Get your earplugs ready – we are about to toot our own horn, loudly! CCVT Executive Director Kris O’Connor was recently named the 2010 San Luis Obispo County Wine Industry Person of the Year. Woot! Woot!

CCVT Executive Director Kris O'Connor (3rd from left) along with other industry awards winners Clay Brock (4th from left) and members of the Dusi family.

The peer-driven award was chosen by members of Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance, Independent Grape Growers of Paso Robles, Central Coast Vineyard Team (no comments from the peanut gallery — we played fair!), San Luis Obispo Vintners Association and past award recipients. Clay Brock of Wild Horse Winery and Vineyards in Templeton won Winemaker of the Year and Winegrape Grower of the Year went to an entire family: the Dusis of Dante Dusi Vineyard. All the winners were honored at a industry event on July 30 at the Mid State Fair.

In presenting the award to O’Connor, CCVT Founding Member and Past Chair Dana Merrill (Mesa Vineyard Management  and SIP-certified Pomar Junction Vineyard & Winery) recalled the year 1998, when “what we really needed was an executive director, but all we could afford was part-time.” O’Connor brought numerous skills to that part-time job, including having co-authored a textbook, extensive field experience in soils and irrigation, and fluency in Spanish.

Over the years, part-time became full-time – and then some – and Merrill noted that CCVT grew as well. Today, it represents some 80,000 acres in the tri-county area of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Monterey Counties, and the SIP Program can currently be applied to 10,000 acres, with more in the pipeline.

“It really shows you what can be accomplished with voluntary efforts,” said Merrill, “and a lot of that come back to what kind of leadership Kris provides.”

When O’Connor took the podium, one of her first phrases was “Who would have thought it?” Indeed, as she noted, “Sustainability was not a buzzword back in 1994 (CCVT’s first year). It’s been an amazing thing and so much credit should go to those founding members who dared think outside the box.”

Besides all the numbers that bear witness to CCVT’s and SIP’s growth and achievements, O’Connor also pointed out the success of the annual Earth Day Food & Wine Festival, saying “How cool is it to be able to celebrate Earth Day around farmers and other ag people?”

She also shared an anecdote which really brought home the vibrant, organic growth of CCVT. A few years ago, O’Connor was visiting some vineyards in Chile; when she starting her presentation about CCVT, one of the Chilean members of the group reached into his backpack and pulled out a piece of reference material he had already been using. It was a copy of the Spanish version of the CCVT’s PPS (Positive Points System).

How do you say “Woot! Woot!” in Spanish?

The Santa Lucia Highlands Wine Artisans proved true to their moniker at a recent tasting in San Francisco. Over two dozen labels were represented from this distinct appellation in southern Monterey County – including SIP members Hahn Family Wines, McIntyre Vineyards, and Paraiso Vineyards. 

Hahn Family Wines gives out seed packets with the same mixture as the wildflower/cover crop they use in the vineyard.

McIntyre visibly touted sustainablity and the SIP Seal in their handout, including noting that Steve McIntyre was a founding member of Central Coast Vineyard Team. Hahn Family Wines had the SIP seal all over their marketing literature, including seed packets containing the same wildflower/cover crop mixture that they use in the vineyard: five percent each of Bachelor Buttons, California poppies, Baby’s breath, and Persian clover, and 20 percent each of Crimson clover, Blando Brome, Buckwheat, and Rose clover. Philip Woodrow, director of marketing communications said “they are wildly popular. Last year we gave out over 2400 packets.” 

Among the outstanding wines from SIP wineries and/or wineries using SIP fruit were … (prices are the suggested retail)

Hahn Family Estates: 2007 Estate Pinot Gris ($20) – nice acid with light peach, a good food wine or as an aperitif; 2006 Estate Chardonnay ($25) – smooth luscious mouthfeel; 2007 Estate Syrah ($27) – wonderful balance with a rich structure and hints of tobacco and meat, a classic varietal interpretation.

