Canopy management

A Conversation with Jason Haas of Tablas Creek Vineyard, Paso Robles, the Drought, Dry farming

May 19, 2015
Tablas Creek Vineyards, Paso Robles, Central Coast Wine Country

While on the Central Coast in April we were lucky enough to meet with Jason Haas, General Manager of Tablas Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles. Jason graciously took time out of his busy schedule to spend a couple of hours with Michael and I in the vineyard and the winery.

Tablas Creek Vineyard is the collaborative effort between the Perrin Family of Chateau de Beaucastel in Chateauneuf du Pape in France’s Rhone Valley and the Haas Family. Vineyard Brands, the wine import company founded by Robert Haas had been the exclusive importer for Beaucastel wines. In 1989 they founded Tablas Creek Vineyard in the west side of Paso Robles to grow Rhone varieties. In this part of the interview Jason tells us how the soil and climate brought them to Paso. Average rainfall was also one of the draws and Jason tells us how the current drought is affecting them, which segues into a discussion on planting dry farmed vines and the benefits of a head-pruned vineyard.

More on Tablas Creek Vineyard to Come

This is just part one, we will release additional segments where we discuss biodynamics, similarities and differences between the Beaucastel wines and Tablas Creek Vineyard Wines, native yeast fermentations, the use of Foudres (1200 gallon barrels), as well as aging wines and the library of wine Tablas keeps. We do a walk through the vineyard to look at the new acreage as well as Scuffy Hill where they grow their field blend. We look at the soil, the biodiversity in the fields and then explore the winery and it’s barrel rooms, before Jason talks us through how they create their blends. So stick with us…there is lots more to come.

And if you are fascinated by this discussion, visit the Tablas Creek Blog.  Jason has a 3 part series on his blog about dry farming in California’s drought.

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In the Vineyard with Steve Beckmen – Shoot thinning

July 30, 2014

The drive to Purisima Mountain was like taking a step back into my childhood, the curving roads at the top of this canyon reminded me of southern West Virginia, with one dramatic difference…there were vineyards on these hills. WE made this trek during the Spring Vintners Weekend, when we were lucky enough to do a Vineyard hike with Steve Beckmen at the Purisima Mountain Vineyard.

Located in the new Ballard Canyon AVA this property sits at the north end of the Canyon. From Ballard Canyon Road you drive up and around the Stolpman property to reach the 365 acre property. This estate vineyard is planted primarily with Syrah & Grenache with smaller blocks of Roussanne, Marsanne, Counoise, Mourvedre, Grenach Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. This vineyard became 100% biodynamic in 2006 and uses a gravity fed drip irrigation system.

The elevations at Purisima Mountain reach 1250 feet. The wind, the fog, the climate all affect the grapes and I had a fascinating conversation with Steve about the “architecture” of the vineyard and how that was still evolving.

We had hiked part way up the Mountain and stopped in the shade of a large Oak tree to taste some wine, have some water and enjoy some snacks. Then Steve pulled us over to the nearest vines and showed us the process of shoot thinning that was beginning to happen all over the vineyard.

The vines here are bi-lateral cordons and they pull off the suckers and try to leave 4 evenly spaced shoots on each cordon. Sometimes you are just pulling suckers (shoots with no blossoms or fruit) and sometimes you are doing some pre-thinning on your fruit this way. The shoot thinning does a couple of things, it gets rid of the suckers that are pulling energy from the vine, it thins out the leaves to allow better sunlight and airflow through the vines and it thins your crop a little to allow your berries to be a little more concentrated. As they thin they also start to train the shoots up into the trellis system above.

Watch as Steve explains:

The Beckmen Winery and Tasting room are not located here at Purisima Mountain, but are one valley over. They have a tasting room on a duck pond with gazebos where you can enjoy a picnic lunch, that is located just outside Los Olivos.

2670 Ontiveros Road, Los Olivos

1-805-688-8664

They are open Daily from 11-5.

You can learn more about the new Ballard Canyon AVA at their new site or on our Ballard Canyon Page here on Crushed Grape Chronicles.

For more information on the entire Santa Barbara Wine Region visit the Santa Barbara Vintners.

In the Vineyard with Steve Beckmen – Talking Soil at Purisima Mountain Vineyard

July 8, 2014
From dirt to glass, Conversations with...

During the Spring Vintners Weekend we were lucky enough to do a Vineyard hike with Steve Beckmen at the Purisima Mountain Vineyard.

