Weekend Wine: Tablas Creek’s Patelin de Tablas Rouge

Wine aficionados love to draw distinctions that would embarrass people who debate about angels dancing on pinheads, but one distinction remains useful when you are trying to communicate your preferred style, and that is Old World versus New World. 

It is basically a short hand way of saying “I like the European style of elegance, restraint, and food friendliness,” or “I like big, fruity, oaky wines that have enough power to stand on their own without any food.” Like any comparison, there are multiple examples that disprove the rule. Italy and France both make their own huge, fruity wines. And the U.S. makes several food-friendly wines. Still, the concept perseveres because it is useful.

For wine lovers who prefer the food-friendly restraint of Old World wines but would like to drink New World, some of the most dependable wines come from Tablas Creek Vineyard in California’s Paso Robles. Tablas Creek makes everything from box wine to $250 a bottle Panoplie. The winery has connections to France’s Château de Beaucastel, one of the great wineries of the Rhône Valley. 

One of the easiest of their wines to source in Central Texas is also one of their best values, Patelin de Tablas Rouge ($25-$30). This distinctly Old World-style wine is a blend of 45% Syrah, 30% Grenache, 23% Mourvèdre, and 2% Counoise. Generally, a New World wine with those grapes would come from a hot-climate growing area leading to a high alcohol, fruit-driven bottle of wine.

Instead, it is a lightly colored, 13% alcohol wine that carries just a whiff of umami aromas. We had a bottle recently with rack of lamb coated in mustardy breadcrumbs and a chimichurri sauce on the side. The combo worked together so perfectly that they would make a good learning tool for how well food and wine can help each other shine. Patelin de Tablas Rouge is easily obtainable, if not on the shelves then on order.

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