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Jason Haas

An appealing new idea for charity wine auctions

At 6pm tonight, this year's Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance Auction will begin. It's not a swanky black-tie gala with big-name chefs under the stars. It's not preceded by a tasting where 300 of local society's leading lights are wined and dined

Reining In Harvest 2013

By Chelsea Franchi I was standing in the entrance of the cellar on Monday with my hand wrapped around a steaming mug of coffee, watching as a storm rolled over the hills of Paso Robles and finally touch down on our vineyard. And I had a smile on my face.

Photo essay: Autumn in the Vineyard

This is such a beautiful time of year in the vineyard. As the vines gradually shut down photosynthesis for the year, vibrant fall colors appear. The low angle of the light in the mornings and evenings bring out the contrasts. And the moderate temperatures invite you to spend time appreciating

A Tale of Two Rosés

For the last two years, we've been making two rosés. If that sounds nuts, it kind of is. But it's in keeping with using our wines to try to express something fundamental about the grapes that go into them. The first of our rosés, which we&

Harvest 2013 Recap: Down 21% in Yields; Quality Excellent

On Monday, October 7th we picked the last fruit off our estate. On Thursday, October 10th we brought in our last purchased lot for our Patelin de Tablas. And just like that, we're done. Viticulturist Levi Glenn and harvest assistant Jordan Collins clown in front of the last

Every now and then you get a particularly meaningful compliment...

The wine business is hard. It may not get talked about a lot, but it is. There are huge start-up costs, an ever-growing number of wineries which crowd the marketplace and compete for your existing customers, and a shrinking number of distributors that combine with a relentless stream of wines

We cruise toward the end of the earliest Paso Robles harvest since 2001

It's getting hard to find a vineyard block with fruit still on it. As of the beginning of October, we'd harvested all of our non-Roussanne whites and our Syrah, and nearly all of our Mourvedre, Grenache and Roussanne. The only grape that's hanging a

Celebrating 11 New AVA's in Paso Robles

At long last, nearly seven years after it was submitted to the TTB (the Tax and Trade Bureau -- the office of the federal government that oversees wine regulation) we received news this week that the petition from the Paso Robles wine community to establish eleven American Viticultural Areas (AVA&

Celebrating summer's end, locally (and a delicious pasta with lobster and fresh corn recipe)

By Robert Haas Our California kids, Jason and Meghan, and our grandchildren Eli and Sebastian, and our Vermont kids, Rebecca and Tom, and our grandson Emmett, who live here, convened together here in Chester for the two weeks in advance of Labor Day. We were graced by some of the

Mid-September Harvest Report: Vibrant Whites and Dark, Electric Reds

What a difference two years makes. As of September 15th in 2011 (and 2010, for that matter) we were looking at each other and re-sampling the vineyard, trying to figure out what to do with ourselves as we waited for the delayed harvest to begin. Even last year, as of