Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/66128
MANA GEMENT Separate areas for reds and whites By enlarging the production space, the winery is now able to separate the white and red winemaking. The new area, where reds are fermented and aged, has six 1,500-gallon upright tanks made by Seguin Moreau. Haas likes their versatil- ity: They can be opened or closed for fermentations and can also be used for aging. He says the winery plans to add more in the future. The winery also added three more 1,200-gallon Seguin Moreau foudres (large barrels), for a total of 19. Four fou- dres are used for whites, 15 for reds, and Haas says the winery plans to add one or two a year. Barrels for aging reds are also housed in the new space, which has a concrete floor sealed with red epoxy. The sealant makes the floor easier to clean, and "we also thought it looked nice," Haas says. The old production space, which is more utilitarian, is now used mostly to ferment and age whites. It also houses the presses—a 5,000-liter Scharfenberger Europress for whites and a 3,000-liter Bucher Vaslin for reds—and a Delta destemmer from Bucher Vaslin. New for the 2011 harvest was a Key Technol- ogy Iso-Flo vibrating conveyor, which regulates the pace of grapes into the destemmer and aids in sorting—although Haas says most of the sorting is done in the vineyard. Pad filtration is done on a case-by- case basis, Haas says, adding that he finds the aromatic whites, the rosé and the Patelin red (all bottled under screwcap) aren't negatively affected by filtration. With the exception of the Vin de Paille dessert wines, few Tablas Creek wines have significant residual sugar, but any that do are filtered. Wines with measurable malic acid also are filtered. The winemakers try not to filter the Esprit de Beaucastel red (which is based on Mourvèdre) and white (based on Roussanne.) The addition also included more office space—"I was sharing my office with three other people," Haas says—as well as a bigger kitchen, which can be used for winery events and has space for the staff to eat lunch. And the conference room can once again be used for meetings, rather than tastings. Wines & Vines JUne 2012 35