Tablas Creek represents the combined efforts of two of the international wine community's leading families: the Perrins, proprietors of Château de Beaucastel; and Robert Haas, founder of Vineyard Brands.

Since the 1970s, both families have held the belief that the California climate is ideal for planting Rhône varietal grapes.

In 1987, they began the lengthy process of creating a Châteauneuf-du-Pape-style vineyard from scratch there.

The Tablas Creek Vineyard Partnership was born, with the Perrin and Haas families as majority partners, and French and American wine-loving friends as minority partners.

In 1989, they purchased a 120-acre parcel 12 miles from the Pacific Ocean in west Paso Robles. They named it Tablas Creek Vineyard, after the creek on the property.

To ensure the vines at Tablas Creek were of the highest quality and same genetic source as those at Beaucastel, the partners imported vinifera from the French estate.

Several clones each of mourvedre, grenache noir, syrah, counoise, roussanne, viognier, marsanne, grenache blanc and picpoul blanc were imported. This diversity allows Tablas Creek to replicate an established French vineyard.

The Tablas Creek Vineyard label debuted with the construction of the estate winery for the 1997 vintage. Beginning with the 2001 whites and 2000 reds, the wines were named Esprit de Beaucastel and Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc.

Tablas Creek Vineyard follows the centuries-old Châteauneuf-du-Pape tradition of blending chosen varietals, which produces wines that are more complex and elegant, better balanced, richer and deeper than single varietal wines.

The red wines, comprising about two-thirds of the vineyard's production, are made from mourvedre, grenache noir, syrah and counoise. The whites are made from roussanne, viognier, marsanne, picpoul blanc and grenache blanc.

The vineyard's signature wines, Esprit de Beaucastel and Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc, are blended for richness, balance and age ability. The Cotes de Tablas and Cotes de Tablas Blanc wines are designed to drink younger and very reasonable in price.

Many of its wines have received ratings of 90 points and higher from Robert Parker. Some recent ratings from Parker are: 2006 Antithesis (chardonnay), 91-93 points; 2005 Cotes de Tablas (43 percent grenache, 24 percent mourvedre, 18 percent syrah and the rest counoise), 90 points; 2005 Esprit de Beaucastel (44 percent mourvedre, 26 percent genache, 25 percent syrah and the rest counoise), 92-94 points; 2006 Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc (60 percent roussanne, 30 percent grenache blanc and 10 percent picpoul), 92-95 points; and the 2005 Panoplie (70 percent mourvedre, 25 percent grenache and 5 percent syrah), 94-96 points (lay this one down for at least two years).

If you love the Old World-blended style of wine, this is the winery for you. Recently, many wineries have added Rhone varietals to their production. But of all the California Rhone-style wineries I have visited, this by far is the winner.

Tablas Creek Vineyard is at 9339 Adelaida Road in Paso Robles. For more information, call 237-1231, visit http://www.tablascreek.com or e-mail info@tablascreek.com.

— Portions of this report were reprinted with permission from Tablas Creek's Web site.

— Russ Briley is director of consumer sales and retention for The Star. An amateur wine enthusiast, Briley travels around the region studying area wineries and their stock. E-mail him at rbriley@VenturaCountyStar.com.