De Paille "Quintessence" Paso Robles 2006

The 2006 Vin de Paille "Quintessence" has a beautiful nose of maple syrup, caramel and ripe apricots, with remarkably concentrated flavors of honey, spice and pear, good balancing acidity and an exceptionally long finish. We expect it to drink well for decades.

A bit about our Host Tommy:

Tommy grew up in the greater Phoenix area, and in 1995 he moved to Tucson to attend the University of Arizona.  While in school, Tommy co-managed a specialty liquor store and an obsession for microbrews soon evolved into a sincere passion for wine. 
After some post-collegiate travels and a stint in the New York advertising world, he moved to the Central Coast in 2003 to pursue a career in wine.  After joining Tablas Creek in the tasting room in early 2003, Tommy soon moved into the cellar and has been assisting in the winemaking since.  In early 2007, Tommy took over the reigns of the national wholesale market as National Sales Manager for Tablas Creek. 

A bit about Tablas Creek:

"Readers would be hard pressed to find more French-like wines in the Paso Robles corridor than those produced by Tablas Creek. This is a partnership between renowned importer Robert Haas (Vineyard Brands), one of the pioneers of estate-bottled French wines, and Francois Perrin, one of the owners of Chateau Beaucastel in Chateauneuf du Pape. Haas and Perrin run a serious vineyard operation with vines planted on the steep hillsides in pure limestone soils, not far from the Pacific Ocean. All of these cuvees possess distinctive personalities, good acids, and striking minerality. Even though they make very good single varietal wines, I still believe their strength lies in their sensational blends. That said, my two favorite dry whites, other than the blended wines, are their Chablis-like, unwooded Antithesis Chardonnay and the tank-fermented and aged, exquisite Vermentino. The 2005 red wines have all been bottled. I tasted a handful of 2007 reds, which appears to be a superb vintage for Tablas Creek. (Production was down 15% for the red wine varietals and 30% for the whites, thus giving everything an extra degree of concentration.)"  Robert Parker Jr.

BACKGROUND
Tablas Creek is the realization of the combined efforts of two of the international wine community's leading families, the Perrin family, proprietors of Château de Beaucastel, and Robert Haas, founder of Vineyard Brands. They had since the 1970s believed the California climate to be ideal for planting Rhône varietal grapes. In 1987, they began the lengthy process of creating a Châteauneuf-du-Pape style vineyard from scratch in the New World. The Tablas Creek Vineyard Partnership was born, with the Perrin and Haas families as majority partners, and French and American wine loving friends as minority partners.

THE SITE
The partners searched California from the foothills of the Sierras in the north to coastal Ventura County in the south, looking for a close match to the Mediterranean climate and high pH soils of Château de Beaucastel. In 1989, they purchased a 120-acre parcel twelve miles from the Pacific Ocean in west Paso Robles. They named it Tablas Creek Vineyard, after the small creek running through the property.

The property elevation averages 1,500 feet, and the shallow, rocky limestone soils are of the same geologic origin as those at Beaucastel. Summer days are hot and sunny, but the influence of the nearby Pacific cools the nights, and the remarkably Rhône-like Paso Robles climate allows the grapes to mature fully and yet retain crisp acidity.

THE VINES
To ensure that the vines at Tablas Creek were of the highest quality and same genetic source of those at Beaucastel, the partners imported vinifera from the French estate. Several clones each of Mourvédre, Grenache Noir, Syrah, Counoise, Roussanne, Viognier, Marsanne, Grenache Blanc and Picpoul Blanc were imported. This diversity allows Tablas Creek to replicate the clonal selection of an established French vineyard.

In January 1990, the first vine cuttings were imported from France. Before arriving at Tablas Creek, they underwent a USDA-mandated three year indexing process that ensured that the vines were virus-free; the first imported vines were available for multiplication at Tablas Creek in 1993. New clones arrived at Tablas Creek each year between 1993 and 2000. Planting continues at the estate, with the goal of having 110 acres in vines by 2010.

THE NURSERY
In order to multiply the imported vines into the quantities necessary for the vineyard, Tablas Creek constructed its own nursery complex of high-tech greenhouses and shadehouses. There, vinifera is multiplied, grafted onto rootstocks, and gradually hardened off to sun and wind in preparation for planting in the vineyard.

At its peak, the nursery produced over 200,000 bench-grafted vines for planting in Tablas Creek's own vineyard and for sale to interested growers each year. Although we no longer use the Tablas Creek's nursery for commercial grafting, we partner with NovaVine, of Sonoma, CA, to make available grafted vines and budwood of Tablas Creek clones. Producers who have planted Tablas Creek clonal material include Ridge, Qupé, Bonny Doon, Beckmen, Andrew Murray, Zaca Mesa, L'Aventure, Garretson, and Justin. We have more information on our partnership with NovaVine.

THE WINES
The "Tablas Creek Vineyard" label debuted with the construction of the estate winery for the 1997 vintage. Beginning with the 2001 whites and the 2000 reds, the wines were named Esprit de Beaucastel and Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc.

Tablas Creek Vineyard follows the centuries old Châteauneuf-du-Pape tradition of blending chosen varietals, which produces wines that are more complex and elegant, better balanced, richer and deeper than single varietal wines. Blending, estate terroir, and the use of native yeasts give Tablas Creek Vineyard a unique style that places it among the best vineyards on the world stage.

The red wines, comprising about two thirds of the vineyard's production, are made from Mourvèdre, Grenache Noir, Syrah, and Counoise. The white wines are made from Roussanne, Viognier, Marsanne, Picpoul Blanc, and Grenache Blanc. Total quantity produced was approximately 16,000 cases in 2006 and should grow to 22,000 by 2015.

The vineyard's signature wines, Esprit de Beaucastel and Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc, are blended for richness, balance, and ageability. The Cotes de Tablas and Cotes de Tablas Blanc wines are designed to be clean, bright expressions of fruit, ready to drink younger and very approachable in price.