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Report from Tablas Creek on the Paso Robles Earthquake of 12/22/2003

12/31/03

On the morning of Monday, December 22nd, a serious earthquake struck California’s Central Coast. Centered near San Simeon, the quake measured 6.5 on the Richter scale. The epicenter was about 10 miles from the vineyard.

Tablas Creek did see some damage, but most importantly none of the Tablas Creek staff was hurt, and the facility is undamaged. The structures (office, winery, nursery) are all intact. We are very fortunate, and will be supporting the other members of the Paso Robles wine community who suffered greater losses.

Our wine library, our already-bottled wines, and the vast majority of the wine in tank and barrel was unaffected. Although several tanks moved up to a few feet from their original positions, none collapsed or were ruptured. We did lose about 30 barrels of various sizes, including one large foudre, but our total loss is between 5% and 10% of the 2002 and 2003 vintages. The loss will not affect the quality of the wine.

The tasting room was remarkably unaffected, with glasses still in place on their shelves, and wine bottles still upright. After a precautionary walk-through from a city engineer, we reopened the tasting room on December 23rd, and had a busy and successful holiday season. We completed our winery cleanup and repair by the end of December. We encourage you to come for a visit; we are open for tours and tastings as normal.

We deeply appreciate the letters, calls, and emails from those of you who have contacted us. Our thoughts go out to those who have suffered greater damage, and we will be working with the other members of our wonderful community to rebuild, and to restore the beautiful downtown district of which we are so proud.

We hope you all had a safe and happy holiday season.