Lodi News-Sentinel, Feb. 7, 2007
'Three-car winery'
A new Lodi addition: Onus Wines gets start in family garage
By Rebecca Adler
If it weren't for the fermentation tank in the driveway, it's likely nobody would even be able to tell there's a winery at the Peterson Family Vineyard off West Turner Road.
That's because the winery's barrel room is inconspicuously disguised as a three-car garage.
The winery, Onus Wines, is affectionately known as "the three-car winery" by the youngest Peterson and is one of the newest additions to Lodi's list of quality wineries.
Just last week, the Wine and Visitor Center began selling Onus Wines' cabernet at $30 a bottle. With only 100 cases, the family's 2003 chardonnay has sold out for the year. But a 2005 vintage will be bottled and on the market in late March.
The Petersons, fourth-generation grape growers, invested $30,000 to establish the winery in 2004 and bottled their first vintage last year.
Although the past three generations of Petersons had experimented with home winemaking, the family's real interest in opening a winery started in 1999 when Brad Peterson, the oldest son, began experimenting with winemaking in college.
He was studying crop science in San Luis Obispo, but he said he was taking as many viticulture and enology classes as he could manage. At the same time, he was practicing his winemaking techniques in his garage.
"I always had to live somewhere with a garage when I was in college," he said. "It didn't matter how much it cost as long as there was a garage."
In 2003 he gave up the garage winemaking and went to Saucelito Canyon, a family winery in San Luis Obispo, to gain experience. There he was able to create his first bonded wine, which is now for sale under the Onus Wines label.
Now he's come full circle, returning to his family's Lodi vineyards and once again creating wines from his garage, which is a certified converted ag building.
Although Brad, 31, is the winemaker, he works with his parents and two brothers to harvest, crush and bottle. And of course, work in the vineyard.
"If we don't grow great grapes, we can't make great wine," said Brad Peterson. The Peterson's farm 110 acres of grapes and 20 acres of cherries.
Brad Peterson said he expects the winery to remain low-key while the family builds its brand and establishes a customer base.
The youngest brother, Marty Peterson, said a fully-functioning winery (outside of the garage) is at least five years away.
"Our primary focus right now is the quality of the wine. We'll grow the brand from there," Marty said. "We have a history as growers and a good feel for winemaking. Sales is going to be the challenge for us."
There has been talk of hiring someone to market their wine. But for now, their mother is their number one sales representative. And with more than 20 years of business experience at her downtown store, Pret, she is qualified for the position.
"It's truly a family affair," said Jim Peterson, the family patriarch.
Jim Peterson said the winery was a natural progression, especially with two sons who became winemakers. Marty, 28, works as an assistant winemaker at a Francis Ford Coppola winery in Geyserville and helps Brad during the weekends.
With all these Petersons, one has to wonder why the name isn't on the bottle.
"Well, there's a pretty simple answer: with all the other wineries out there and a fairly common name, it was already taken," said Jim Peterson.
He said it was difficult coming up with a name that wasn't already taken and said exactly how they felt about their wine. They finally chose Onus, which means "a responsibility that involves considerable difficulty or necessitates rather strenuous effort."
It is more commonly used in the Latin phrase onus probandi, or the burden of proof. Thus the family's motto, "The proof is in the bottle."
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