The Barrel Tour with Neil - Part 2 of 3

So here I am with Part Two of my barrel tour with Neil Collins at Tablas Creek. So in part one, we covered the white rhone varietals in all of their glory. In part three, we'll talk about the red rhone single varietals. But part two is all about the winemaster, Neil Collins.

So Neil is one of the legends in the Paso Robles Wine region. He's been in the wine industry for quite a while working with some big names to hone his craft, including Wildhorse Winery (with Ken Volk) and Adelaida Cellars. From there he moved to France and trained at Chateau Beaucastel, learning the art of the "true" style of French Winemaking. Then of course, he was picked to be winemaker for the new and amazing "sister" winery to Chateau Beaucastel: Tablas Creek - and the rest is history.

Where to begin. How 'bout Neil's (& Tablas Creek's) winemaking style. 

First off, this is what I absolutely love about Tablas Creek: They want you to taste the vineyard, not the oak, per se. Almost all of their whites are done in stainless steel so that you get the crisp, refreshing taste of the grape itself. Then the reds are all done in neutral oak (except when they need to buy new barrels) so that again, you taste the vineyard. Tablas Creek farms in a fully organic, sustainable way and they are even dabbling in biodynamics. Their vines are the head pruned or head trained style (meaning not trellised, see photo left) as well as dry farmed. Dry farming means that the vines get no help for irrigation. They survive on their own by having a deep root system that can access water from the water table, as well as whatever rain the vines get throughout the year. Dry farming produces a better quality fruit because of the whole "struggle to survive" stress on the vine. I always compare it to wild harvested herbs or even weeds - they are stronger/more potent because they have to fight to survive on their own. Neil said, "Dry farmed/head pruned vines are the way of the future. It's better for the environment, and you get a better quality fruit out of the deal."

I fell in love with Tablas Creek's above style of farming & winemaking. I'm a "fruit forward" kind of girl that wants to taste the fruit, the beautiful acidity that pops on my palate. Not to mention the fact that I'm a huge fan of the organic/sustainable angle. No wonder I can't get enough of the Tablas Creek wines!

The Foudres
Neil showed us these fabulous foudres that age and store the wine. They hold about 1,500 gallons. This helps age the wine better as it ages more slowly in a larger space, and gives the wine greater complexity.

The foudres are amazingly beautiful! From the tasting room, you can see these fabulous barrels through a wall of windows looking into the winery. They are actually putting in a ladder system around the barrels so that the cellar rats will have an easier time climbing the gigantic barrels so that they can check out the wines. I can't imagine! In fact, Neil told us how crazy it was installing the huge barrels - it must have been quite something as they are so massively huge.

Since I'm a fan of biodynamic farming, I had to ask Neil what he thought about biodynamics, as Tablas Creek is dedicating a few acres to testing out biodynamics to see if it makes any difference to the final product of the grapes. Neil was hilarious when he said, "Sometimes I don't know what the heck I'm doing when I'm out there digging up cow horns buried deep within the soil, or when I'm crushing up the quartz crystal for the homeopathic remedies. That said, there's something I love about having my hand in all of it and that fact that we're doing it all here on the land, right around the plants. It's the whole connection of working with the vineyard."

So a couple highlights of biodynamics is always planting when the moon is waxing, to capture the energy of new growth. Another principle of burying cow horns full of manure and other goodies to let them age and turn into fabulous compost that then gets put back into the vineyard or garden.

Neil was talking to some old-time traditional farmers who said, "You're doing biodynamics? That's a bunch of kooky hogwash stuff!" Neil then discussed with them the ins and outs of biodynamics and soon it came to light: of course they always plant new plantings by the light of a waxing moon. Who doesn't? And of course they create compost which then is put back into the soil to enrich the soil. Duh! So in the end, though the word "biodynamics" sounds so fancy (so "San Francisco/Berkeley" like) it is actually based in the "old" way of working with the Earth, which is still passed down from generation to generation as a way to farm "with the Earth and the flow of the Universe itself."

I have to break into the middle of this blog post to highlight the quiet companion who is accompanying us on this barrel tour. That Neil's dear dog, Mille - aka Miller or The Mills. This dog is one of those totally faithful dogs that follow their master everywhere the master goes. You could just tell that Millie loves Neil so much, and vice versa, of course. So we'd go to a section to taste some wines, Millie would follow and lay down, waiting for Neil. We'd move to another section and of course Millie would get up, follow us, and again lay down, waiting for Neil. So when I say this blog post is a barrel tour with Neil, I should really say, "Barrel Tour with Neil & Millie!" :)

Neil also talked about his new you tube series for his family winery, Lone Madrone. It's called: Conversations with a Winemaker. He started the series off by talking with his good friend, and my crazy ZinBitch Winemaker boss, Christian Tieje of Cypher Winery. The two of them had a ball! How fun to see these buddies chat about their friendship and history in the wine biz. The next video featured Cris Cherry of Villa Creek Wines. But the one I've been waiting for is the newly released video with John Munch from Le Cuvier.  This blog gets pretty interesting the boys break open a bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey- woo hoo! Sounds like too much fun :)

So as we were all chatting, Boyfriend asked Neil an excellent question: What is your favorite wine? I just LOVED Neil's answer. "Well, that depends. If it's a hot, 115 degree day, I'm not going to be drinking tannat by the pool. Instead, I'll be drinking something a lot lighter with bright acidity, and that will be my favorite for the day. But in the middle of winter, next to a roaring fire with a rack of lamb, there's nothing I'd want more than tannat. So as you see, it's always changing, dependent of my mood and environmental factors." Snap! Good answer, Neil!

And by the way, I've been petitioning Neil to make a tannat rose or sparkling tannat, just as they make in Uruguay where tannat is their national table wine varietal. Neil, this would be a fabulous way to start a whole new wine trend. You know you have to do it! Feel free to name it "Sarah's Tannat." (I know, I'm totally shameless.)

Thanks, Mr Neil!

Next blog will cover obscure red rhone single varietals such as counoise, mourvedre and as you can tell, my favorite, tannat.

I'm leaving you with one last photo of Neil & Millie - adorable huh?

Chao!