Although I haven’t counted, it’s frequently said that there are over 300 eco-labels, or certifications, in use in the U.S. Many of those won’t apply to a winery, but there’s enough that do apply to keep our heads spinning. The big challenge is that although there are similarities, each of them is a little different and meant to appeal to different people. There isn’t a single certification for the wine industry that covers all the bases, including:

• Looking at all the important issues: environmental, social and economic performance
• Reviewing both vineyard and winery operations
• Requiring policies for continual improvement and actual performance metrics

Until there’s one super certification we’re going with four broad and broadly accepted certifications as our platform. We’ve already gotten certified under the Sustainability In Practice (SIP) for all our vineyards and Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing (CCSW) program for both our all vineyards and wineries. We’ve got two buildings LEED certified and are pursuing certification for another 20 buildings under LEED and ISO 14001 over the next 18-24 months.

Lastly, we’re using the framework from the Global Reporting Initiative for communicating our performance. We have an aggressive certification program that is on par with the best companies in theU.S.; we’ll keep you posted how it goes. If you’ve got any comments or questions leave them below so we can continue the conversation.