Friends of the Pod Series -- Ep 162: Jason Haas of Tablas Creek in Paso Robles, CA

Jason Haas was the 2015 Paso Robles Wine Industry Person of the Year. As the GM and a partner in the Tablas Creek joint venture with the Perrin family of Rhône fame (Château de Beaucastel is one of the most famed properties in Châteauneuf du Pape and the family own several other ventures through out Rhône and Provence), Jason has had an enormous impact on the Paso Robles region and the wine style there. In addition, he is one of the most talented writers in the industry – his Tablas Creek blog has won multiple Wine Blog Awards and is up for another one in 2016. This conversation was a culmination of years of admiration from afar -- I am a huge fan of the Tablas Creek wines and style. Here are some notes from the show: First we talk about the history of Tablas Creek and how the partnership between the Haas and Perrin families happened. We talk about the factors involved in finding a perfect site for the project – soil types, microclimates, altitudes, etc. and the process they went through to find it. We discuss the process Tablas Creek went through to import the vines from Beaucastel. We cover how and when Jason got involved with Tablas Creek and his hand in carving up Paso Robles into 11 appellations which happened in 2015. We answer the questions: what did and does make Tablas Creek's vineyards so unique? and... It is possible anywhere with the right people and the right winemaking and growing, or is this a characteristic unique to certain sites that not all people are cognizant of in CA winemaking? We discuss farming: organics, biodynamics, and dry farming and why Tablas Creek uses all three. We talk about blends, and about the various tiers of Tablas Creek wine and how Jason and his team benchmark his brands against California and Rhône wines, and how they usually stack up. A great conversation with a California legend in the making! This is a fascinating look at an up-and-coming area of California, and it's star player.