Tasting the Wines in the Fall 2025 VINsider Wine Club Shipments

Each spring and fall, we send out a selection of six wines to the members of our VINsider Wine Club. We have three variants each time: our classic (mixed) selection, which includes reds, whites, and the occasional rose, a white wine selection, and a red wine selection. In many cases, these are wines that only go out to our club. In others, the club gets a first look at wines that may see a later national release. Before each shipment, we reintroduce ourselves to these wines (which, in some cases, we may not have tasted since before bottling) by opening the full lineup and writing the notes that will be included with the club shipments. I always like sharing these notes with blog readers as a little preview of what's coming. I sat down this afternoon with Senior Assistant Winemaker Chelsea Franchi and we dove into this fall's collection.

We base each year's fall shipments around the newest releases of the Esprit de Tablas and Esprit de Tablas Blanc, and this fall is no exception. But there's a lot more to these shipments than the Esprits. Our classic (mixed) shipment is in many ways a deep dive into Grenache. The shipment includes our 2024 Patelin de Tablas Rosé, which is 68% Grenache. And our non-Esprit reds are our 2023 Cotes de Tablas (66% Grenache), our 2023 En Gobelet (49% Grenache), and our single-varietal 2023 Grenache. Both Red Wine Selection and White Wine Selection members will also get a new wine from our Lignee de Tablas program. We have made two new wines, one red and one white, from the Fenaughty Vineyard in the El Dorado AVA within the Sierra Foothills. This vineyard was planted to Tablas Creek clones at the direction of Steve Edmunds of Edmunds St. John over the last two decades, and we've loved the other wines we've had from it. We're super excited to share our take on this fascinating terroir. The additional estate wines that will go into the red wine and white wine selection shipments are fun as well.

The classic shipment includes six different wines:

2024 PATELIN DE TABLAS ROSÉ

• Production Notes: The Provencal-style, Grenache-based Patelin de Tablas Rosé is as always led by Grenache (68% this year), which provides both bright fruit and refreshing acidity, while as usual rich, floral Mourvedre (28%) comprises the second-largest portion. Vermentino (a traditional component of many Provencal rosés under its French name Rolle) makes up 3%, with 1% of spicy, electric Counoise to round out the blend. 90% of the fruit was direct-pressed upon arrival at the winery, with the balance destemmed and let soak for a single work day, then pressed off after about 12 hours. The components were blended and fermented in stainless steel until bottling in January 2025.
• Tasting Notes: A pretty pale peach color. On the nose, expansive aromatics of peach, citrus blossom, crushed rock, and tarragon. The mouth is electric, with flavors of nectarine, watermelon rind, petrichor, and sweet spice. The wine has great tension, walking the line between an opulent nose and a fully dry palate with a vibrant line of acidity keeping your mouth watering through a long finish. Drink over the next 18 months.
• Production: 3646 cases
• List Price: $30 VINsider Price: $24

2023 ESPRIT DE TABLAS BLANC

• Production Notes: Our three-year drought broke with a bang in 2023, and we received more than 50 inches of rain. This led to exceptional vine health, and the cool, steady vintage that followed produced a late but unhurried harvest, long hang times, and expressive wines with deep flavors but plenty of freshness to balance them. Roussanne showed outstanding depth but enough freshness to increase its percentage to 48%. To that base we added 22% Grenache Blanc (for sweet spice, acid, and texture), 13% Picpoul Blanc (for tropical fruit and vibrant acids), 10% Bourboulenc (for nutty, lemony depth), and finally 5% Picardan and 2% Clairette Blanche, both of which add minerality and freshness. As we have done since 2012, we returned the blend to foudre after it was assembled in May 2024 and aged it through the subsequent harvest before bottling it in December 2024. We've been letting it deepen in bottle ever since.
• Tasting Notes: A deep nose of honeycomb, baked pear, white flowers, lemongrass, vanilla bean, and key lime pie. The palate is rich and broad but with lift too, with flavors of fresh apricot, creme brulee, preserved lemon, citrus pith, chalky minerals. The finish leaves lingering notes of grilled pineapple, green herbs, and a kiss of sweet oak. Drink now to enjoy its freshness or let it age for up to two decades for deeper flavors of caramel and roasted nuts.
• Production: 2100 cases
• List Price: $75 VINsider Price: $60

2023 GRENACHE

• Production Notes: 2023 was a wonderful year for Grenache. While our hotter years produce Grenache with a pale garnet color with expressive high notes, our cooler years allow it to develop deeper colors and flavors, while preserving the grape's signature charm. 2023 was our coolest year since 2011, and produced plentiful Grenache with amazing intensity. We used it in all our blends, debuted the chillable Alouette boxes and kegs, and still had over 2200 cases we deemed perfect for a varietal bottling. The chosen lots were blended in June 2024 and aged in neutral oak foudres until the wine's bottling in February 2025.
• Tasting Notes: A pretty nose of red licorice, coffee bean, berry cobbler, black pepper, and soy, quite a bit deeper (and darker) than our 2022. On the palate, flavors of black cherry, baker's chocolate, plum skin, and bramble thicket. The finish shows mouth-coating texture and some fairly substantial Grenache front-palate tannins, with lingering notes of red fruit and licorice. Drink over the next 10-15 years.
• Production: 2255 cases
• List Price: $45 VINsider Price: $36

