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Winery & Winemaking

A collection of 225 posts

Grenache Harvest Photos

As we'd hoped, the rain from the end of last week was followed by cool, sunny and breezy weather, and the half-inch of rain that we got didn't have any negative impact on the hanging fruit. This week, we're bringing in the rest of

Sharing the blending experience

At Tablas Creek, we're always looking for ways to demystify the world of wine. One tactic that we've found to be a great combination of interesting, enlightening, and portable is the traveling blending seminar. We've been conducting blending seminars here at the vineyard for

Harvest, Week of September 24th

The weather in Paso Robles warmed up last week, and we started harvesting in earnest. We've brought in most of our Syrah, the first big chunk of Grenache, and are finishing up Grenache Blanc. Viognier and Marsanne are in. I'd estimate that last week, we brought

Syrah/Roussanne Harvest and Co-Fermentation

Each year, one of our favorite Syrah lots in the cellar is one that we co-ferment with Roussanne. We typically blend about 10% Roussanne into Syrah, de-stem the two grapes, and then ferment them together in an open-top tank. The lushness of the mid-palate of Roussanne helps round out the

Harvest 2007 Begins!

The 2007 harvest is underway. As I've written about this year, we've had a relatively unusual year for weather, with a very cold, dry winter delaying the beginning of budbreak and flowering, and then a remarkably moderate summer, with few days over 100 and no extended

Hand Harvesting

While my wife was in the hospital this week with our second baby, we were lucky enough to be paired in the post-delivery room with an acquaintance: the well-respected Central Coast grower relations director of a major international wine consortium, who I've known for several years, and whose

Corks and Screwcaps: Not an open and shut case

I came back from a tasting today (the always excellent Central Coast Wine Classic) having again had my third discussion in a week with a consumer who was confused as to why we bottle some of our wines in Stelvin screwcaps, and others in cork. She asked if it was

Cool climate? Hot Climate? Paso Robles is both.

There is an ongoing debate, being waged in the wine press and trade, as to the benefits of cool-climate viticulture. The evidence tends to support that wine grapes tend to do best at the coolest limit of their range, perhaps because there, the grapes stay on the vine longer than

An Appreciation of Blending Rhone Varietals

Some of my favorite events that we do at Tablas Creek are our annual blending seminars, where we invite our wine club members and other interested members of the public to come, taste through the component varietals, and then work as a table to put together their own blends. This

Vertical Tasting of 1997-2005 Signature White Wines

This January, Neil Collins, Ryan Hebert, Tommy Oldre and I opened up a vertical of our top white wines, from our first vintage in 1997 to the newly released 2005. We wanted to see where the wines were in their evolution, as well as to see how our style had