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Notes from the Cellar by Chelsea Franchi

A collection of 22 issues

The Beauty of Frost Protection

By Chelsea Franchi The beginning of last week brought some low temperatures to the vineyard and Executive Winemaker/Vineyard Manager Neil Collins and Viticulturist Levi Glenn were forced to work through the night to ensure that the 2013 harvest didn't get fried by frost. When freezing temperatures are

Harvest 2012: The End of the Beginning

By Chelsea Franchi And so it appears, just like that, harvest is over and it is time for a season-end wrap up. While I wish I could tell you there was a wonderful celebration as the last cluster was ceremoniously placed in the last tank, I can't. Because

Pre-Harvest Jubilation

By Chelsea Franchi We had our scale certified last week, which was just one more reminder of the ever-present fact that harvest is barreling down on us (no pun intended). Steaming barrels in the afternoon sun Harvest is what we live for (well, work for) here in the cellar. It

It's a Wonderful Day in the Patelin (and we have photos to prove it)

By Chelsea Magnusson A few months ago, my husband, Trevor, and I sat down to dinner in our backyard with a bottle of our new go-to wine: the Patelin de Tablas. I was so struck by the warmth and the casual feel exuding from the moment, I grabbed my camera

The Serenity of Foudres (Sometimes)

By Chelsea Magnusson The addition of the new tasting room and foudre rooms has been a bit of a challenge for those of us in the cellar. Where before, we could do most of our work on the foudres in private, it now feels as though we are on display

Getting "Personal" With Tablas Creek Wines

By Chelsea Magnusson The last time we sat down to go through the 2010 reds in the cellar, winemaker Ryan Hebert commented that the vintage was like a Batman movie. And the funny thing? That was a perfect descriptor for what we had tasted and I was blown away at

Notes from the Cellar: Harvest 2010 Begins! (AKA Fruit and Football; It Must be Fall)

By Chelsea Magnusson Experts claim that the (official) first day of autumn is September 22nd. Typically, I hate to disagree with expert opinion, but my first day of fall was yesterday. Supporting evidence includes the fact that Sundays and Mondays are now spent watching football, but the primary reason for

Notes from the Cellar: Assembling the 2009 reds, and getting ready for harvest 2010...

By Chelsea Magnusson The cellar has been an absolute mess this week. And for good reason - veraison has begun in the vineyard, and we are slowly wrapping our heads around the fact that another harvest season is right around the corner. It looks like a disaster, but I promise,

Notes from the Cellar: Pomp and Circumstance

By Chelsea Magnusson The clanging and hammering coming from the construction crew outside the winery seems to echo the pandemonium going on inside the winery. Construction officially began last week, which is both exciting and stressful. Stressful because we have our big bottling session lined up for the the end

Notes from the Cellar: Biodynamics and crystallization? Yeah, it's new to me too.

by Chelsea Magnusson When I was a student at Cal Poly, my Advanced Viticulture class spent a few lecture sessions on alternative farming methods. In less than five minutes, we were finished with our lesson on biodynamics - it was clear that the professor was not trying to sell the