2023 COTES DE TABLAS

• Production Notes: Grenache always plays lead in the Cotes de Tablas, and in 2023 the grape's outstanding character and plentiful supply allowed us to use the highest percentage since the 2006 vintage. We chose 66% Grenache for its core of red fruit and sweet spice and added 18% Syrah for darker fruit and minerality, while 8% Counoise (for vibrancy and spice) and 8% Mourvedre (for earth and complexity) complete the wine. The Cotes de Tablas was blended in June 2024 and aged in 1200-gallon neutral oak foudres until its bottling in February 2025.
• Tasting Notes: An expressive nose with both red fruit and darker elements, like raspberries rolled in cocoa powder, with additional notes of fresh fig, herbes de Provence, and a floral violet note. The mouth is pretty and has an appealing wildness, like salted wild strawberries, complete with the leaves, mint chocolate, clove, and a little loamy earth. The finish is gentler than the varietal Grenache at this stage, with refined tannins and a long, elegant finish. Enjoy any time over the next decade.
• Production: 1401 cases
• List Price: $40 VINsider Price: $32

2023 EN GOBELET

• Production Notes: Our sixteenth En Gobelet, a non-traditional blend all from head-trained, dry-farmed blocks, and mostly from the 12-acre block we call Scruffy Hill, planted in 2005 and 2006 to be a self-sufficient field blend. These lots tend to show more elegance and minerality than our closer-spaced irrigated blocks, although in 2023 we also had enough new head-trained production off our new Jewel Ridge block to have our pick of lots from powerful to elegant. We chose a blend of 49% Grenache, 31% Mourvedre, 14% Syrah, 3% Counoise, and 3% Tannat, with the Grenache and Counoise providing lift, the Syrah and Tannat providing structure and tannin, and the Mourvedre earth, loam, and ageworthiness. The wine was blended in June of 2024, aged in foudre, and bottled in April 2025.
• Tasting Notes: A vibrant nose of cherry fruit leather, flourless chocolate cake, black licorice, and rose petals. The palate is luscious, with flavors of cassis and dark chocolate, teriyaki and blackberry. The finish shows chalky tannins, graphite-like minerality, and a lingering impression of salted plum skin. Drink now and for up to two decades.
• Production: 743 cases
• List Price: $65 VINsider Price: $52

2023 ESPRIT DE TABLAS

• Production Notes: As always, the Esprit is based on the red fruit and meatiness of Mourvedre (33%), but in this year where every grape shined there was such a strong showing from Syrah (31%, for dark color and savory, tannic richness) and Grenache (26%, for sweet spice and bright acids) during our blending trials that the three grapes are as evenly represented as they have ever been in Esprit. We finished the blend with 6% Cinsaut (for warm purple fruit and sweet spice) and 2% each Vaccarese (for black fruit and minerality) and Counoise (for vibrancy and wildness). The blend was put together in June 2024 and aged a year in foudre before bottling in August 2025.
• Tasting Notes: There is a warmth and invitation to the nose that is a signature of Mourvedre, with notes of currant reduction, sarsaparilla, sun-warmed chaparral, and new leather. The mouth is both deep and well-delineated, with flavors of plum compote, salty brown butter, dates, bay, licorice, and cola. The tannins are cloaked in fruit and the finish vibrant and fresh. Enjoy any time in the next 25 years.
• Production: 3400 cases
• List Price: $75 VINsider Price: $60

Two additional reds joined the Grenache, Cotes de Tablas, En Gobelet and Esprit de Tablas in the red wine selection shipment:

2023 FULL CIRCLE

• Production Notes: The fourteenth vintage of our Full Circle Pinot Noir, grown on the small vineyard outside the Haas family's home in Templeton, in the cool (for Paso) Templeton Gap AVA. Its name reflects Robert Haas's career: from a start introducing America to the greatness of Burgundy, through decades focusing on grapes from the Rhone, one of his last acts was to plant Pinot at his home and oversee our first few vintages. The cool 2023 growing season was perfect for this relatively cool-loving grape, and it was harvested on September 13th, a full three weeks later than most recent years. The grapes were fermented in one-ton microfermenters, two-thirds de-stemmed and one-third with stems for a more savory profile, punched down twice daily by hand. After pressing, the wine was moved into 60-gallon barrels, about 20% new, for a hint of oak. The wine stayed on its lees, stirred occasionally, for 10 months, before being blended and bottled in August 2024. We've aged the wine in bottle for an additional year since then.
• Tasting Notes: A classic Pinot nose of cherry cola, pipe tobacco, mint, iodine, and green peppercorn. The palate is expansive with notes of oolong tea, salted cherry, and a little hint of sweet oak. The finish is both deep and refined, and should be delicious over the next decade.
• Production: 257 cases
• List Price: $55 VINsider Price: $44

