For the past 50 years, Phil LaRocca has been a celebrated name in the organic community. In 1975, he gained organic certification for his apple orchard through CCOF. His farm, LaRocca Vineyards, has been certified organic by CCOF since 1984. Over the years, he has helped shape the development of the USDA National Organic Program and has served two successful terms as CCOF’s Board Chair.
Now, after five decades of making celebrated organic wine and nurturing a close-knit community around the family business, LaRocca Vineyards is closing its doors. For the LaRocca family, the decision is bittersweet, but after decades in the wine industry and years of unexpected challenges like fires and COVID, they say the timing feels right.
Phil and Judy LaRocca founded LaRocca Vineyards in the early 1980s, growing the business from a family vineyard into one of the country’s pioneering certified organic wineries. Along the way, the winery became famous for producing organic wines without added sulfites, helping establish a place for a style of winemaking that many in the industry once thought was not possible.
Phil’s historically controversial decision to skip sulfites is one of many legacies he’s left in the organic winemaking industry. “I wanted to make an organic wine without sulfur dioxide, and you would have thought the end of the world was coming,” he says of the early days before such farming methods became mainstream. “I started to get the vibe that no one else was doing it.”
So, he went looking for answers at California State University, Fresno, where they did their own private agriculture research. But there, LaRocca was also grilled about how he would grow grapes without herbicides and faced skepticism about winemaking without sulfur dioxide.
Rather than being dejected about the outcome of the meeting, LaRocca recalls, “When they tell me something isn’t possible, I always have a little mantra in my head, ‘If they can put a man on the moon, I can grow an organic apple [or grape].’ This ain’t rocket science!” Phil proved to the industry that his winemaking methods worked. In fact, years later, he even helped write the regulations for organic grape growing and organic winemaking.
Over the years, Phil’s dedication to organic farming has driven the success of his vineyard. “I have a firm belief about organic,” Phil says. “As a kid, I spent every weekend at my grandfather’s ranch in the Santa Clara Valley. I got the farming bug in me. I loved being out there with the trees.”
Phil loves telling the story about how, after World War II, federal officials tried to give his grandfather some excess chemical fertilizer left over from the war, but his grandfather came out waving a shotgun and chased them off. The farm remained a natural oasis even as synthetic fertilizers were widely adopted elsewhere.
As he established his own career, Phil always knew organic was the way to go, even if it wouldn’t become a commonly accepted practice for decades. “At one conventional nut orchard in the Sierra Buttes, we watched a squirrel drink from the irrigation ditch, then it keeled over and died,” he says. “Then we saw a rabbit do the same thing. After that, even though they said I could pick some if I wanted, I never touched nuts from that orchard again.” This early appreciation for natural farming methods paved the way for LaRocca Vineyards.
As it concludes its final year, LaRocca Vineyards leaves an impressive legacy. Over the years, it grew to more than 200 acres of vineyards across Butte and Sutter counties and became a recognized leader in organic agriculture. Phil’s work earned national recognition and helped establish a foundation for generations of organic farmers and winemakers who have followed in his footsteps.
But for the LaRocca family, the most important part of LaRocca Vineyards’ legacy goes beyond the countless glasses filled with organic wine; it’s the community that’s grown and flourished around the vineyard.
Over countless harvest parties, grape stomps, and long days in the vineyard, the LaRocca family became an integral part of the Chico community. Their downtown tasting room became a beloved local gathering place in its own right, where friends, customers, and neighbors came together over the years. The local businesses, restaurants and retailers in Chico supported the family’s mission from the beginning, even when organic wine was far from mainstream, and they formed lifelong friendships as the vineyard grew.
The LaRoccas returned that support through donations, fundraisers, and community events, building relationships that extended well beyond the tasting room and vineyards.
Although the family is stepping away from commercial wine production and grape growing, the LaRoccas will retain the property. As he approaches his 80th birthday, Phil looks forward to spending more time with his family and enjoying a different pace of life.
The winery’s recent farewell reception was a celebration of all the community milestones and friendships that would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of the LaRocca family and their community. “Our hearts were so full with all the beautiful customers and people that came out that have been in our lives, some of them since inception,” said Phil’s daughter, Phaedra LaRocca Morrill. “It’s been really, really great.”
