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Grapes of the Rhone Valley (mostly)

A collection of 44 issues

Grapes of the Rhone Valley: Picardan

Wednesday morning, we bottled our tiny (70 case) production of Picardan. What's the big deal? Well, this grape is one of the rarest in the world, with a total footprint of only a couple of acres. And this bottling is likely the first 100% Picardan -- made anywhere

Grapes of the Rhone Valley: Clairette Blanche

Terret Noir isn't the only new grape that we're getting to explore right now. In that same batch of imports, we brought in a white that is fairly widely planted in the Rhone Valley but new to California. Clairette Blanche (pronounced Kleh-RHEHT BLAHNSH) is a grape

Grapes of the Rhone Valley: Terret Noir

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one here at Tablas Creek who thinks that one of the most fun things I get to do is to work with new grapes. In some cases, these grapes are ones that are pretty well known in France, but

Grenache Blanc's Moment in the Sun

A decade ago, there was a flurry of interest around Syrah. A few years ago, it was Grenache. This spring, it seems to be Grenache Blanc's moment in the spotlight. In February, within a week of each other, I got phone calls from the Wine Spectator's

Wrapping Our Heads Around Petit Manseng

On Friday, my dad, Neil, Tyler, Jordan and I sat down to taste through each vintage of Petit Manseng we've made (2010-2015) with the hopes of coming to a consensus on what we want out of this obscure, compelling grape. Petit Manseng is a grape from southwest France,

Outtakes from Zester Daily's Focus on Grenache

Yesterday, I had an article published in Zester Daily. That article (Grenache Returns to Bask in the California Sun) tracks Grenache's remarkable journey from supplier of innocuous juice for California jug wines to one of the hottest grapes in the state, with over 1000 acres of new planting

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

We welcome a new grape to California: Picardan

Today we make history as we plant 1000 vines of Picardan in a rugged block we've reserved for new grape varieties at the extreme western edge of our property. This is the culmination of a nearly decade-long process. We decided in late 2003 that we wanted to have

We celebrate the release from quarantine of four new Rhone grapes

By Robert Haas This week we are filing a petition to recognize Terret Noir, Vaccarese, Picardan, and Bourboulenc for use as grape varietal names on labels in the United States. The petition, ready to go out yesterday afternoon: In 1990, when Tablas Creek Vineyard was founded, it was our intention

Tannat: the Perfect Grape for Paso Robles?

[Editor's Note May 2021: With the announcement of the 2017 Tannat as our featured wine for the second half of the month, we have updated this blog to include information about this wine.] Although we specialize in Rhône varietals, we continue to experiment with other grapes that we