2023 LIGNÉE DE TABLAS FENAUGHTY VINEYARD ROUGE

• Production Notes: In 2023, we got access to an exciting vineyard in the El Dorado AVA. This vineyard, which sits at 2700+ feet in the Sierra Foothills, was planted to Tablas Creek vine material at the direction of Steve Edmunds over the last two decades. As Steve was ramping down the production on his Edmunds St. John label, the Mansfield family who has farmed the property since the late 70's reached out to us to see if we'd be interested in adding it to the Lignée de Tablas program. We very much were, and agreed to purchase a blend of Grenache (67%) and Mourvedre (33%). Those grapes were harvested and brought to Tablas Creek, where they were fermented, blended, and aged in neutral barrels. The wine was reassembled and then bottled in April 2025.
• Tasting Notes: A nose of pine forest floor, juniper, fruitcake, and maraschino cherry. On the palate, flavors of chocolate truffle, dried cherry, cola, and salted caramel. A wine that is woodsy, alpine, and yet feels warmed by the sun. Drink now and over the next decade, perhaps longer.
• Production: 498 cases
• List Price: $40 VINsider Price: $32

Three additional wines joined the Patelin de Tablas Rose and Esprit de Tablas Blanc in the white wine selection shipment (members will get two bottles of the Esprit Blanc):

2024 LIGNÉE DE TABLAS FENAUGHTY VINEYARD BLANC

• Production Notes: We were thrilled with the quality of the red grapes from the Fenaughty Vineyard in 2023. With the retirement of Steve Edmunds in 2024, we were able to add some of the vineyard's whites to our Lignée de Tablas lineup as well. The wine is a blend of 39% Marsanne, 35% Grenache Blanc, 13% Bourboulenc, and 13% Roussanne. It was pressed and co-fermented in neutral barrels, then assembled and bottled in May 2025. It is the first blend we have ever released based on Marsanne.
• Tasting Notes: A nose of peach syrup, lime leaf, crystallized pineapple, chalky rocks, sweet spice, and jasmine. The palate shows flavors of honeydew melon, dried mango, apricot and salty almond. A great wine to sit with and keep coming back to for additional flavors and nuances. Drink now and over the next six-to-eight years.
• Production: 372 cases
• List Price: $40 VINsider Price: $32

2024 MARSANNE

• Production Notes: Marsanne is best known from the northern Rhone, particularly the famed appellation of Hermitage, where it produces wines of legendary elegance and ageworthiness. The 2024 vintage produced lovely Marsanne, which we ferment mostly in 600-gallon foudres to emphasize its texture and give it a hint of oak. At blending, we reserved about 700 gallons that we thought particularly classic and assembled and bottled that in June 2025.
• Tasting Notes: A pretty nose of cantaloupe, ginger, lemon meringue pie, and bubblegum. The mouth is lovely and gentle, with flavors of vanilla custard, ripe pear, salty rocks and baked golden delicious apple. The finish is lightly minty, with lingering flavors of apricot and crushed rock. So appealing now that I'm guessing a lot of it will get drunk young, but it should evolve in an interesting way for a decade at least.
• Production: 296 cases
• List Price: $45 VINsider Price: $36

2024 VIOGNIER

• Production Notes: Viognier is the northern Rhone's noble white grape, renowned for its floral intensity and lushness. The cool-then-warm 2024 growing season seemed to bring out the best of Viognier, with plenty of the floral stone-fruit aromatics that lovers of the grape expect but more lift, minerality, and elegance than we usually see in warm years. For our varietal Viognier we chose lots fermented in neutral barrels, and assembled and bottled the wine in June 2025.
• Tasting Notes: An exuberant nose of fresh apricot, honeysuckle, lemongrass, and chalky mineral. The palate is gorgeous: textured and rich but still fresh, with flavors of peach and yellow raspberry, mandarin, sweet spices and salty rocks. The finish is long with stone fruit and star anise notes. Luscious, poised, and lovely. Drink now and for at least the next five years.
• Production: 217 cases
• List Price: $45 VINsider Price: $36

The tasting was a great opportunity to identify the character of our two most recent vintages. 2023 is year unlike any we've seen in more than a decade: a cool vintage with a delayed but unhurried harvest that produced wines with deep tones, complex flavors, and lovely balance. 2024 is higher-toned and fruitier, but with vibrant acids to balance luscious fruit. Both vintages seem like they'll offer pleasure whether people drink the wines soon or wait.

If you're a wine club member, we've got a range of options for you to try these wines. We are planning to host a live in-person pickup party on Sunday, October 12th. We'll again be offering club members who visit the opportunity to choose the shipment wines as their tasting flight between mid-September and early-October. And we're actually pouring a number of these wines in our tasting room now. Check out the setup that Chelsea and I had today. All the wines in carafes came out of kegs that we're currently pouring in our tasting room, with the exception of the 2023 Esprit de Tablas, which hasn't yet been bottled. So if you're coming out in the next couple of months, you can even get a preview! We will be putting details on all this on our VINsider News & Updates page and announcing them via email soon.

If you're not a wine club member, and you've read all this way, then why not join us while there's still a chance to get this fall shipment? Details and how to join are at tablascreek.com/wine_club/vinsider_club