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 (all pieces not signed by another author are his). 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 runs the operations at Tablas Creek, including overseeing winemaking, marketing, sales, and distribution.
In addition to his work at Tablas Creek, he serves on the board of directors of the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance and the Rhone Rangers, and is a past board member of the Family Winemakers of California. He speaks at events around the country on topics including Tablas Creek, Rhone varietals, organic farming, and the Paso Robles region.
In recognition of his contributions to the Paso Robles wine community, he was voted by his peers 2015 Paso Robles Wine Country Wine Industry Person of the Year and 2017 San Luis Obispo County Wine Industry Person of the Year. He manages the day to day operations at Tablas Creek.
Robert Haas
Robert Haas 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.
Haas was one of four American members of the Académie Internationale du Vin, an elite organization dedicated to recognition of authenticity of origin. He served on the board of the Paso Robles American Viticultural Area committee. He was recognized by the Paso Robles Wine Community as 2007 Wine Industry Person of the Year, and in 2014 he received a lifetime achievement award from Rhone Rangers for his contributions to the American Rhone movement. Robert Haas passed away on March 18, 2018, one month from his 91st birthday. Read the tribute to his father, written by Jason Haas, on the Tablas Creek blog. His articles are archived here.
Chelsea Franchi
Chelsea Franchi 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.
Darren Delmore
Darren Delmore was raised by restaurateurs in San Luis Obispo, California. After stints in competitive surfing and publishing as an editor at Surfing Magazine, he embarked on an oenological odyssey that steered him through ten wine harvests in California, Oregon and Australia. He worked with Rhone varietals at Bonny Doon Vineyard, punched down Pinot Noir at the Hirsch Vineyard, and blackened his palms at Two Hands in the Barossa Valley of Australia. Most recently, he represented Goldeneye Winery in Anderson Valley as a Wine Educator.
Darren's love of Tablas Creek began with the 2002 vintage of Esprit de Beaucastel, and his humble personal collection boasts a consecutive vertical of the flagship blend going back to 2003.
Darren’s written work on wine has been published by Wine Spectator, Vine Times, Anderson Valley Advertiser, and Wine Country this Week. He currently lives in Templeton with his partner Jillian, son Shea, and daughter Canyon.
Darren writes the On the Road series on the Tablas Creek Blog, recounting his travels around the state and around the country is search of food and wine greatness.
Linnea Frazier
With a Mother from Sweden and a Father from Southern California, Linnea grew up with time equally spent in both countries up until college. Upon graduating from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon in 2017, she was set on a profession in Environmental Law until the work of her Senior Thesis on Regenerative Agriculture demanded she find a way to get her hands dirty. Having familial roots in Paso on her American side and already being in love with the rolling hills that make up Central California, it was the natural place for her to seek out fulfillment. With the biodynamic, sustainable beacon that was Tablas Creek, she pestered Winemaker Neil Collins until he offered her a chance to join the Harvest Cellar Crew of that year.
After having worked her first Harvest, she fell in love with not only the process of crafting Rhone varietals, from vine to bottle, but also with the family that is Tablas Creek. She can now be found in the Tablas Creek office during the week in Marketing, as well as the Tasting Room on weekends.
On the blog, Linnea contributes a regular Q & A interview series as well as occasional topical posts.
Suphada Rom
Suphada grew up in the heart of the Green Mountains in small town Windsor, Vermont. After graduating with her degree in biology from Keene State, she backpacked through Europe. It was there that her love for food and wine was evoked, and she knew that this was a passion she had to make her job, not a hobby. Upon arrival back to the states, she took a job at a local restaurant, where she spent four years perfecting fine dining service, along with tasting every dish and wine in house. In 2014, she had the pleasure of meeting the Haas family at a Tablas Creek tasting in their hometown of Chester, Vermont. She left the tasting feeling overwhelmingly inspired by both the wines and the story. Her enthusiasm led to a job offer, which propelled the cross country move to beautiful Paso Robles, California.
At Tablas Creek, Suphada can be found in just about any department. Between promoting Tablas Creek at an event, educating consumers in the tasting room, and writing up her latest blog piece for Eat Drink Tablas, she find her job to be endlessly interesting. Her drive to be as well versed on wine as possible was acknowledged most recently by passing her Certified Sommelier exam.
Suphada researches and writes the Eat Drink Tablas series on the Tablas Creek blog, focusing on recipes and wine pairings for Tablas Creek wines.
Jordan Lonborg
Born and raised in a small beach town by the name of Scituate, MA. 30 miles south of Boston, Jordan graduated from Cal Poly with a degree in Fruit Science. He assisted in the management of the deciduous orchard on campus for over two years until Jordan took his first job in the wine industry with Monterey Pacific Inc., a large vineyard management company in Monterey county, working as a PCA and then as Viticulturist on the famous San Bernabe Ranch and in Haymes Valley. Ever since he began working in agriculture, Jordan dreamed of an opportunity to work on a property such as Tablas Creek. In Febuary of 2016, That dream came true…
Jordan lives in the Adelaida with his wife Molly and their dog Miles Davis. He is an avid fly fisherman and can be found on the rivers of Northern California during his time off chasing steelhead in the winters and rainbow trout in the summers.
Jordan writes the Viticultural Revolution series on the Tablas Creek blog, delving into our Biodynamic vineyard work.