Winemaker Steve Peck and viticulturalist Anji Perry work at J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines.
Correction 4/19/08• The Wine Notes column on Page B6 on Friday incorrectly reported when J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines’ solar power system was to go on line. It’s slated to go on line late this summer, not next year.
J. Lohr Vineyards&Wines is one of the oldest and largest wineries in Paso Robles, and it takes its leadership in the industry very seriously—especially when it comes to sustainable agriculture.
Founded by Jerry Lohr in the mid-1970s in Monterey County, the winery expanded to Paso Robles in 1986 with the purchase of more than 800 acres near the Paso Robles airport.
From the beginning, minimal chemicals were used in the vineyards, and natural techniques were used to reduce pests and weeds.
“Being a family-owned vineyard and winery, we’re interested in not just being here for a decade or two,” Steve Lohr says of his father’s business, “we want to pass this on for generations.”
He adds, “Dad grew up on a farm in South Dakota, and that was during the Depression.”
Because there weren’t many farm chemicals available at the time — even after the 1940s most farmers couldn’t afford many products that were available —the family made do with what they had.
J. Lohr has been a member of the Central Coast Vineyard Team since its creation more than 15 years ago.
The team, based in Paso Robles, has been a proponent of sustainable wine-growing practices in California.
The program gives growers and vintners tools, resources and a “positive points system” to measure the progress of minimizing chemicals and maximizing soil and wildlife quality.
Two of the board members of the vineyard team also are key members of the J. Lohr production team.
Viticulturist Anji Perry and winemaker Steve Peck have been active in setting the organization’s agenda and planning events such as the Earth Day Food&Wine Festival in Santa Margarita on Saturday.
Perry’s main focus at J. Lohr is soils.
“We do a lot of soils testing here, making sure that our soils are chemically balanced so that we can sustain a healthy plant over the year,” she says.
With more than 2,000 acres of vineyards to test weekly, she and the four-member staff are kept busy.
Peck also is focused on the quality of the vines and soils, noting that the chemical balance of the soil directly affects the quality of the grapes, and ultimately the wines.
Peck says when too much fertilizer is applied to a field, the yeast on the grapes can grow too fast, and that affects the wine’s progression of fermentation.
“They ferment in a flash, and you don’t get as much flavor,” Peck says.
J. Lohr produces more than 600,000 cases of red wine out of Paso Robles, and 400,000 more cases of white wine at its San Jose winery.
While Peck oversees the red wine production, wine-making Vice President Jeff Meier is in charge of the white wine, and both collaborate in maintaining J. Lohr’s reputation for quality.
Peck and Perry highlights some of the efforts that the winery is making to increase quality and reduce the “environmental footprint” they are leaving behind:
•Minimal use of chemicals in the vineyard;
• Recycling wastewater into the vineyard;
• Recycling vineyard and winery waste into compost on the property;
• Using natural predators such as spiders to control spider mites; and
• Using cover crops to control weed growth.
J. Lohr also plans to replace four acres of vines with a solar array, which is expected to be running late this summer, to provide the winery with electrical power.
Over the years, J. Lohr has worked closely with UC Davis on research projects, providing the land and labor necessary to test theories and practices involved in grape growing.
A current project involves testing the salt concentration in the soil using 14 rootstocks over a period of years. This is a critical project, considering the implications of the low rainfall California has experienced.
The goal of J. Lohr is to continue to produce quality wines that most people can afford, and Steve Lohr sees sustainable growing practices as a major element of that.
“We want to be able to have healthy soils, healthy vines, that will be able to last,” he says. “These are things that we do, we hope, to keep the level of the quality of our grapes at least what they are now, if not get even better.”
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