Pierre Perrin: Taking it to Tablas Creek

In the early 1900s when the Perrins had just purchased Chateau de Beaucastel and were replanting their vineyards in Chateauneuf du Pape after the devastation caused by phylloxera, progress was slow though ironically perhaps not much slower than nowadays.  Beaucastel’s first generation of Perrins may have had none of the modern technology for vine propagation and vine planting that is available today but then again he didn’t have to contend with modern planting material importation bureaucracy.  When today’s fourth generation of Perrins, Jean-Pierre and Francois, decided to bring the spirit of Beaucastel to California, the realisation turned out to be some twenty years in the making.

“Planting a vineyard is a very slow process,” Pierre Perrin, son of Jean-Pierre and representing Beaucastel’s fifth generation, explained to me with a sigh of resignation during a Tablas Creek tasting at Picotin in Singapore in May 2009.  “We’ve only just finished planting the vineyards in Paso Robles.”

The brainchild for Tablas Creek was formed in 1970s when Robert Haas, the owner Vineyard Brands in the USA and Beaucastel’s importer there since the early ‘70s, approached the Perrins with an idea.  He believed California offered a climate comparable to the Southern Rhone and wanted to make single varietal, Chateauneuf du Pape style wines in California.  After a lengthy search for suitable terroir for Rhone grapes, in west Paso Robles the Perrins and Haas found soils with a pH and limestone base similar to Beaucastel.  In 1989 the newly formed partnership purchased 120 acres.

Then the arduously slow process of planting the vineyards began.  Determined to remain true to the mother property, the Perrins performed massal selection in the vineyards at Beaucastel to isolate the ideal vinifera and rootstock planting material.  But even after they’d managed this painstaking selection process, things were far from smooth sailing.  The young vines for the new project were detained for three years in quarantine in New York followed by a further six months at UC Davis.  Therefore the first clones were not available for green propagation (multiplication) until 1993.  New clones continued to be submitted through this lengthy system up until 2000.  In 1997 Tablas Creek established a nursery to facilitate the mammoth task of producing vineyards based on their own mother vines imported directly from Beaucastel.

Of course even with isolating similar terroir and transporting identical vines, Tablas Creek’s wines are never going to be mistaken for Beaucastel.  This is most clear in the weight and the texture of the Californian cousins with the Paso Robles terroir giving richness, pure fruit power and viscousity juxtaposed against the more structured and restrained character of Beaucastel.  Rather they are intrinsically Californian in style with an irrefutable influence of the Perrins’ incredible property in France’s Chateauneuf du Pape.

The winery’s signature wines are aptly named “Esprit de (spirit of) Beaucastel” with a red and a white version based on Beaucastel’s crafting of their Chateauneuf du Pape Rouge and Blanc.  In other words, the vines, blends and winemaking are very similar.  Though considering the importation process already described, the Perrin’s can be forgiven for including just four varietals in the red wine blend as opposed to all 13 permitted varieties that exist in Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape rouge.

Faithful to Haas’ original concept, Tablas Creek also produces a range of single varietal wines from the major varieties they have planted, including Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, Syrah and Mourvedre.

In the same vein as Beaucastel’s Hommage a Jacques Perrin, at the top of the range Tablas Creek makes “Panoplie”, a prestige cuvee with an even larger percentage of Mourvedre than its French role-model.  “And rather than the 80 year old vines that are used for Hommage, Panoplie is currently produced from 10 year old vines,” Pierre explained.  He went on to stipulate that Mourvedre needs low yields to be interesting and this is their main aim.

Producing their own wines since the 2001 vintage, the unique vineyards at Tablas Creek are finally complete and the earliest plantings are just beginning to mature into something very special.

An impressive 50% of Tablas Creek’s production is currently sold via their cellar door and wine club.  Pierre Perrin, both a winemaker and the winery’s export manager for Asia, claims it is still early days for sales of these wines in the Far East, but distribution has already begun in the key markets of Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Macau.

Chateau de Beaucastel and Tablas Creek are distributed in Singapore by:

Taste of Tradition (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd
Taste Fine Wine Merchant :: Booze Wine Shop :: Vermilion Wines and Spirits
 113B Jalan Besar Singapore 208833
Tel: +65 6299 9300
Fax: +65 6299 6200

Tasting Notes

Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc 2006
91 points
65% Roussanne, 30% Grenache Blanc, 5% Picpoul
Delicate aromas of apricots, honey, spiced pears, jasmine and a touch of toast.  The full bodied palate provides a seductive silken texture with medium+ acidity to lend just enough freshness.  Layers of peaches and pears flavours with a long, warm finish.  Drink now to 2012.  Tasted May 2009.

Tablas Creek Roussanne Blanc 2006
89 points
Floral, honeysuckle and warm apricot aromas with a hint of preserved ginger.  The palate is rich, full bodied with medium+ acidity and a viscous texture.  Long finish with a bit of heat coming through.  Drink now to 2012.  Tasted May 2009.

Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel Rouge 2005
92 points
44% Mourvedre, 26% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 5% Counoise
Very deep garnet-purple colour.  Intense crushed blackberry and blueberry aromas with nuances of star anise, cardamom and underbrush.  The palate is full bodied and dense with a nice backbone of medium to high acidity and medium to firm, finely grained tannins to give structure.  Very long finish.  Drink now to 2016.  Tasted May 2009.

Tablas Creek Panoplie 2002
94 points
80% Mourvedre, 13% Grenache, 7% Syrah
Very deep garnet colour.  Earthy notes of loam, iron ore and forest floor fragrance the core of warm blackberry, black olive and dried plum aromas.  Cinnamon, cloves and tobacco leaf open out with coaxing.  The palate is concentrated, full bodied with medium+ acidity and a medium level of velvety tannins.  Very long finish.  Drink now to 2018.  Tasted May 2009.