Iconic Willow Creek District Winery Also Earns 2024 Environmental Steward Award from Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance
Paso Robles, California—Following the recent expansion of its estate into a neighboring 27-acre vineyard, Booker Vineyard & Winery today announced that this new acreage has been officially designated as Regenerative Organic Certified® (ROC™), affirming that it meets the highest standards in the world for soil health and farmworker fairness.
Concurrently, Booker has earned the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance’s 2024 Environmental Steward Award, which recognizes “the business that has undertaken the greatest effort to ensure their operations are managed with the best ‘green’ business standards.” This award was announced last week.
Aiming High
Booker’s expanded estate property was acquired from the neighboring Caliza Winery last summer, and it has since been enfolded into the original Booker estate in the Willow Creek District of Paso Robles. The original Booker estate was already certified by California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) and Regenerative Organic Certified® (ROC™), and those certifications now officially extend to the entire expanded estate.
“The previous owner, Carl Bowker at Caliza, had been farming these vines organically for several years, and we were able to demonstrate this track record with the certifying bodies,” said Senior Vineyard Manager Hilary Graves. “Additionally, the vineyard is now being farmed by the same team and practices that earned Booker these certifications in the first place. For these reasons, we were able to increase our Regenerative Organic Certified® acreage relatively quickly.”
Graves added, “Every vine on the expanded estate now officially reflects the high standards that we set for ourselves when it comes to farming and social responsibility. The first thing I did was tell our whole team, ‘This is yours to take care of and to treat just like our existing estate.’ They were really happy, they didn’t miss a beat, and they rose to the challenge of this new responsibility.”
Peak Recognition
Booker’s trailblazing efforts in the field of regenerative organic viticulture have not gone unnoticed, as the winery’s peers have selected Booker as the 2024 recipient of the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance’s Environmental Steward Award—a distinction earned by the efforts of Graves and her team.
The award states: “Hilary Graves has led Booker to CCOF and Regenerative Organic Certification, cutting vineyard water use in half, and implementing novel sustainable practices such as sheep grazing, falconry, and drone based beneficial insect deployment. Hilary takes it to another level by traveling the country, spreading the word that organic and sustainable farming is not only affordable but essential to our survival.”
This award is 20 years in the making at Booker Vineyard, as Founder-Winemaker Eric Jensen began farming the estate with organic practices starting in 2006. “For every problem, there’s an organic or regenerative solution,” Jensen said. “You have to work and think harder to find it, but that just makes you a better farmer, and a better steward of the land and the community.”
Established in 2001 by farmer-winemaker Eric Jensen, Booker Vineyard & Winery specializes in premium estate wines from its 87-acre organic and regenerative vineyard in westside Paso Robles. Booker’s wines are perennially acclaimed as among the finest in California. In 2021, Booker opened a state-of-the-art visitor center with underground wine caves and an indoor-outdoor tasting lounge that flows into the vineyard environment. The winery and estate vineyard are solar powered, and the vineyard is CCOF and Regenerative Organic Certified®. Visit BookerWines.com.