Tasting the Wines in the Fall 2026 VINsider Wine Club Shipment

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 rosé; 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 on Friday with Director of Winemaking Chelsea Franchi and Winemaker Craig Hamm and we dove into this fall's collection.

Each fall, we release to Classic and Red Wine Selection members the newest vintage of our flagship Esprit de Tablas, and this year is no exception. For White Wine Selection members, our most exciting release is the first-ever Panoplie Blanc. But there's a lot more to these shipments than these two wines. Our Classic (mixed) Shipment includes two whites (our 2025 Grenache Blanc and the Marsanne-based 2025 Lignée de Tablas Fenaughty Blanc), two small-production reds (our 2024 Grenache and the Grenache-based 2024 En Gobelet that celebrates our commitment to dry farming) and two vintages of our Esprit de Tablas: the new 2024 and a 2018 that we've been saving in our library.

Red Wine Selection members will get the four reds in the classic shipment plus two lighter-bodied reds with miniscule production (under 300 cases): our 2024 Terret Noir and our 2024 Full Circle Pinot Noir, while White Wine Selection members will get the two whites from the classic shipment plus the 2024 Panoplie Blanc, the 2025 Cotes de Tablas Blanc, the 2025 Viognier, and the 2025 Marsanne. So everyone, no matter which shipment they're signed up for, will see at least one flagship blend, one small-production blend, and two small-production varietal bottlings. And our new customer management system that we're launching this week will allow members to easily customize should there be bottles they want to swap out or add to their box. The wines:

My production and tasting notes on the classic shipment are:

2025 LIGNÉE DE TABLAS FENAUGHTY VINEYARD BLANC

• Production Notes: We've been thrilled with the quality of the grapes from the Fenaughty Vineyard, planted originally at the direction of Rhone Rangers icon Steve Edmunds. Farmed immaculately (and organically) by the Mansfield family, Fenaughty is situated at 2700+ feet in the El Dorado AVA of the Sierra Foothills and planted in iron-rich red volcanic clay soils. The 2025 is a blend of 49% Marsanne, 25% Grenache Blanc, 9% Bourboulenc, 9% Vermentino, 4% Clairette Blanche, and 4% Picardan. We're excited to incorporate those last three grapes into this wine for the first time, while still maintaining its blend as our only one based on Marsanne. The five non-Marsanne grapes were co-harvested in early September and co-fermented in stainless steel, while the Marsanne was picked ten days later and fermented in foudre. The lots were blended, aged in neutral oak, and bottled in April.
• Tasting Notes: A pretty nose of melon and white flowers, very Rhoney, with notes of apricot, crushed rock, and a little minty lift. On the palate, gentle but complex with creamy-yet-bright flavors of nectarine, mandarin, and lemon custard, and a finish of salty almond and sweet spice. Drink now and over the next six-to-eight years.
• Production: 691 cases
• List Price: $40 VINsider Price: $32

2025 GRENACHE BLANC

• Production Notes: The 2025 vintage was quite cool, with the exception of a warm August, and Grenache Blanc yields rose 23% despite our slightly-drier-than-average winter. It also came in with a textbook combination of bright acids and rich texture. For the varietal Grenache Blanc, we chose a blend with about half the volume fermented in foudre and the other half fermented in smaller (but also neutral) barrels. The lots were blended in May 2026 and bottled under screwcap the next month.
• Tasting Notes: A nose of preserved lemon, citrus blossom, melon, sea spray, and something warm and baked like apple cider donuts. On the palate, pink grapefruit and shortbread flavors, with electric acids giving shape to the rich texture. The long finish shows lingering notes of Golden Delicious apple, sweet white flowers, and briny minerals. Quintessentially Grenache Blanc. Drink now and over the next three-to-five years.
• Production: 946 cases
• List Price: $40 VINsider Price: $32

2024 GRENACHE

• Production Notes: 2024 was a wonderful year for Grenache. We decided that we'd left a little too much crop on the vines in 2023, and so cut our yields back a bit. Those low yields combined with the cool, wet beginning to the year and warm harvest season to produce Grenache with a lovely combination of intense fruit and expressive lift. We used plenty of Grenache in all our blends, increased the production on our chillable Alouette, and still had about 1200 cases that felt perfect for us for a varietal bottling. The chosen lots were blended in June 2025 and aged in neutral oak foudres until the wine's bottling in February 2026.
• Tasting Notes: A lovely translucent garnet color, with a spicy nose of Aperol and crunchy, brambly red cranberry fruit, with additional notes of potpourri and fresh fig. On the palate, tangy and bright, with red plum and cocoa powder flavors and a woodsy red licorice and spice complexity. More complex yet on the finish, with youthful Grenache tannins giving structure to sweet red cherry fruit and a warm loamy umami note. Drink now and over the next six-to-eight years.
• Production: 1216 cases
• List Price: $45 VINsider Price: $36