Located in the new Ballard Canyon AVA this property sits at the north end of the Canyon. This estate vineyard is planted primarily with Syrah & Grenache with smaller blocks of Roussanne, Marsanne, Counoise, Mourvedre, Grenach Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. This vineyard became 100% biodynamic in 2006.

The elevations at Beckmen Vineyard Purisima Mountain reach 1250 feet. The wind, the fog, the climate all affect the grapes and I had a fascinating conversation with Steve about the “architecture” of the vineyard and how that was still evolving.

In this episode, Steve talks about the soils of the Purisima Mountain Vineyard.

The soil types here include clay and clay loam soils as well as a limestone subsoil. Limestone subsoil is predominate in the Rhone region of France but is not widely found in California. It can be found in the Central Coast from West side Paso to the North and here in Ballard Canyon further south. This limestone is tough and makes it hard for the roots to penetrate it. As a result the roots struggle in the topsoil keeping the vines less vigorous and creating low yields and intense fruit.

Listen to Steve talk about the soils:

The Beckmen Winery and Tasting room are not located here, but are one valley over. They have a tasting room on a duck pond with gazebos where you can enjoy a picnic lunch, that is located just outside Los Olivos.

Beckmen Vineyard Tasting room

Beckmen Vineyard Tasting room

See more on our Beckmen Vineyard page or on their page on the link below

2670 Ontiveros Road, Los Olivos

1-805-688-8664

They are open Daily from 11-5.

http://www.beckmenvineyards.com

Hilliard Bruce, Viticulturally blessed

October 25, 2013

On the western edge of the Sta. Rita Hills AVA in Santa Barbara County you will find the pristine Hilliard Bruce vineyard.

The property, owned by John Hilliard and Christine Bruce, is immaculately manicured and as peaceful as a Zen garden.

It has been called, quite appropriately “Viticulturally blessed”.

Visit Hilliard Bruce

check out more Santa Rita Wineries

Hilliard Bruce Vineyards – Part 3: Canopy Management, Wines & Philosophy.

October 24, 2013
Canopy Management

Part 3 of a 4 part series on our trip to Hilliard Bruce in the Sta. Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County.

Canopy management that you will see no where else!

The planting style at Hilliard Bruce is compact with 2,420 vines per acre at a spacing of 6 feet by 3 feet.  The canopy management that John is so rightly proud of begins with the trellis system that is vertical shoot positioned.  The vines here are hand pruned twice each year.  Each spring the new shoots are carefully positioned to run parallel and then are individually tied so that they do not cross each other.  They monitor the number of leaves per vine to offer the perfect exposure to sun and so that the air can move through.  This keeps down the mold and disease.  This also allows the bunches to hang free which is helpful for easy harvesting.  All this is lots of work during the growing season, but makes for much less work in the winery.  As we looked down the rows from the top of the vineyard John pointed out how you could see from the shadows that all the vines were healthy.  It’s easy during the day to come out and look at the shadows and see where you have lost a vine. But of course with the kind of attention that these vines get, that is rare.

Fruit of all this labor…amazing wines.

They are  growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay here exclusively.  Christine claims the Chardonnay as her own and John’s focus is on the Pinot Noir.  The yield per acre here is less than 2 tons and less than 1.65 lbs per vine.  Next year the new winery will be ready, but this year they will make their wines at the Central Coast Wine Service  facility that is located in Santa Maria.

While there we tasted the 2010 Moon Pinot Noir, the 2011 Earth Pinot Noir and the 2011 Chardonnay.

The Moon Pinot Noir is very much a Sta. Rita Hills style Pinot.  After 12 months in barrel they go through a careful selection process and choose only the barrels that show the concentration and focus that this cool growing region is known for.  They look for riper fruit and full spice as they choose the barrels.

The 2011 Earth Pinot Noir is definitely earthier.  This wine has rich clove spice, darker fruit and minerals as well as great tannins.

The 2011 Chardonnay comes from the coldest corner of the vineyard and these vines produce very little fruit.  With great acid, oak for tempering and a little salinity this is a truly stunning Chardonnay.

The winery is well under way and photos of the progress can be seen on their facebook page.  This will be a LEED Certified, gravity flow winery with an underground cellar that will be humidity controlled. It will be designed as a  work of art, but also to blend and compliment the beautiful natural setting.

Philosophy

There is a quote from Paul Ingersol on the Hilliard Bruce labels that really sums it up

  • Happiness is the only good
  • The time to be happy is now.
  • The place to be happy is here
  • The way to be happy is to make others so.

This is what they embody at Hilliard Bruce.

 

Stay tuned for a video of our visit tomorrow!