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Jason Haas

Harvest 2014 begins: How our earliest-ever start also has longer-than-average hangtime

This Wednesday, August 13th, we welcomed sixteen tons of Syrah into our cellar, marking the beginning of the 2014 harvest. These bins were from Estrella Farms, in the warm heartland of the Paso Robles AVA, and will form the juicy core of our Patelin de Tablas. The fruit looked terrific,

Photos of each Rhone grape as harvest approaches, and an updated vintage assessment

I returned this week from two and a half weeks on the east coast to find a vineyard landscape transformed. In what was a sea of green we now have new colors: pinks, reds and purples in our red grapes, as well as the first hints of gold in our

A first timer's visit to Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Château de Beaucastel

By: Lauren Cross I arrived in Paris with two bags. One small bag was full of camera equipment. A second large suitcase held a few clothes and lots of packaging material. I had come with the intention of taking France home with me to California, bottle by bottle and image

In Anticipation of Cruising the Rhone River

By Robert Haas "Cruising" a river seems like an odd term. One usually cruises on an ocean. But two old northern Rhône wines with our roast pork loin last night reminded me of the pleasures of the Rhône River. I have visited the Rhône River Valley over a

Tasting the wines in the fall 2014 VINsider Club shipment

Every six months, we send out a six-bottle shipment of wines to the members of our VINsider Wine Club. The fall shipment is the showcase for our signature wines, and is highlighted by the newest vintages of our Esprit and Esprit Blanc. That's no different this year. But

Veraison two weeks early suggests a late-August beginning to harvest

This week, we've seen the first hints of veraison in our Syrah and our Mourvedre. One of the most advanced Syrah clusters is below, alongside other clusters that like most of the vineyard are still totally green: Veraison is an exciting time visually, but its implications in the

Game Theory, the Prisoner's Dilemma and... Winery Membership Organizations, Part 2: Measuring the Value of Membership

Last month, I wrote a blog piece about how game theory, and specifically the classic example of the prisoner's dilemma, relates to participation in winery membership organizations. If you haven't read part 1, this post will make more sense if you do so now. OK, welcome

Finding Closure(s) in Portugal

By Chelsea Franchi Here at Tablas Creek, we do things by hand and with care. In the vineyard and the cellar, it's paramount that everyone feels pride for their work and I'd like to think that attention and consideration translates to the product in the bottle.

Veraison in June? Not so fast, in Paso Robles at least.

In his blog this week, the Wine Spectator's Tim Fish reports that regions as diverse as Contra Costa, Santa Lucia Highlands and Santa Maria Valley are already seeing veraison: the point at which red grapes start turning color, and all grapes stop growing in size and turn to

Introducing the wines for the 2014 Collector's Edition shipment

Each June, I have the pleasure of tasting through our library vintages of Esprit de Beaucastel and Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc, with the goal of choosing the wines for the VINsider Wine Club Collector's Edition shipment in September. For those of you unfamiliar with the Collector's