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Sustainability Matters

A collection of 74 posts

Introducing a Greener Wine Bottle

Early this year, I wrote the blog post In Search of a Green(er) Wine Bottle, which details our quest for a wine bottle that both appealed to our aesthetics and didn't weigh more than the wine inside it. We had, before our 2008 bottling (which included the

The appeal of wine in keg... and an appeal to the restaurants who want it

A few years ago, we received a request from Chef Todd Rushing of the Concentrics Restaurant Group in Atlanta asking if we'd consider bottling... er kegging... one of our wines for him. It didn't make sense at the time since we were ten months away from

Vineyard weed control... and introducing the spader, our newest toy

At this time of year, it's essential that we get into the vineyard and complete the long process of knocking down the vineyard weeds so that they don't steal water and other scarce resources from the vines. This is a multi-stage process that takes us months

A skeptic's move toward biodynamics

by Robert Haas Tablas Creek Vineyard, following the practices of our partners at Château de Beaucastel, had always intended to farm our Paso Robles property organically. That is to say, farming our vineyard without the use of systemic chemicals and relying on compost, cover crops and mineral amendments to improve

In Search of a Green(er) Wine Bottle

I spent this past week with winemaker Neil Collins up at the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium in Sacramento. Unified (as everyone in the industry calls it) is the country's largest wine and grape trade show, with 12,000 attendees visiting booths from about 600 vendors representing the

A great blue heron visits the Tablas Creek wetlands

Several of us were sitting on our patio having lunch when a blue heron sailed over the vineyard before coming to rest in the Tablas Creek wetlands that border Adelaida road, just downhill from our entrance. I got one decent shot (right) before I scared it off by getting too

Autumn Vineyard Photo Essay, Part 4: Seeding the Cover Crop

There's not much to do in the vineyard at this time of year. You need to wait for everything to go fully dormant before you prune, and once harvest is complete, the only typical action you take is to make sure that the vines get some irrigation as

Earth Day thoughts on sustainability in the world of wine

Today is the 39th annual Earth Day celebration, and a great time to assess wine's progress on its quest for sustainability. Wine, like any other agricultural product, has environmental impacts from its vineyard and winery practices, and additional impacts from its packaging and marketing (Tyler Coleman had an

Organic weed control

It's the time of year when we start to worry about weed control. The winter's rains are all but over, and the organic vineyards are dry enough to get a tractor into. If we get the weeds now, before they go to seed, it makes our

Sustainable vineyard? Check the dirt.

The Tablas Creek organic vineyard At this time of year, when it comes to organic and sustainable vineyards, it is clear who puts their money where their mouth is. With the winter rain that we get in the Central Coast, organically farmed vineyards turn a vibrant green, whether through a