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Winery & Winemaking

A collection of 227 posts

Harvest 2015 begins and sounds alarm bells about yields

Today we welcomed into the cellar the first fruit of 2015: eight bins of Viognier from Fralich Vineyard, for our Patelin de Tablas Blanc. And with that, the 2015 harvest is underway: Things look like they're moving pretty fast now, particularly after this past weekend saw temperatures soar

Coming (soon) to Fruition

By Chelsea Franchi Anticipation of harvest is a primal feeling. It's a dichotomous sensation made up of a humming excitement, a nervousness that simmers just below the surface, and a light touch of hysteria. We're anxious for the first fruit of harvest to come in, while

Notes from the Cellar: Blending the 2014 Vintage

By Chelsea Franchi Here at Tablas Creek, when we sit down to decide on blends for the year, it's a big event. At this point, a lot of work has been put into these wines and it's critical we bring our best to the blending table

A first look at the 2014 white blends, and a vintage assessment

This week, we put together our white blends for 2014: Typically, our blending weeks follow a consistent pattern. We start by tasting each lot, variety by variety, and giving them grades. [For an overview of our grading system, see this post by my dad from 2012.] This initial phase gives

Harvest 2014 Recap: Yields up 5.2% (though still below average); Quality excellent

On Wednesday, October 15th we picked the last batch of Roussanne off of our estate. And just like that, we're done picking for the year. It doesn't feel like we're finished, as we're still pressing off bins of reds, the cellar still

Near-End-of-Harvest Assessment: A Furious September, Moderate Yields, Quality High

In the vineyard, things are starting to look genuinely fall-like: And in keeping with the visuals of the season, we're on the tail end of our harvest craziness, something like 85% done. As of the beginning of this week, we'd harvested 386 tons: 237 from our

Drying Mourvedre Grapes for Vin de Paille "Sacrérouge"

We don't make our vin de paille dessert wines every year. First, the grapes need to be in great shape before they're put on the straw, or they rot rather than drying, making some vintages unsuitable for the technique. Second, Americans don't buy large

Harvest 2014 at the Midway Point: Very Like 2013, which is a Good Thing

We finally feel like we're in the middle of harvest. Every day brings a mix of new fruit coming in, sample teams going out, both presses running as we press off fermented red lots and newly-harvested whites, winemakers on the sorting table and de-stemmer processing newly-harvested reds, and

Harvest 2014 slowed with a cool second half of August, but is picking up speed

It often happens in harvest that you get your first burst of fruit and then enter a lull, where it seems like half your vineyard is sitting there almost-but-not-quite ready. Because you're into the routine of daily punch-downs, and you've broken out your harvest equipment, it

Harvest 2014 begins: How our earliest-ever start also has longer-than-average hangtime

This Wednesday, August 13th, we welcomed sixteen tons of Syrah into our cellar, marking the beginning of the 2014 harvest. These bins were from Estrella Farms, in the warm heartland of the Paso Robles AVA, and will form the juicy core of our Patelin de Tablas. The fruit looked terrific,