Introduced in 2010, Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing is a certification program providing third-party verification that a winery or vineyard has adopted and implemented stringent sustainable winegrowing standards based on the Industry’s Code of 200+ best practices, and has committed to continuous improvement in those areas. After meeting 60 vineyard and 41 winery criteria, companies use self-assessment data to determine what areas need to be improved, to focus their resources on practices that will make the most difference for their sustainability goals, and to continually retain certification year after year.
Vineyards and wineries must also meet an overall score threshold, and measure and track metrics for water, energy, greenhouse gases and nitrogen. Vineyards must also comply with the restrictions on crop-protection materials. An annual third-party audit is required to earn and maintain certification status.
Since 2017, participants have had the option to use the Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing wine logo on the bottle. Certified wineries must source at least 85% of their grapes from certified vineyards and 100% of their grapes must come from California.
California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA) publishes Certified Sustainable Annual Reports, a yearly update on statistics and progress in grower and vintner adoption of sustainable practices.
Learn more about the requirements for your vineyard, winery and/or wines to become Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing and how to apply for certification.
https://wineinstitute.org/our-work/responsibility/sustainability/certified
