Sustainable Winegrowing
Benefiting the environment, the community and high quality grapes and wine.
Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing (CERTIFIED SUSTAINABLE) is a
certification program developed by the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA) that
provides verification that a winery or vineyard adopts and implements sustainable winegrowing practices
according to the industry's code of best practices and commits to a process of continuous
improvement
in these practices.
CCSW-Certified wineries and vineyards must:
- Evaluate their operations on a scale of 1 to 4 in 140 vineyard and 104 winery criteria in the California Code of Sustainable Winegrowing Workbook annually.
- Meet a minimum score threshold.
- Meet 58 vineyard prerequisites and 37 winery prerequisites from the Code Workbook criteria to be eligible for the program.
- Verify the accuracy of their evaluations and practices during a third-party audit.
- Demonstrate continuous improvement in the adoption of sustainable practices on an annual basis.
- Vineyards must measure and record water use and nitrogen applied annually. Wineries must measure and record water use, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) annually.
For more information, visit: www.sustainablewinegrowing.org