Hope & Grace: 2007 Hahn Estate Pinot Noir ($45) – very smooth with bright fruit and black cherry

La Rochelle: 2007 Paraiso Vineyard Pinot Noir ($50) – good balance with nice briar and plum

McIntyre Vineyards: 2008 Estate Chardonnay ($29) – beautifully balanced with elegant structure

Paraiso Vineyards: 2007 Eagle’s Perch Chardonnay ($30) – very rich mouthfeel, pair with cream sauces or even serve on its own as an aperitif; 2007 West Terrace Pinot Noir ($40) – earthy with nice notes of plum

It was great to see Niels Udsen of Castoro Cellars recently honored by the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance as their 2009 Paso Robles Wine Industry Person of the Year.

A longtime supporter of Central Coast Vineyard Team and the SIP program – some of Castoro’s vineyards are SIP certified, as well as being certified organic – Niels started as a local cellar rat back in 1981, when no one knew what a Paso Robles was. He and his wife Bimmer launched Castoro (Italian for Niels’ nickname: “Beaver”) in 1983, and over the years, it can certainly be considered one of the labels that helped put Paso Robles on the map as a stellar wine region.

Over the years, the Udsens quietly but steadily practiced responsible stewardship of their vineyards, and have clearly emerged as successful role models for sustainability and community leadership. To name just a few of their efforts: their employees are encouraged to recycle, there is no bottled water sold at the tasting room, the events room at the Templeton tasting room is largely powered by solar panels, and Castoro was one of the first wineries in the area to offer employee benefits.

Under the direction of Niels, Winemaker/Enologist Tom Myers, and Assistant Winemaker Mikel Olsten, Castoro Cellars has grown into a 60,000 case label (plus a thriving custom crush facility and mobile bottling service). Typically, there are about 15 varietals bottled, from the flagship Zinfandels to the more obscure varietals such as Cabernet Franc. Several blends and vineyard-designate wines are always on hand as well, but – despite the breadth of available wines – we’ve never found Castoro to be about quantity. All the wines are classic varietal interpretations, some with forward fruit if the grape and vintage suggest it, but the rest show veteran finesse and restraint in the winemaking process, making them wonderful wines to pair with food.

With chilly winter temperatures gripping much of the nation, it may be an odd time to think about the dangers of heat stroke to farmworkers, but such was the topic of a recent story on the Capital Press website.

A Napa Valley businessman has laudably developed and patented a first aid/cooling station for farmworkers. The portable trailer offers pop-up shade, water, etc. and we hope it will catch on with vineyard owners and managers, even if their only motivation is avoiding litigation.

We’d like to point out, however, in the summer of 2009 a local grower – George Donati of Pacific Vineyard Company, a CCVT member and Sustainability in Practice Certified™ grower — was ahead of the curve and launched what we think is a better version. Yes, we may be biased, but have a look at page 3 of this CCVT newsletter. The overhanging cover of the portable trailer offers far more shade coverage, plus “trash and recycling containers, as well as a bucket with chlorine water so workers can sanitize their shears during breaks.” Also, in keeping with Pacific Vineyard Company’s longtime attention to the social part of the sustainability equation, the trailers are available for workers at all times, not just when the rising mercury triggers compliance with OSHA rules.

Judging from the standing room only crowd at the SIP Roundtable breakout seminar at CCVT’s 2009 Sustainable Ag Expo, there’s certainly a lot of buzz about the SIP program, and – we think – rightly so!

CCVT Executive Director Kris O’Connor spoke about the success of the fledgling program, now only in its second year, but already with 30-plus members and about 11,000 certified acres. She also noted that all the first year members renewed, many with expanded acreage. She stressed that although much of the certified acreage is from the counties of Monterey, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara, SIP is not and was never intended to be strictly a regional program.

O’Connor moderated the roundtable, which consisted of John Niven of Niven Family Wines (Baileyana/Tangent/Trenza/Cadre), Matt Merrill of Pomar Junction Vineyard & Winery, Daryl Salm of Paraiso Vineyards (and one of the committee members that wrote the SIP Program and Protocols), and Jean-Pierre Wolff of Wolff Vineyards & Winery.

