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Jason Haas

Chavignol Sancerre Thomas-Labaille 2006 "Les Monts Damnés"

In October, we were lucky enough to have Patrick Hub visit us at Tablas Creek. Patrick is the proprietor of Olympic Wine Merchant, the top wine shop in Olympia, Washington. We spent much of the day in the cellar and in the vineyard, and generally got into the how and

Rainfall microclimates in Paso Robles

Appellations are by nature generalizations. You do your best in defining one to understand macro-level differences in soils, climate and rainfall (the three components which together give a place its signature). And, practically speaking, you won't ever be able to delineate an area that is absolutely uniform. Even

Rain... finally!

We're in the middle of a true Pacific winter storm, with driving rain and 20-30mph winds. This is badly needed; we're coming off a winter with only about 35% of typical rainfall, and we've only had about two inches so far this year. This

The TTB's new AVA rules: a well-meaning step in the wrong direction

I was surprised with how quickly the TTB published new draft rules to resolve the issues surrounding the approval of new AVAs that might conflict with existing brand names, or that are nested within other existing AVAs. [I wrote about this a few weeks back at some length.] A first

A little reminder of why we're in California (and a look back at Vermont)

Many of you probably know that my dad's wine career started in the Northeast. He was born in Brooklyn, grew up in suburban New York, and moved back to Manhattan to work at his father's wine shop M. Lehmann. Even after my grandfather sold that shop

A Few November Vineyard Photos

We had a nice foggy morning earlier this week, and I made it out to take some photos. This is one of the only times of year where it's occasionally foggy here; usually the fog is kept back by the Santa Lucia Mountains. With the grapes off the

Winemaker Neil Collins Discusses Harvest 2007 with winerychannel.tv

If you haven't checked out winerychannel.tv yet, you should. It's online television, dedicated to the world of wine. Like many members of the new media, they're fans of what's going on in the Central Coast, and we welcomed them up here

The TTB's Reevaluation of its AVA Approval Process: a Retreat from the "Common Good"?

[Editor's Note: with the publication in late November of the TTB's proposed new rules for AVA approval, the questions under debate have been clarified. I have posted an updated analysis of the new rules, as well as a discussion of some of the responses of local

Tablas Creek on Ted Allen's List of Favorite California Wineries

The world of blogs is amazing. I have a Google alert set up to let me know when a blog entry about Tablas Creek is posted (if you haven't checked out this service, it's well worth doing; click the link above). I got an alert yesterday

End of 2007 Harvest!

With the completion of the "Mount Mourvedre" block behind the winery, we're officially done with the 2007 harvest. Like each year, it's had its own challenges, this time at 65 days the longest extent between the beginning of harvest (August 27th) and the end