Tablas Creek Vineyard Esprit de Beaucastel 2003

Written By Campbell Mattinson
Bottle of Tablas Creek Vineyard Esprit de Beaucastel 2003.

Tablas Creek Vineyard Esprit de Beaucastel 2003
14.8% alcohol, cork, Paso Robles, CA, USA.

This was tasted on the Mattinson in California trail. It’s a blend of 50% Mourvèdre, 27% Syrah, 16% Grenache, 7% Counoise.

Developed but given its age the fruit still presents as incredibly bright. Lovely shape, garrigue herbs, velvety tannin, fresh but flavoured acidity. If you told me this was 8 or 9 years old rather than 23 years old I wouldn't have blinked. But even so its magic isn’t in its unusual youthfulness. It’s in the verve, the flowery herbs, the roasted nut notes and the layers of flavour and texture. This is drinking wonderfully right now, and is at its very peak. That said, well-stored bottles will not fall over in a hurry. 94 points.

Campbell Mattinson

This post was written by Campbell Mattinson. Mattinson is a former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion book, former editor of Halliday magazine, former editor of Australian Sommelier Magazine and founder of The Winefront business. He is the author of five books on wine – four of which were bestsellers (The Wine Hunter, the Big Red Wine Book 2008, the Big Red Wine Book 2009, and the Big Red Wine Book 2010).

Mattinson is also the founder of the Mattinson Photography business.

Campbell Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer for forty years. He’s the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He’s a past winner of a Louis Roederer International Wine Media Award; is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter; and is the author of the best-selling novel We Were Not Men. He’s also a winner of a St Kilda Film Festival Award (as writer-director) and is a former winner of the national Best Australian Sports Writing Award. In 2026 three of his photographs were short-listed for the World Food Photography Awards.

Campbell Mattinson, who is 100% independent, has tasted between 5000 and 10,000 wines each and every year for the past 25 years. He tastes blind, in comparative brackets, as often as is practicable.

Campbell Mattinson is a journalist, a photographer, a filmmaker and a wine critic. In all of these mediums his prime motive is to tell people's stories.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
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