Tablas Creek Patelin de Tablas Blanc

Tablas Creek Vineyard
Patelin de Tablas Blanc
Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne
Paso Robles, California, U.S.A.
2010
13.5%
$19.99 -- Tablas Creek Vineyard, CA

Color: Light gold, almost a hint of peach?
Nose: Charred flowers, honey, pear rind
Body: Light
Front: Peach, honey
Middle: Creamy sage, orange
Back: A hint of salted almonds
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

The nose on this wine is reminiscent of the Vin Soave I just reviewed, with a little more orangey action. The Tablas Creek folks, whose wines I generally love, have started making wines with bought fruit, not just their own; the "Patelin" series is the name for such wines, and this is the first release. 16% of the fruit for this wine is from Tablas Creek's land.

It's a charming, light wine, with persistence on the palate and a summery lift to it--very drinkable. This will go well with food, especially seafood. It doesn't have the strong orangey, gassy quality that some southern Rhone whites have, but it's not a pushover, either.

Caveat Emptyer Top Ten of 2009-2010

JUST MINUTES BEFORE THE DEADLINE, dear readers, I fulfill my summer promise of a top ten list.

As both of you know, I'm not a "rankings" sort of person. I'm a both-and drinker. Let's try all of them. In different orders. With different foods. Maybe dimming the lights will help. Or sitting outside.

But one reader, he expressed a desire for a digest, and in the interests of democracy and shit, here we go: of the wines I've reviewed on this blog in the last year, what are my top ten? (Okay, actually, I'm doing this because I tend not to express a strong opinion in my reviews, and some folks who trust my palate don't have time to close-read all my bla bla bla about the wines.)

1. Prieure Roch Vosne-Romanee Les Clous
2. Sinskey Merlot
3. Gary Farrell Merlot
4. Shafer Merlot 
5. San Román Toro
   
6. Saint Jean du Barroux L'Ogliocene 
7. Eyrie Chardonnay 
8. Hamilton Russell Pinot Noir 
9. Frank Family Chardonnay 
10. Howard Park Scotsdale Shiraz

I'll do my best to post a new version of this list annually. One thought on the list (other than the obvious infatuation with Merlot): I've had a number of wines that would be in this top ten, displacing those at the bottom, that I didn't review (some 2007 Chateauneufs come to mind, and a Terlato Chardonnay that I think is super). And there are some old favorites (the V. Sattui Suzanne's Vineyard 2002) to which I returned that I'm not including. So this approach to ranking will be structured a bit by novelty. When the volume of reviews warrants it, I'll do an ALL-TIME list.

Note, 4/15/2011: I just noticed that there are no Cabernets and no Champagnes on this list. Awesome, or no?