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Winery & Winemaking

A collection of 225 posts

The significance of "Estate Bottled"

My dad recently met with a marketing guru and spent some time talking about what makes Tablas Creek special. We sat down after his conversation, and went through the usual suspects: Rhone specialist, organic vineyard, grapevines from Beaucastel, etc. One thing that we both agreed was of great importance, but

Pressing Off Mourvedre

As we bring the grapes from the last few sections of the vineyard into the cellar, we make space in our tanks by pressing off some lots that were more precocious. With the beautiful weather we've been having, this sometimes makes for some nice scenes. The shot below

October 20th: Picking Away!

This week has been as productive as we had hoped, and we have brought in over 100 tons of grapes. The weather has been perfect, with days in the upper 80s, clear skies, and a good breeze. We've brought in the Grenache and Grenache Blanc, and most of

Harvest, Week of October 16th

We took a break from harvesting late last week to let an early band of cool, wet weather pass. Parts of the Central Coast received significant amounts of rain (even some big thunderstorms) but at Paso Robles we received a more moderate 0.2" over Thursday night and Friday

Harvest, Week of October 9

The cool and wet weather at the end of last week and the beginning of this week has temporarily halted picking. The light rain has washed some of the dirt off the grapes, and we’ll be ready to bring in more grapes as the weather remains dry. At this

Harvest, Week of October 2

This week we began bringing in more of the red varietals, including almost 20 tons of Syrah and a small amount of Grenache. The Syrah is put into open-top tanks to ferment, and as the grape skins float to the top of the tank, we pump the juice over the

Preparing to blend the 2005 reds

One of the most intersesting times of year is when we first sit down to try to make the preliminary blends of either the red or white wines from the previous vintage. When we blended the 2005 whites earlier in the year, we became convinced that the 2005 vintage was

Roussanne "Bergeron"

We're enjoying probably the last relatively mellow day before harvest starts in earnest. From sampling we have done, it looks like we're going to see significant amounts of Syrah, Viognier, and Grenache Blanc this week. Ripening is proceding under ideal conditions: low-90s daytime temperatures, upper-40s nighttime

Harvest 2006 Begins!

Harvest 2006 is underway! We began picking this past Thursday (September 14) with Chardonnay grapes for our "Antithesis" Chardonnay. Viognier, traditionally the earliest-ripening Rhone varietal, followed on Friday the 15th. This week, we brought in our first lots of Roussanne, earmarked for our "Bergeron" wine, on

Blending a "Classic Cuvee" with Craig Jaffurs

One of the fun parts of winemaking is the opportunity to put together special lots for special causes. Sometimes we put together unique blends of our own, but more and more when we are putting together barrel lots for auction, we have chosen to reach out to other producers who