Neil Collins, winemaker Credit: Photo Courtesy of the Winery

I try to focus on wines under $20, and luckily, the good folks at Paso Robles’s Tablas Creek have a wine that barely squeaks under at $19.99. But only when it’s on sale.

Neil Collins, winemaker Credit: Photo Courtesy of the Winery

As usual at this esteemed winery, Tablas Creek’s Patelin de Tablas is a blend of Rhone grapes, specifically Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Counoise. Imagine someone took a nice, dense blackberry juice, then took out all the sugar and added a hint of black pepper. As should be obvious by the description, this is wine made for grilled meats.

Credit: Photo Courtesy of the Winery

For those of you rolling in money, or at least devoted to higher expenditures, Tablas Creek’s Tête de Cuvée (French for our best stuff) is Esprit de Tablas ($55). It is made with similar grapes, albeit with more of the earthiness of the Mourvèdre and less of the berry aromatics of the Syrah. Try it with Cassoulet, or, if you can find a French person (preferably a local chef) who is willing to go to the effort, it would be a glorious wine to have with Friands Foie Gras. It would also be delicious with a well made hamburger.

I can’t claim to have tasted everything Tablas Creek makes, but the wines I have tried over the last two decades have been spectacular. It is always a winery to watch.

This article appears in June 22 • 2018.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US

Wes Marshall is the author of What's a Wine Lover To Do? (Artisan) and The Wine Roads of Texas (Maverick), as well as the Executive Producer of the PBS television series of the same name. Wes has written for The Austin Chronicle since 1999, covering wine, cocktails, food, and travel.