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Articles by Robert Haas

A collection of 38 issues

A Day in the Life of a Limousin Oak Fermenter

By Robert Haas When you enter our new tasting room you can see our Séguin-Moreau 1600 gallon Limousin oak cuves in the background: We really love them. But they are much more than a mise en scène for our visitors. They are valuable because of their flexibility. With the flat

Maine's Greatest Oysters

by Robert Haas I began my love affair with oysters on the half shell when I first went to France in 1954. Sure, I had eaten the ubiquitous Blue Points in New York restaurants (with cocktail sauce of course) but I discovered then the flavors really fresh cold water oysters,

Tablas Creek 101: Why We Are Where We Are

By Robert Haas In the early 1970’s Jean-Pierre Perrin accompanied me when I was visiting my then Napa Valley suppliers of Vineyard Brands: Freemark Abbey, Chappellet, Clos du Val and Phelps. We took a little tour of the valley and he remarked that it was extraordinary that, in a

Tablas Creek 101: Why (and How) We Use So Many Grapes

By Robert Haas Last night a long-time friend and wine lover asked why we planted and utilized so many different varieties of Rhône grapes in our Tablas Creek wines and what their individual contributions are to our six different blends, or assemblages as they are known in France. Well, there

A family stay in Vinsobres

By Robert Haas Where? Well, Vinsobres is in the Drôme, the next département north of the Vaucluse: kind of the northern limit of the southern Vallée du Rhône. We were in the outskirts of Les Cornuds, a village -- patelin, if you will -- of about four houses just east

An accidental 1996-1998 Tablas Creek vertical in Chester, Vermont

In consecutive coincidences this week, a few days after chose to open at home in Chester, Vermont a 1996 Tablas Hills Cuveé Rouge, we were served by our long time friend and neighbor Tory Spater a 1997 Tablas Creek Vineyard Tablas Rouge and a 1998 Tablas Creek Vineyard Rouge at

Foudres, Demi Muids, Puncheons, and Wood Fermenters: The Appeal of Large Oak

Foudre- (Food’r)- French term for a large cask of indefinite size1 At Tablas Creek we follow the Châteauneuf-du-Pape tradition of maturing our red wines in 1200 gallon (4500 liter) French oak foudres rather than in the more familiar 60 gallon (225 liter) oak barrels. These smaller barrels – known

Côtes (de Tablas), Côte (d’Or) and the pleasures of aged wine

By Robert Haas The age of a wine is a relative thing. Some wines are old young and others are young old. Many great red wines are rushed to the table too young these days. Most restaurants and retailers do not have the financing or space to lay down wines

Business as Usual

by Robert Haas Or, maybe I should write business as unusual: then and now. As you can see from the photo view, we are starting new construction on the third and last phase of building Tablas Creek Vineyard’s winery: adding 8,000 sq. ft. to give us one-third more

Antoine's 1940 Wine List, 70 Years and 40,000% Inflation Later

By Robert Haas While researching another subject on the web recently I came across this article by Jean-Luc Le Dû in the May 8th 2008 New York Times in which he writes about discovering Antoine’s (New Orleans) Restaurant’s remarkable hundredth anniversary 1940 wine list. You can also access