Episode 177: Leveraging Native Biology and No-Till Strategies with Bob Tillman
4/16/20261 hr
Bob Tillman is a former electronics professional who launched Alta Colina Vineyard & Winery in 2003 on the steep, mountainous terrain of Paso Robles, California . Managing thirty-two acres of grapes, he has spent two decades transitioning from conventional methods to a biological approach centered on the natural resilience of his native ecosystem.
He eliminated tillage in 2006 and moved away from synthetic inputs to rely on native ground cover and biological cycling . By utilizing total nutrition testing, he identifies vast mineral reserves already present in his soil and focuses on microbial health to make those nutrients available to the vines<...
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First 90 secondsJohn Kempf· Host0:00
Hi, friends. This is John. Welcome back to the Regenerative Agriculture Podcast. Today, I'm here with an interesting character. We're all gonna find out how interesting. Bob Tillman from Paso Robles, California. Bob, thanks for being here. I'm uncertain where this conversation is going to go, given the comment that you just made about wanting to figure out who John Kemp is.
Bob Tillman· Guest0:19
Yeah.
John Kempf· Host0:19
We'll see how this whole conversation evolves.
Bob Tillman· Guest0:21
Sure.
John Kempf· Host0:22
But, uh, tell us, tell us a little bit about your operation and the, the context that you are growing wine in.
Bob Tillman· Guest0:30
Okay. Uh, well, good morning, John. Nice talking with you. Um, so I'm a wine grower as my second career, actually. I did a 34-year career in the electronics business and, uh, launched a, a wine operation in t- in 2003 here in, in Paso Robles. Uh, and, uh, so my vineyard sits in the mountains, a little bit west of the town of Paso Robles. It's, uh, uh, we have-- I have 32 acres of grapes growing on top of a pretty steep mountainside. Um, and maybe a little bit of context for Paso Robles. It, it's, uh, in a fairly extreme Mediterranean climate, so it rained a little bit over the weekend, which was shocking. I thought we were done a month ago, actually, b- but I have a feeling we're now done, and it probably won't rain again until Thanksgiving or so. So we're in for a, a very long dry spell, and some years we go without even seeing a cloud for months on end.