The vineyard is now dormant after an excellent harvest, and a cover crop of peas, oats, and vetch is well established. We are into the standard winter weather patterns: cool foggy mornings, with daytime highs getting briefly into the upper sixties. The winter has been marked by soaking rainstorms that replenish the ground water supply and increase the likelihood that we will be able to dry-farm in 2003.

The last lots of grapes were picked and in the winery by November 6, two days before our first winter storm dumped 6 inches of rain on the vineyard. Weather during harvest was generally cool, with a few intense heat waves. The result was ripe grapes with crisp acid backbones.

We ended with final crush weights of just over 225 tons: 135 tons of red grapes, and 90 tons of white grapes.

The wines, still in their component varietals, have finished their sugar fermentation (in which sugar turns into alcohol); most have also completed malolactic, or secondary, fermentation (in which malic acid turns into lactic acid). We have begun to taste the lots with an eye to putting together our blends, which we will assemble in March.

We expect to produce just over 5000 cases of whites and about 7500 cases of reds, in addition to slightly increasing our Rosé production to about 400 cases.

In other vineyard news, we are thrilled to have been certified an organic vineyard in accordance with the USDA National Organic Standards. For more information, you can read the press release we sent out about our certification.

February Wine Club Shipment
Our February Wine Club shipment includes some fantastic wines:

• 2001 Antithesis, our limited-release 100% Chardonnay available only to Wine Club members
  
• 2000 Côtes de Tablas, our Grenache-based blend from the fabulous 2000 vintage (Robert Parker 92 points)
  
• 2001 Roussanne, available only to Wine Club members
  
• 2000 Panoplie, our elite Mourvèdre-based cuvée made in the style of Beaucastel's Hommage à Jacques Perrin.
  

Local Coming Events
The coming weeks will see a great deal of activity in our tasting room. We are still keeping our normal winter hours of Thursday through Monday, 10:00-4:30, with tours at 10:30 and 2:00.

In addition, we'll be active with the Far Out Wineries during President's Day weekend (February 19-23) and the Zinfandel Summit (March 15-16). In February, we are one of the wineries participating in the Presidential Trivia Tasting. In February, we are one of the wineries participating in the Presidential Trivia Tasting. For this event, participants will be able to answer a presidential trivia question at each winery; the entries which answer the most questions correctly will have chances to win great prizes. At the Zinfandel Summit in March, we will be pouring our 2000 Côtes de Tablas in conjunction with the "Zinfandel and More" seminar at Adelaida Cellars. The Summit is designed to showcase the fine wines of west Paso Robles; we fall into the "and more" category. For more information about both events, visit www.faroutwineries.com.

In conjunction with our organic certification, we are also co-hosting a seminar about organic viticulture on February 25 and 26. The seminar will feature organic viticulture guru "Amigo" Bob Cantisano, who has more than 20 years experience advising organic grape growers. With the participation of co-hosts Turley Vineyards and Fetzer Vineyards, the seminar will cover topics such as cover cropping, compost tea, beneficial insect habitat creation, vine nutrition management, erosion control, irrigation for insect and disease resistance, and strategies for transitioning from conventional to organic vineyards. For more information, contact Neil Collins at 805-237-1231.

Finally, we are also hosting a barrel tasting and blending seminar on March 16th at 11:00AM. If you've never tasted some of the obscure Rhone varietals that we include in our wines, this is a perfect opportunity to do so. Join proprietor Jason Haas and winemaker Neil Collins for a barrel tasting of individual varietals (like Mourvèdre, Counoise, and Roussane), followed by a chance to produce the blend of your dreams! See if you can best the Tablas Creek winemakers in blending! Contact Carol Ann Lockary at calockary@tablascreek.com or 805-237-1231 for more information or to make reservations.

Panoplie labeling.
Bottle Meister, the mobile bottling and labeling truck, paid a visit to Tablas Creek on January 15. Although all of the most recent vintages (the Esprit de Beaucastel 2000, the Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc 2001, and the Côtes de Tablas 2000) were bottled and labeled last April, we did a supplementary labelling of our wines for export and our elite Panoplie.

Winemaker Dinner with Windward Vineyard
We recently hosted our second Winemaker's Dinner on January 25, in conjunction with Windward Vineyard. Windward is a family owned and operated estate vineyard that makes exclusively Pinot Noir. The dinner featured wines from Burgundy and Château de Beaucastel as well as Windward and Tablas Creek, and was catered by Claude Chazalon of the new Paris bistro in Paso Robles.

Pruning and Grafting Seminar
On Super Bowl Sunday, January 26, we hosted a pruning and grafting seminar, and 50 people from all around California converged on the vineyard to try their hands at pruning budwood and rootstock, and grafting the vines they pruned. We'll nurse their vines for them for the next few months, and they'll be able to pick them up at a party in April. All of the participants (who came from as far away as Orange County and Oakland) had a great time, and the event was capped by a field lunch of tacos cooked by Assistant Nursery Manager Santos Espinoza down at the nursery.

James Beard dinner
On November 12, the James Beard Foundation in New York featured a dinner celebrating leading lights of the Paso Robles food and wine scene. Laurent Grangien, chef and owner of Bistro Laurent, prepared a 5-course meal and paired each with wines from Tablas Creek Vineyard, Justin, and L'Aventure. The James Beard Foundation celebrates the country's culinary artists, provides scholarships and educational opportunities, serves as a resource for the industry, and offers members the opportunity to enjoy the delights of fine dining. We were thrilled and honored to be selected.

Nursery Luncheon
At the beginning of December, we hosted a nursery luncheon showcasing growers and winemakers who have bought vines from our nursery and are producing terrific wines from those vines. Participants included Bob Lindquist of Qupé, Steve Edmunds of Edmunds St. John, Andrew Murray of Andrew Murray, Steve Beckmen of Beckmen, Stephan Asseo of L'Aventure, David Gates of Ridge, and many others. Representatives from these wineries poured their wines made from the Tablas clones, followed by a fantastic group tasting and discussion.

Pruning

Nursery Manager Laura Wulff prunes in the greenhouse. Pruned vines are in the background; yet-to-be-pruned vines are in the foreground.

In the winter, we prune the rootstock and the vinifera - both the vines in the field and the vines in the nursery greenhouses.

Now is a great time to place your grafted vine and budwood orders for next year, while we have full availability of all our Truwood varietals.

For more information, contact our Nursery Manager, Laura Wulff, at 805.237.1231 or laura@tablascreek.com.

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