Jake -
I'm not happy with how LR handles the R7 RAW files. I've been dealing with it, but the color & noise are horrible compared to DPP4. Full disclosure: I'm no pro and I've only ever used Adobe products for my serious editing. I literally just opened DPP4 for the first time today! 
I'm curious how I would add DPP as my initial workflow step. Pick my "keepers" and save them as TIFFs to a folder, then import the resulting files into LR? Then my process is the same, albeit with the loss of RAW editing capabilies. Curious how you'd do it.
Many thanks,
- Terry