Presentation Video
Description
BACKGROUND
Tablas Creek is the realization of the combined efforts of two of the international wine community’s leading families: the Perrin family, proprietors of Château de Beaucastel, and the Haas family of Vineyard Brands. Equally owned and run by the two families, the partnership begun in 1987 remains today as ever, even as the next generation of Haases and Perrins have stepped into leadership roles over recent decades.
CHATEAU DE BEAUCASTEL
Château de Beaucastel has been one of Chateauneuf-du-Pape's greatest estates for decades. First mentioned in the literature in 1549, when the noble Pierre de Beaucastel bought a plot of land in the commune of Coudoulet, it has been run by the Perrin family for five generations, since 1909.
Jacques Perrin, who oversaw the estate in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, has been recognized for bringing the region to recognition, for being a pioneer of organic farming, and for leading the regeneration of traditional grape varieties, most notably Mourvedre. His work has been carried on by his sons Jean-Pierre and Francois, now together with their children Marc, Pierre, Thomas, Cecile, Charles, Matthieu, and Cesar.
Beaucastel has won numerous international awards, including Wine Spectator's Wine of the Year in 1991, Jean-Pierre and Francois Perrin's joint "Man of the Year" award from Decanter in 2014, and induction into the prestigious Primum Familiae Vini (First Families of Wine).
Beaucastel Vineyard
THE PARTNERSHIP
Robert Haas played a leading role in the American wine industry for over half a century. As a buyer for his family's New York retailer M. Lehman starting in the 1950s, Haas traveled through the cellars of France, establishing a formidable reputation as a wine taster while forging lifelong relationships with premier wine producers.
In the mid-1960s he set out on his own to import fine estate wines from Burgundy, Bordeaux, the Loire, Alsace and the Rhône Valley, where he met the Perrins of Château de Beaucastel and convinced family patriarch Jacques Perrin to appoint him the Perrins' exclusive American importer. Through his importing business Vineyard Brands, he worked closely with Jacques' sons Jean-Pierre and Francois Perrin, establishing Beaucastel as one of the international wine community's leading estates.
Over the course of two decades traveling around the United States together to promote their French wines, Haas and the Perrins became friends, and emerged convinced that the Rhone grape varieties so well suited to the sunny south of France would thrive in California's Mediterranean climate. In 1985, the families began looking for property.
Robert Haas 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. Haas passed away in March 2018. Tributes to his remarkable career appeared in Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The New York Times. His son Jason, who has run the estate since the mid-2000's, 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.
The Perrin family has received numerous international awards, including the prestigious 2018 Meininger Award for Wine Family of the Year. In addition, Jean-Pierre and Francois Perrin were named Men of the Year by Decanter Magazine in 2014.
