Alouette: A New Take On Chillable Red Wine

A Bird. A Wine. A Childhood Memory

Is chillable red wine trending and poised to breathe new life into the wine market? Beaujolais and Gamay wines automatically come up in conversations about chilling red wines. But what is needed to jump start a serious trend is for a highly respected winery to offer a delicious, lively, flavour-packed drink now red and promote it as chillable. Not about to happen, you say? Well, I just discovered a wine that fits the bill.

“Alouette” is the name given to a potential trend setting Grenache made by Tablas Creek Vineyards. The back label says it is “intended for early drinking, ideally served chilled.” The name “Alouette” which is the French name for a lark was chosen for this wine because it conveys a sense of fun. (For more about the word “Alouette,” see my note at the end.)

Not only is thisTablas Creek wine fun but it is also a multi-layered wine with normal alcohol (over 13%), and offers authentic Grenache character. It fits as a summer-sipper but also has the depth to pair well with a wide range of food throughout the year.

Tablas Creek Vineyards has scored so many “firsts” since it arrived in Paso Robles that it wasn’t a total surprise to see it break the ice (sorry about that pun) on chilling red wines. Afterall, under the direction of Jason Hass, Tablas Creek has made a single varietal wine from each of the permitted varieties allowed in Chateauneuf-du-Pape. I’ve been lucky to have tasted many of them and am now a fan of Bourboulenc, Clairette Blanche, Terret Noir…and, sorry, I wandered off course. But Terret Noir is another light, flowery red that is chillable.

A Little Background

Back to Alouette, the wine. Being quite vigorous, Grenache yields a big crop in some years. 2024 was one of those vintages and as Jason explains: “We decided to make two wines: our traditional varietal bottling of Grenache, from the more classic, structured, deeper lots, and a new wine from the highest-toned, palest, and juiciest lots that we’re calling Alouette.”

The year before the winery offered the wine only in boxes and kegs. But as Jason explained, the feedback they got was that the wine needed to be in bottles. And so the 2024 Alouette is presented in a clear bottle which leaves no doubt it is a red wine. Jason concludes,”This year we’re expanding it to national scale and reducing the price to $30 SRP so it can be a viable wine by the glass candidate for restaurants (at $35 it was just a little too expensive).”

My note for the 2024 “Alouette” is that it is a medium red in color, and the aroma is very assertive with cranberry and strawberry to it along with a hint of licorice. Feels smooth on the palate with balancing acidity and flavors that fan out featuring cranberry. Pleasing bright fruit in the finish with no hint of tannin, oak, or alcohol coming through when served chilled.

Overall, it has more going on than a Grenache Rose and held up nicely, tasting fruity and lively a day after being opened.

Grenache is a great candidate for a chillable red because it is widely grown and so versatile. It is also dark in color and low in tannin.

Kermit Lynch, one of the most respected wine importers recently wrote: “Grenache yields an astounding range of experiences, from dense and soulful to bright and ethereal.”

Perhaps Kermit Lynch’s “bright and ethereal” is a little too poetic, but “Alouette” by Tablas Creek is a refreshing new take on Grenache. And a tasty, chillable red!

If anyone has a suggestion of a red wine they feel is also a delicious, chillable red, please share it. I’ve tasted a couple of Pinot Noirs that are possible candidates.

Let’s start a fun conversation.

On a personal note, “Alouette” is a popular nursery rhyme in Quebec, Canada. It is a song heard over and over again by every child born in Quebec. You cannot get it out of your mind even as an adult. Born in Quebec, I know this to be true.

So “Alouette, gentille alouette!”