Interview with Edward Wallo from Yorkville Cellars
Mendocino County in Northern California may be heralding the eventual return of organic and sustainable viticulture in the United States. Approximately one third of California’s certified vineyard acreage is located here. Growers and winemakers from the region have embraced the combinations of tradition and technology which enables certified organic wine to be delivered to our providores, restaurants, and tables. For more than twenty years, Edward and Deborah Wallo have raised organically certified vines in the Yorkville Highlands. They established their organic winery and Yorkville label as early as 1994 and have since received numerous awards for their distinctive Bordeaux blends and varietals.
Q: Which elements of your backgrounds led to the wine industry in general and organic production in particular?
A: My wife, Deborah, and I didn’t set out to get into the wine industry. In short, we fell absolutely in love with Mendocino County during our first visit and immediately began looking for a little piece of it to call our own. Knowing a fair bit about wine, it wasn’t too large a leap to be attracted to various properties that had small vineyards. So upon securing a ranch with a small vineyard on it in Yorkville nearly 20 years ago, it was really an evolution of expanding the vineyard from one varietal to eight varietals, then opening a tasting room in the middle of the vineyard to expanding production to the point where Yorkville Cellars wine is now more broadly available.
Regarding organic production, when we took possession of the original vineyard, it had recently been certified organic. It appears that it was among the first dozen or so vineyards in the state to be certified organic. It was an easy decision and felt natural for us to continue this practice as we expanded the vineyards by three-fold. In brief, while I was an international marketing executive and we lived abroad in five other countries we enjoyed a lot of opportunity to tramp through old world vineyards. As it turns out by using carbon dating they know that wine is at least 7,000 years old. So by our reckoning, for 6,950 years all wine was made from organically grown grapes. And clearly some excellent wine was produced. Thus growing organically is not the new, rocket science sort of thing; it is merely growing the traditional way and with the absence of unnecessary, synthetic or petrol chemical products.
Q: Can you recall your initial impressions of Yorkville’s potential as a wine region and perhaps describe how these have been further influenced by time and experience?
A: Our initial impressions were largely based on the climate and geology, which combine favorably in terms of vineyard selection. We appreciated lean soils, and the fact that Yorkville’s elevation and position supported healthy air circulation and perhaps less humidity than surrounding locations. There was always some realisation of the potential for microclimates in this area. Vineyards are sited across a range of altitudes and there are differences in proximity to the coast. Both factors contribute to a variability of heat summation within the Yorkville appellation. Most of these impressions continue to resonate, particularly as they reveal themselves through our wine. As dedicated growers, we continually seek to capture and positively accentuate the uniqueness of our terroir. This depends upon developing an appreciation for this region, along with our commitment to select and manage those varietals and rootstocks best suited for each site.
Q: Organically labeled wine was quite marginal when you commenced producing grapes in the Yorkville region. From a commercial perspective, a commitment to organic methods might have been perceived as an additional risk. What feedback did you receive from industry sources and others around this time?
A: Basically for the first 15 years or so, the comments were negative. Yes, it was seen as higher risk. Yes, it cost a great deal more. And yet there was no real market for the product. But things have turned around a bit. On the plus side there are now exponentially more customers interested in products made with organic methods so that is good. Unfortunately in the case of many fruits, vegetables and other products a premium is typically charged to help cover the extra costs. In the wine business, possibly because it is a processed product, I’m not aware of any wines charging a premium for their brand. The business is so competitive with producers from around the world all trying to get the consumers’ attention, it puts downward pressure on the pricing.
Q: Given that organic viticulture is probably more challenging than consumers might estimate, which marketing approaches (yours and others) have been most successful in promoting the benefits of organic wine?
A: It always gets down to education. There is just so much confusion around growing sustainable, wine made from organic grapes, organic wine with no sulfites added, biodynamic, etc. It’s fair to say that we’re always trying to explain the differences and help people through the fundamentals. It certainly didn’t help that the wine industry was forced to put “contains sulfites” on the back label. We’re the only country in the world with that as in most other countries they’ve decided that it would confuse customers. Unfortunately, many people incorrectly believe the organic has something to do with no sulfites when the real issue is more in the vineyard.
Q: Have you experienced many opportunities to provide mentorship or assistance to other vineyards or growers who might be considering their options with respect to organic certification?
A: No. Not really much more than occasional casual or informal conversations. I think that is because Mendocino County has always been the leader of organic vineyards and there is a large group of very experienced and knowledgeable farmers here. I helped put together a booklet with a lot of facts about Mendocino organic vineyards that is available through the Mendocino Winegrape and Wine Commission. In short, 18% of the vineyard acreage in Mendocino County is certified organic compared to 2% in the state of California. In Napa, the figure is 5% and in Sonoma just 1%.
Q: To what extent do organic production methods necessitate additional vineyard employees throughout the year?
A: Grapes are relatively easy to grow organically. Really our main challenge is reducing the competition for nutrient under the vine rows by eliminating grasses and weeds. Since being certified organic means choosing not to use industrial herbicides (like Round-Up), this is mainly done the old fashioned way, by hand. That means considerable amounts of extra hours in the vineyard and represents the most significant extra cost of growing organically.
Q: Have you experienced any discrepancy between your label’s most successful offerings and those you have personally been most satisfied with?
A: I can immediately think of one situation. One was when the 1998 vintage was generally panned by the press, particularly as not as good as the 1997 or 1996 vintages. Yet I thought up to that point some of our 1998 wines were the best we have produced.
Q: How far and wide is Yorkville Cellar’s wine distributed?
A: Yorkville Cellars wine is now more broadly available, albeit in limited quantities, in about 15 states. Of course, we also regularly ship wine directly to customers in 28 states.
Q: How is this year’s fruit shaping up?
A: We had a great start to the season and limited amounts of rain so it looks like it will be a terrific year, but as they say, “it ain’t over, till the grapes are in the barn.” That’s because really the last month or so (Sept. and Oct.) is the most critical time period as to how weather can affect a vintage. All farmers have their fingers crossed during that period.
Q: What plans do you hold for the future?
Yorkville Cellars has been the only Californian winery to grow and then produce each of the main seven varietals traditionally grown in Bordeaux as a separate bottling each vintage. They are: Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. We also produce a blend of the two whites, called Eleanor of Acquitaine. And a blend of the five reds, called Richard the Lion-Heart. Most wine drinkers haven’t heard of couple of these varietals. However, we’re going one step further and will soon be adding our Carmenere, which also was planted in Bordeaux but even more obscure. These days the ones you’re more likely to see come from Chile, where it was planted by mistake as they seemed to have thought it was primarily Merlot from Bordeaux.
Organic Guide wishes to thank Edward Wallo for generously sharing his time and insights. To find out more about Edward and the fine organic wines his company produces, please visit Yorkville Cellars.
Sphere: Related Content
