2010 Tablas Creek Vin De Paille Sacre Rouge

The 2010 Vin de Paille Sacrerouge is drop-dead gorgeous. Here it is air-dried Mourvèdre that gives up an alluring concoction of black cherries, licorice, spices, mint, crushed flowers and licorice. This is another head-spinning, totally beautiful dessert wine. (375 ml)

The 2010 Vin de Paille Sacrerouge is drop-dead gorgeous. Here it is air-dried Mourvedre that gives up an alluring concoction of black cherries, licorice, spices, mint, crushed flowers and licorice. This is another head-spinning, totally beautiful dessert wine from Tablas Creek. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2015. As always, my tasting at Tablas Creek was a bit of a marathon session covering several dozen wines, but that is just a testament to a world-class winery that excels at so many things. This year I tasted with proprietor Jason Haas, winemaker Ryan Hebert and assistant winemaker Chelsea Magnusson. Haas describes 2011 as a difficult year. A devastating spring frost reduced yields by as much as 40% in some places. Vintage 2010 was characterized by a long growing season, but without the huge heat spikes that were seen elsewhere. It was also much more plentiful, which gave the winery the quality and ability to bottle its four main red Rhone varieties separately. Tel. (805) 237-1231; www.tablascreek.com

A step down from the Vin de Paille Quintessence, yet still an outstanding, semi-sweet dessert wine, the 2010 Tablas Creek Vin de Paille "SacreRouge" Paso Robles is 100% Mourvèdre that sees the same straw aging as the white. It offers up a savory, yet sweet array of brown sugar laced meats, spice, and sweet Mourvedre fruit to go with a full-bodied, rich, and yet fresh mouth feel. Unique and very well done, enjoy bottles over the coming 5-7 years.