2024 EN GOBELET

• Production Notes: Our seventeenth En Gobelet, a non-traditional blend all from head-trained, dry-farmed blocks. From a small beginning (one acre of Mourvedre) in 2000, we've steadily increased our wide-spaced, dry-farmed blocks to the point that they now represent about half our planted acreage, including 30 new acres on Jewel Ridge. While you might expect dry-farmed blocks to produce more powerful wines, we instead find them to be a touch more elegant, with an outstanding reflection of the limestone-driven minerality that brought us to Paso Robles. For the 2024 En Gobelet, we chose a blend of 44% Grenache, 22% Mourvedre, 13% Counoise, 12% Syrah, and 9% 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 2025, aged in foudre, and bottled in April 2026.
• Tasting Notes: A deep, inviting nose of dusty strawberry candy and cocoa powder with deeper teriyaki and pine forest notes. The mouth shows a powerful core of red currant and red plum fruit, with a lovely umami richness lifted by sweet anise spice and given firmness by tangy plum skin tannins and a lingering herby sweet tobacco note. Chewy and rich without any sense of hardness. Drink now and for up to two decades.
• Production: 751 cases
• List Price: $65 VINsider Price: $52

2024 ESPRIT DE TABLAS

• Production Notes: As always, the Esprit is based on the red fruit and meatiness of Mourvedre (40%), and in this year with outstanding fruit intensity we chose to prioritize Grenache (27%, for sweet spice and bright acids) and use a little less Syrah (20%, for dark color and savory, tannic richness). We finished the blend with 5% Counoise (for vibrancy and wildness) and 4% each of Cinsaut (for warm purple fruit and sweet spice) and Vaccarese (for black fruit and minerality). The blend was put together in June 2025 and aged a year in foudre before bottling in August 2026.
• Tasting Notes: On the nose, poised between black and red aromas of licorice, currant, cola, amaro, and new leather, with a lifted herbal juniper note. The mouth is luscious but tense with energy: dark chocolate and blackberry and wood smoke and a satiny texture. The finish is long and richly tannic with notes of chocolate-covered cherry, rose hips, and saline minerality. Enjoy any time in the next 25 years.
• Production: 2400 cases
• List Price: $75 VINsider Price: $60

2018 ESPRIT DE TABLAS

• Production Notes: We have been holding a few older vintages of Esprit de Tablas in our cellar so we could give our VINsider Club members a chance to experience them with some bottle age. We're excited to have the 2018 Esprit kick off this new program. The 2018 vintage was something close to a perfect growing season, with cool early-summer and harvest seasons bracketing a hot six weeks between the beginning of July and mid-August. Yields were average, and all our major grapes showed well, though we noted that Mourvedre was more noteworthy for its lift and minerality than for its power. So, for the 2018 Esprit, to the 40% Mourvedre we added 27% Syrah for darkness and density, 23% Grenache for bright spiciness, and 10% Counoise for brambly notes and sweet spice. The wine was blended in June 2019, bottled in July 2020, and has been aging in our cellars since then. Despite the higher Syrah percentage, the vintage has always leaned toward the elegant more than the blockbuster, and while the flavors have deepened in the intervening years, its essential character remains lifted and fresh.
• Tasting Notes: A lovely red fruited nose of mint chocolate, red cherry, red licorice, warm oak leaf, and iron-laced minerality. The palate is in a beautiful place, showing cocoa powder, wild strawberry, salted plum, and a sweet green tarragon note. The finish shows teriyaki marinade and green peppercorn notes. Pure and still youthful, with many years ahead, but the time in bottle has already given it silky tannins and brought out an umami meatiness that it didn't have in its youth. Drink any time over the next two decades.
• Production: 4325 cases
• Library Price: $90 VINsider Price: $72

Two additional reds joined the Grenache, En Gobelet and the two vintages of Esprit de Tablas in the Red Wine Selection shipment:

2024 TERRET NOIR

• Production Notes: Although we have bottled at least a little Terret Noir every year since 2013, this will be the first time we've had enough to include it in a club shipment. It's a fascinating grape, originally from the Languedoc, popular in its time because it was productive and easy to grow. It makes pale, herb-laced red wines with rose petal florality and surprising tannic grip when young. We use it as the primary complement for Syrah in our Le Complice each year, but save some out for a small varietal program. It's fermented in one-ton microfermenters and aged in neutral wood. The lots for the varietal Terret Noir were selected in April 2025 and bottled in March 2026.
• Tasting Notes: A notably pale color for a red wine, more like a Tavel rosé than a more traditional red. But don't be put off by the color. The aromatics are wild and dramatic with notes of blood orange, juniper, aromatic bitters, curry powder, and herbes de Provence. The palate shows flavors of salted watermelon, pink peppercorn, and oolong tea, with herby lift like mint and oregano. The finish shows Terret's tannic grip and bright acids, but finishes clean with notes of cranberry and alpine herbs. We recommend that you drink this over the next few years, in its youth.
• Production: 168 cases
• List Price: $40 VINsider Price: $32

2024 FULL CIRCLE

• Production Notes: The fifteenth 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 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 16 months, before being bottled in January 2026.
• Tasting Notes: A classic Pinot nose of cherry cola and cedar, suede leather and baker's chocolate, with a little bay spice from the stems. On the palate, black cherry and Christmas fruitcake notes, with a little hint of sweet oak. The finish is lifted with notes of oregano, graphite, and salted cherry. Enjoy over the next decade.
• Production: 257 cases
• List Price: $55 VINsider Price: $44

