The Tablas Creek blog provides thoughts, reports, photographs and the occasional video from Tablas Creek Vineyard, in Paso Robles, California. It is maintained by Jason Haas, Partner and General Manager at Tablas Creek, and includes the following contributors:
Jason Haas
Jason Haas is Partner and General Manager at Tablas Creek Vineyard, and the principal author of pieces on the Tablas Creek blog. The son of Tablas Creek Vineyard founder and renowned importer Robert Haas, he learned the wine business at an early age, accompanying his family on yearly European wine-buying trips and spending two summers working at Château de Beaucastel.
After obtaining a Master's Degree in Archaeology from Cornell and spending a four-year stint managing a tech company in Washington, DC, Jason moved to California to join Tablas Creek in April of 2002. He is a member of the winemaking committee, manages the wholesale distribution of Tablas Creek, and directs the vineyard’s local and national marketing efforts.
In addition to his work at Tablas Creek, he serves on the board of directors of the Rhone Rangers and the Family Winemakers of California, as well as on the marketing committee of the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance. He speaks at events around the country on topics including Tablas Creek, Rhone varietals, organic farming, and the Paso Robles region.
Robert Haas
Robert Haas has played a leading role in the American wine industry for over half a century. After graduating from Yale in 1950, he joined his father's firm, M. Lehmann, Inc., a retailer of fine wines and spirits in Manhattan. As a buyer for the company, Haas traveled through the cellars of France, establishing a formidable reputation as a wine taster while forging lifelong relationships with premier wine producers.
In 1973, he started Vineyard Brands to import fine estate wines from Burgundy, Bordeaux, the Loire, Alsace and the Rhône Valley, where he met the Perrins of Chateau de Beaucastel and became the exclusive American importer for Beaucastel. As the company grew, it introduced the American market to brands such as La Vieille Ferme, Marqués de Cáceres, Warre's Port, and many California “boutique” wineries and estate-bottled French domains. The company served as a representative for newly emerging California wineries including Chappellet, Freemark Abbey, Clos du Val, Joseph Phelps, Hanzell, Kistler, and Sonoma-Cutrer. In 1984, he founded and moderated the quadrennial bi-lingual symposium "Focus on Chardonnay" to promote dialogue between producers in Burgundy and California.
As Managing Partner of Tablas Creek since its foundation in 1989, Haas has consistently advocated organic viticulture, minimum-intervention winemaking and wines of terroir and sophistication. He has spoken on wine and winemaking topics at seminars and festivals around the country, including the New York Wine Experience, the Boston Wine Expo, Society of Wine Educators annual meeting, Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta, Hospice du Rhone, Central Coast Wine Classic, U.C. Davis and many others.
Haas is one of four American members of the Académie Internationale du Vin, an elite organization dedicated to improving world wide wine quality and recognition of authenticity of origin. He also serves on the board of the Paso Robles American Viticultural Area committee, which proposed 12 new AVAs within Paso Robles. In 2009, in recognition of his contributions to the development of the Paso Robles region, he was named “Paso Robles Wine Industry Person of the Year.”
Tommy Oldre
Tommy Oldre grew up in the greater Phoenix area, and in 1995 he moved to Tucson to attend the University of Arizona. While in school, Tommy co-managed a specialty liquor store and an obsession for microbrews soon evolved into a sincere passion for wine.
After some post-collegiate travels and a stint in the New York advertising world, he moved to the Central Coast in 2003 to pursue a career in wine. After joining Tablas Creek in the tasting room in early 2003, Tommy soon moved into the cellar and spent two years working in production. In early 2007, Tommy took over the reins of the national wholesale market as National Sales Manager for Tablas Creek.
Tommy is Tablas Creek’s resident foodie. He writes the All Things Consumed series for the Tablas Creek blog, and reports on his travels on Twitter as @TommyTablas.
Chelsea Magnusson
Chelsea Magnusson grew up in the Sierra Foothills of Northern California with a family that encouraged (and applauded) her enthusiasm and fascination for wine. She attended Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo to study Agricultural Business and Wine and Viticulture. While working on her degree, she got a job at Tablas Creek as a Greeter/Hostess and from there, moved into the tasting room. Upon graduation in 2008, she started her production career working hard as a “cellar rat” under the guidance of Winemakers Neil Collins and Ryan Hebert. To further her knowledge and appreciation of wine, she took the first level sommelier exam in the middle of her first harvest. Her hard work and eagerness to learn paid off when she was offered the title of Assistant Winemaker in 2009.
Chelsea writes the Notes from the Cellar series on the Tablas Creek blog and thinks she has the best job in the world.
John Morris
After growing up in the culinary wasteland of 1970’s Flint, Michigan, John landed in Seattle and spent 20 years discovering and developing a love for food and wine (ok, it was beer first) all the while playing music and working in the burgeoning specialty coffee business.
John relocated to the Central Coast in search of sun in 2005, and has been the tasting room manager at Tablas Creek since the summer of 2007. When not at the winery, John can be found working on his ½ acre hobby farm and orchard in east Paso Robles.
John writes the View from the Tasting Room series on the Tablas Creek blog.
Levi Glenn
Levi was born and raised in Healdsburg, California. Having grown up surrounded by the Old Vine Zinfandel vineyards in the bucolic Dry Creek Valley, Levi always knew he would end up working in the wine industry. At age thirteen, Levi started to work in a next door neighbor’s vineyard. He has never held a job that didn’t involve a grapevine or emptying a fermenter.
Graduating from Cal Poly in 2004 with a degree in Viticulture and Enology, Levi went on to manage vineyards first in Napa Valley and later in his native Sonoma County. Levi joined the Tablas Creek team in July 2011 to fill the new position of Viticulturist. He and his wife Katie were eager to return to the central coast. They recently moved to Paso Robles, and are delighted to rediscover the area. They also enjoy gardening, bluegrass, and their aging beagle Abner.
Levi writes the Viticultural Revolution series on the Tablas Creek blog, focusing on our continuing exploration of organics and biodyanamics in the vineyard.
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