Vines and Values: A Consumer's Guide to Sustainable Wine

The global wine manufacturing industry consists of companies (and farmers) engaged in at least one component of the winemaking process. They grow and harvest grapes, crush and press grape mixtures, ferment wine, blend and bottle it, and eventually market and distribute wine for retail sale.

There are opportunities to be environmentally and socially responsible at every one of these stages of winemaking, packaging, and delivery to consumers.

So, what’s the difference between conventional, certified sustainable, artisanal, natural, organic, and biodynamic wine?

Let’s start with the word itself. In the environmental context sustainability means "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” That definition comes from a United Nations conference on Sustainable Development several decades ago. Sustainable agriculture generally refers to farming systems that are economically sustainable to the farmer, that do no environmental harm, and that are socially acceptable and fair to the workers as well. Viticulture, a term you’ll see throughout wine books, refers to vineyard management and farming wine grapes. Wine sustainability refers to a range of viticulture and winery practices that are not only ecologically sound and socially responsible, but also economically viable, all with the future in mind.

Ecologically Sound

For farmers who want to leave their land for future generations of farmers, attention to environmental health will help ensure that land is productive over time, so that the next generation or owners should still be able to produce quality grapes on the vineyard 50 years from now. In addition, vineyards’ soil health is critical to solving the climate crisis. Good environmental practices can draw down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequester it in the soil to help mitigate emissions. Water conservation can provide drought adaptation. Pest management protects the grapes in their growing season and can be accomplished without excessive spraying of chemicals.

Socially Responsible

In the wine industry, social responsibility and social equity focus on fair wages, training for farm workers, affordable housing, opportunities for advancement, and caring for the health of employees. This means providing a safe and healthy place for people who work or live within and around the vineyard. As an example, selecting the least harmful pesticide options and applying them in a responsible, safe manner will greatly enhance the health and safety of not only workers -- the person applying or spraying -- but also others living and working in or near the vineyard area. It is important that the broader community perceives vineyard and winery management to be socially responsible and a good neighbor, supporting critical local needs. Diversity and equity are priorities because wine industry leadership has been overwhelmingly white- and male-dominated, often overlooking the value diversity can bring to business decision making, employee wellbeing and marketing to new customers. Consumers should be reassured that the products they buy are made in a fair and just business.

Economically Viable

Grape growing must remain a viable opportunity for rural economies, and farmers should make sure that grapes planted today are growing well for years to come. Like all farming, viticulture should support the resilience of rural communities. Sustainability is at its core all about the “triple bottom line” – people, planet, and prosperity. A profitable winery operation can pay fair wages, support communities, invest in climate change mitigation, water conservation, and continue to provide the delicious wines we enjoy.

There are a number of environmentally responsible wine growing methods. Most of these focus on healthy ecosystems, biodiversity, and wildlife habitat in vineyards and, while different, they each contribute to successful and sustainable viticulture. There’s organic, regenerative organic, biodynamic, natural, and certified sustainable, each with different approaches to growing grapes and making wine. These are often lumped together in conversations and even in the media under the general heading of sustainable wine. Importantly for our purposes each of these methods is distinct in their growing and winemaking practices, and key for wine consumers who care about the health of the planet, their own personal health and the wellbeing of workers and communities. Each of these responsible growing techniques are described in turn, distinguishing them one from another with descriptions of the independent audits and certifications that provide assurance to the customer that the wine is authentic and meets specific criteria.

Of course, more could be done to improve each of these methods. The standards to be certified as sustainable - - and add a seal on the bottle attesting to authentic sustainability -- should be more rigorous in terms of social equity and standards to decarbonize the wine industry. Also, those vineyards that are certified organic and biodynamic should be required to include certain social and environmental practices – beyond the forbearance of chemical use. While organic and biodynamic practices fully cover incremental ecological responsibility and require elimination of all chemical use, they do not as a rule cover air quality, water conservation, emissions reduction, responsible packaging, and social equity.

There are opportunities to be sustainable at every step along the process of making and delivering a wine to the ultimate consumer. This starts with the seasons of grape growing through to harvesting, then crushing and pressing, fermentation, filtering (also called fining), then aging and bottling and finally delivery to the place of purchase and consumption – whether that is your home, retail shop, bar, or restaurant.

Viticulturists (vineyard managers) will tell you that winemaking starts not with the grape, but with the land itself. The precise location of the vineyard, the inclination of the ground, the type and quality of the soil, the humidity of the air, the direction of the sun, quantity of rain and even the nearby flora and fauna all contribute to the character of the finished product. Together, these refer to what the French call terroir – the specificity of place. A fancy French term, terroir is the combined action of earth, air, light, water, and landscape on the vineyard, that determines flavor, sugar content, and acidity of the grape that will be used to make the wine.