The bottled red wines include the seductive, straightforward 2005 Syrah, which includes 10% Grenache in the blend. It offers blackberry and cassis fruit, medium body, a soft texture, and good purity and depth. Readers would be hard pressed to find more French-like wines in the Paso Robles corridor than those produced by Tablas Creek. This is a partnership between renowned importer Robert Haas (Vineyard Brands), one of the pioneers of estate-bottled French wines, and Francois Perrin, one of the owners of Chateau Beaucastel in Chateauneuf du Pape. Haas and Perrin run a serious vineyard operation with vines planted on the steep hillsides in pure limestone soils, not far from the Pacific Ocean. All of these cuvees possess distinctive personalities, good acids, and striking minerality. Even though they make very good single varietal wines, I still believe their strength lies in their sensational blends. That said, my two favorite dry whites, other than the blended wines, are their Chablis-like, unwooded Antithesis Chardonnay and the tank-fermented and aged, exquisite Vermentino. The 2005 red wines have all been bottled. I tasted a handful of 2007 reds, which appears to be a superb vintage for Tablas Creek. (Production was down 15% for the red wine varietals and 30% for the whites, thus giving everything an extra degree of concentration.)Tel. (805) 237-1231; Fax (805) 237-1314

Tablas Creek has struggled with Syrah and continues to do so. Ripeness isn’t the problem, as the ’05 shows, with powerful blackberry, raspberry and chocolate flavors. The challenge is structural. They need to build in an acid-tannin balance, and keep the finish dry.——S.H.(11/1/2007)—— 85