Tolosa Winery in Paso Robles, Calif., practices scientifically based sustainability practices in its vineyard and winery.
All of Tolosa’s vineyards are SIP-certified, demonstrating sustainability in practice.
All winery waste, including grape seeds and skins, is recycled, composted, or otherwise recovered. The winery uses vineyard tools with tractors designed to perform multiple tasks at the same time. This minimizes the number of tractors traveling through the vineyard and significantly reduces fuel, soil compaction and erosion.
Tolosa has integrated pest management practices in place that carefully monitor the balance of insects, soil fertility, soil moisture and vine health to minimize the waste of energy and chemical inputs. These practices make use of natural predators to control insect pests, and even weed species in some cases (the winery actually releases a specific beetle that eats the seeds of star thistle).
Tolosa also utilizes non-pesticide management methods, such as using the vine mealybug’s own pheromones in small, playing-card size clips hung on the vines, to confuse them during mating and lower their populations.