Four additional white wines joined the Fenaughty Blanc and Grenache Blanc in the White Wine Selection shipment:

2025 COTES DE TABLAS BLANC

• Production Notes: Viognier (47%) is always the lead grape in our Cotes Blanc, with Marsanne (29%) our first choice as its second-in-command for its elegance and creamy softness. Three of our higher-acid grapes complete the blend and bring out the vineyard's mineral signature: Grenache Blanc (14%), Picpoul Blanc (5%) and Clairette Blanche (5%). The selected lots were blended in May 2026, and the wine was bottled that June. Although production improved slightly from 2024, it's still one of our lowest volume Cotes Blanc bottlings in the wine's 24-year history.
• Tasting Notes: An exuberant nose of fresh pear, Juicyfruit gum, mandarin pith, sweet basil, and a minerality like rain falling on the beach. The mouth is luscious without being heavy, with flavors of Golden Delicious apple, ripe mango, fresh apricot, and orange marmalade. On the finish, all this fruit is cut by refreshing acids and a sea spray mineral edge that keeps it fresh and inviting. Drink now and for at least the next five years.
• Production: 485 cases.
• List Price: $40 VINsider Price: $32

2025 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 2025 vintage produced glorious Marsanne, and while the 11 tons we harvested is still small, it was 39% improved over 2024. That allowed us to use it in our Cotes de Tablas Blanc and still make a larger quantity of varietal Marsanne from the lots that we felt represented the grape particularly well. The majority was fermented in neutral puncheons, supplemented with some smaller neutral barrels and some wine from one 600-gallon foudre. The lots were assembled and bottled in June 2026.
• Tasting Notes: A pretty nose of honeydew, beeswax, sarsaparilla, and vanilla bean, deepened with something caramelized resembling pineapple upside-down cake. The mouth is gentle with flavors of salted melon, vanilla custard, and dried mandarin. Soft and lingering on the finish with chalky minerality giving balance rather than overt acidity and leaving notes of salt water taffy and sweet oak spice. 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: 478 cases
• List Price: $45 VINsider Price: $36

2025 VIOGNIER

• Production Notes: Viognier is the northern Rhone's noble white grape, renowned for its floral intensity and lushness. In the cool 2025 growing season, Viognier thrived, producing its largest crop since 2020 and increasing its harvest 82% over the tiny 2024 crop. In character it took a middle line, showing the peachy, jasmine intensity that Viognier lovers expect but with lift, minerality, and elegance. For our varietal Viognier we chose a mix of lots fermented in neutral barrels and in 600-gallon foudre, and assembled and bottled the wine in June 2026.
• Tasting Notes: A luscious nose of fresh apricot and vanilla shortbread, lemongrass and citrus leaf. The palate shows flavors of peaches and cream, with sweet cantaloupe, lychee, and fennel spice over a chalky minerality that feels like it comes straight from our limestone. Yet for all those fruity descriptors, the wine is firmly dry with refreshing acids, minty lift, and a little pithy bite. Drink now and for at least the next five years.
• Production: 581 cases
• List Price: $45 VINsider Price: $36

2024 PANOPLIE BLANC

• Production Notes: We have been looking for a white complement to our Panoplie for years. In 2024, we settled on an idea, in which we would lean into Roussanne's richness, rounded and deepened by a touch of oak, and make a wine that is luscious, textured, and ageworthy. Around the blending table we chose three exceptional lots of Roussanne (70%), one of Grenache Blanc (25%), and one of Picpoul Blanc (5%), representing the top 3% of the vintage's white volume. These came from some of our oldest blocks and include the first Grenache Blanc planting in the United States. The Roussanne component was fermented in 60-gallon and 132-gallon oak barrels, about 20% new. The Grenache Blanc was fermented in a neutral 1200-gallon foudre, and the Picpoul Blanc was fermented in neutral acacia wood. The Panoplie Blanc was blended and returned to foudre in April 2025. It aged an additional 8 months until its bottling in December 2025 and we've been letting it deepen in bottle ever since.
• Tasting Notes: An intensely Roussanne nose of fresh honeycomb, baked pear, lanolin, brioche, and crushed oyster shell. The mouth is luscious and lovely, with spicy flavors of wildflower honey and jasmine, white pepper, and crushed rock. Candied orange peel notes and sweet/spicy nutmeg complexity emerge on the wine's long finish. Drink now to enjoy its freshness or let it age for up to two decades for deeper flavors of crème brûlée and roasted nuts.
• Production: 286 cases
• List Price: $115 VINsider Price: $92

The tasting was a great opportunity to identify the character of our two most recent vintages. 2024 is a year that shows its cool start and warm finish in with vibrant fruit and lovely acids, while 2025 shows the cooler year with outstanding structure and mouth-filling textures, and bright finishes. 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 an in-person pickup party on Sunday, October 18th. We'll again be offering club members who visit the opportunity to choose the shipment wines as their tasting flight between mid-September and mid-October. And we're planning to host a virtual pickup party as well. 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