In an industry first, O’Neill Vintners & Distillers, through its Paso Robles-based Robert Hall Winery, will initiate trial comparing the results of regenerative farming with organic and biodynamic farming techniques, with conventionally farmed vineyards.
The trial will be led by Robert Hall Winery’s Managing Director Caine Thompson with VP of Viticulture and Winemaking Marty Spate, while also bringing in world-renowned biodynamic consultant Philippe Armenier.
For more than 30 years, Armenier has been carrying on a love affair with biodynamic farming. His family’s famed Domaine de Marcoux in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, France, was the first vineyard in Châteauneuf-du-Pape to convert to biodynamics. Armenier now passionately shares the philosophy of biodynamics with the world. Using these techniques at Domaine de Marcoux, the winery soared to new heights. Robert Parker once called the winery “one of the greatest wine estates in the world profiled in my book.”
The study at Robert Hall Winery will be unique in that once per month a Field Day will be held at Robert Hall Winery for trade, writers, press and consumers. The Field Days will be an educational hands-on experience explaining and teaching regenerative farming through organic and biodynamic techniques. “This is one of the most transparent studies that I’m aware of anywhere in the world,” says Armenier. “It will showcase regenerative farming practices in a real life case study that brings the whole community together on a journey.”
Thompson says, “This project acts as a wider research effort for O’Neill Vintners & Distillers with the potential to have a much greater impact as we look to how we can reduce carbon on a large scale and farm without synthetic chemicals as we regenerate our vineyards.”
This partnership project with O’Neill Vintners & Distillers builds upon a commitment to engage the community on sustainable conversations and practices. “While biodynamic and organic farming are age old practices, we want to examine the effectiveness of carbon sequestration through regenerative farming practices, along with quality and cost determinations,” says Founder and CEO Jeff O’Neill.