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Jason Haas

Proprietor at Tablas Creek Vineyard

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

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

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

Alpacas (not Llamas) - The Rock Stars of Biodynamic Farming

By Lauren Cross One of our alpacas, Freddie Mercury (named after the lead singer of Queen), stood center stage on the front cover of our printed newsletter this summer. Since Freddie's debut on our newsletter, the tasting room has been abuzz with discussion about what really are the

Harvest 2013 begins, fast and slightly less furious than 2012

In my last pre-harvest assessment, written the first of August, I predicted that based on our veraison dates we'd start between August 25th and September 4th. And I was right, but only barely. It was August 26th when we brought in our first estate lots: two different

Robert Haas comes Full Circle on Pinot Noir

Over the last couple of vintages, word has seeped out that Tablas Creek is making a Pinot Noir. Why, you might ask? It's personal. The person in question is our founder -- and my dad -- Robert Haas. He made his name as an importer, mostly of French wines, and

An easy peach preserves recipe (A.K.A. Something to do with the fruits of your biodiversity)

One of the principal tenets of Biodynamics is creating a diverse ecosystem in whatever you're growing. That means avoiding monoculture, encouraging the growth of native and complementary plants, and reaping the benefits of the complex, healthy soils and resilient, self-sustaining inesct population that result. Our animal program