Nose
An intense Mourvèdre nose of spiced plum, sarsaparilla, loamy earth, and new leather.
Palate
The palate is mouth-coating with flavors of black cherry, teriyaki marinade, baker's chocolate and iron. The long, richly tannic finish promises more rewards to come with cellar aging, and leaves lingering flavors of plum skin and roasted meats.
Growing Conditions
The 2019 vintage began with ample rainfall the preceding winter. The wet soils delayed budbreak to a little after normal, and a cool first half of the summer delayed flowering and the ripening of our earlier varieties. Beginning the second week of July, the weather turned warm but never so warm to engage the vines' self-defense mechanism of shutting down, accelerating ripening of our later varieties and producing intense flavors. The resulting compressed harvest was completed under ideal conditions and the vintage shows both concentration and freshness, with bright acids framing ample fruit.
Harvest
The grapes for our Esprit de Tablas were grown on our certified organic and biodynamic estate vineyard.
Bottling
We recommend that you drink either between now and 2024 or again starting in 2027 any time over the subsequent two decades.
Winemaking
The grapes were fermented using native yeasts in a mix of 1500-gallon wooden upright fermenters, open-top tanks and closed stainless steel fermenters. After pressing, the wines were moved into barrel and allowed to complete malolactic fermentation. The Esprit's components were fermented separately, then selected for Esprit, blended in June 2020 and aged a year in foudre before bottling in July 2021.
Food Pairing
Game
Dark Fowl (i.e., duck)
Richly flavored stews
Lamb
Asian preparation of red meats (i.e., beef stir fry)
