US vineyard Tablas Creek mentioned it has achieved a decades-long mission to make single-varietal wines from all 14 conventional Châteauneuf-du-Pape grape varieties that function at Château de Beaucastel, one of many French appellation’s best-known producers.
Muscardin, not often seen past the Rhône and planted in California by Tablas Creek in 2019, is the most recent arrival after a 25-case manufacturing run within the 2023 classic.
Tablas Creek, based in 1989 by Beaucastel’s Perrin household and Robert Haas, of Winery Manufacturers, mentioned that makes its new 14-wine assortment a primary for a US vineyard.
Situated in Paso Robles, the producer has lengthy been a pioneer of Rhône varieties within the US, and regenerative farming.
‘I can really feel my dad smiling down at this landmark,’ mentioned Tablas Creek’s second-generation proprietor, Jason Haas. ‘Folks so typically consider the Rhone grape varieties as “simply mixing grapes”. However tasting them on their very own…each has its personal distinctive character.
‘We’re proud to have launched so lots of them to California viticulture, and to see thousands and thousands of cuttings from these authentic mom vines in a whole lot of vineyards up and down the West Coast.’
An extended street
From the beginning, Tablas Creek has imported and propagated grape varieties grown at Beaucastel. Its first plantings, in 1994, included Mourvèdre, Grenache and Grenache Blanc, Syrah, Counoise and Roussanne.
Subsequent got here Picpoul Blanc in 2000, adopted by Terret Noir and Clairette Blanche (2010), Picardan (2013), Vaccarèse, Cinsault and Bourboulenc (2016), and, lastly, Muscardin in 2019.
Its 14-strong, single-varietal vary covers every of those. Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s appellation physique cites 13 allowable grape varieties, but it surely solely counts Grenache as soon as.
A debut for Muscardin
Tablas Creek introduced over a recent wave of Beaucastel plant materials in 2003, however US officers quarantined varieties for various lengths of time.
‘Poor Muscardin stayed in quarantine till 2018,’ mentioned Haas, in a vineyard weblog submit.
Now within the bottle, he mentioned the variability ‘has beautiful floral character, fairly pomegranate fruit, vibrant acids, an herby complexity like strolling on a Provencal hillside, and slightly sneaky grip of tannins on the end.’
There will probably be a small quantity of Muscardin 2024, he mentioned, following up on the small-scale 2023-vintage debut.
‘We’re additionally in search of the chance to get slightly extra Muscardin within the floor, so we’re potential portions extra like 50-100 circumstances as an alternative of 25.’
Tablas Creek mentioned it will introduce its Muscardin at an business occasion, however may even maintain some again to see the way it evolves.
Look out for an upcoming in depth evaluation, alongside evaluations of the wines, by our Rhône correspondent Matt Partitions.