There was a lot of great information presented at the SIP roundtable, some of which we’ll explore with some later posts, but it was intriguing to hear what some of the members had to say about the value of SIP as a marketing tool. Pomar Junction is using the SIP seal on everything from bottle labels to event posters, from advertising pieces to winery logo apparel. Matt Merrill noted that the SIP seal is particularly useful as a point of entry with which to get visitors to the tasting room talking about sustainability. Many visitors are pleasantly surprised to hear about such topics as vineyard worker benefits, for example. (Check out the recent article in the San Luis Obispo New Times discussing this.)

John Niven noted that getting the word out about SIP “is a grass roots marketing effort right now,” but his family’s labels are putting out a lot of roots. He estimated that about 30,000 cases of their labels’ wines went out with the SIP seal in 2008, and he estimates that number to increase to 40,000 this year. For his sales team, that seal has proven invaluable on at least one occasion – one of them walked into a shop and pointed out the sustainability seal, which prompted the proprietor to gather up 12 other labels with the word “sustainable” on them and ask “what makes yours different?” The wine rep was able to answer that in two words – “We’re certified.”

I visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium recently, after far too much time away. The visit was prompted by the juvenile great white shark they have on exhibit for a limited time – a stunning creature, but the jellies were no less fascinating, and the seahorses were just downright mesmerizing. One other thing that struck me, however, was the depth and breadth of information throughout the entire facility about sustainable seafood.

Of course, the Seafood and Sushi Watch pocket guides were everywhere (The aquarium estimates that they’ve distributed more than 32 million of them since 1999), but there were also several exhibits speaking directly to the issue of ocean health, all of them age specific – not easy to do for little ones – and informative. One in particular was an interactive experience enacting a visit to a restaurant. (Apologies for the photo quality below, but you’ll get the idea.) “Patrons” took their seat and not only responded to choices on the “menu” screens, but also watched videos from three “chefs” explaining their choices, or lack thereof, regarding sustainable seafood. Yeah, maybe a bit schlocky for anyone who already had a fair amount of information on the subject, but there were sure a lot of people sitting down and experiencing the entire presentation!

Interactive "restaurant" exhibit about sustainable seafood choices

In other news, the Monterey Bay Aquarium was a significant force behind California Assemblymember Bill Monning’s (D-Carmel) recent efforts to get a Sustainable Seafood Bill passed through the state legislation and signed by Governor Schwarzenegger. Policy wonks can link to the bill’s full text or summary, but in short it establishes an Ocean Protection Council (OPC) to develop and implement a voluntary sustainable seafood promotion program, including support for developing a standardized protocol for labeling sustainable seafood, as well as marketing support, and loan possibilities for fisheries wishing to become certified.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium also just released some good news about the state of our oceans in Turning the Tide, which was summarized thusly: “Our oceans are increasingly affected by human activities—primarily the ways we catch and farm seafood. Today, fish and other populations of ocean wildlife, from turtles to seabirds, are imperiled. Yet we appear to have reached a turning point, with many signs of hope for the future. Fishermen and consumers, businesses and governments recognize the threats. They are charting a new course, and cooperating in new ways.”

Finally … think you know your sustainable seafood? Test your smarts with this quiz! Also, the Seafood/Sushi Pocket Guides are downloadable in .pdf format (some also in Spanish) and now there’s an iPhone app available as well.

Joseph and Isabel Gerardis of Joebella Coffee Roasters celebrated the second anniversary of their Templeton coffeehouse with a tantalizing array of treats from local food purveyors and neighboring businesses … plus the debut of a very special product featuring a Joebella roast.

But wait, there’s more!

Taste of SLO has done it again, I thoroughly enjoyed myself last Wednesday night as I wandered, well due to the great turn out, shuffled up and down the Mission Plaza tasting all that San Luis Obispo has to offer. This year’s disco themed event came complete with go go dancers, a giant disco ball, great music, and of course fabulous food and wine. The best of the best of San Luis Obispo restaurants made their appearances with delicious samplers; Tuna tacos from Native Lounge to mushroom soup topped with grated espresso bean from Mother’s Tavern to profiteroles from Mama’s Meatballs, can only begin to explain the range choices that were laid out in front of me. While samplers may sound like child’s play compared to the gigantic meals we are served at some restaurants, with a choice of samplers from over 30 restaurants I found that my graceful walk into the event had turned into a bit more of a waddle as I left the evening.
But wait, there’s more!