California producers have been making continuous strides in wine industry sustainability over the years. A recent report from the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA) shows the vast majority of the state’s wine production is performed sustainably. The 2020 Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing Annual Report details the progress made within the industry.
“Transparency and continuous improvement are two of the mantras of sustainable winegrowing in California,” CSWA Executive Director, Allison Jordan said in a press release. “The 2020 report provides statistics and demonstrates progress in adoption of sustainable practices by a growing number of certified vineyards and wineries over the past year.”
The report shows that as of December 2020, 171 wineries in the state are Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing. Those wineries produced 255 million cases of wine, representing 80 percent of all wine production in California. More than 2,200 vineyards farming on nearly a third of all winegrape acreage in California have also been certified, according to the report.
Nearly half of all California winegrape acreage is certified when taking other programs into consideration. Certification under programs such as Lodi Rules and Sustainability in Practice made up an additional 15 percent of certified vineyard acreage. Many wineries and vineyards also adopted sustainable practices that actually exceed requirements for certification.
Wine industry sustainability has become a major point of emphasis as consumers have taken a larger interest. The most recent report from CSWA marks the 10-year anniversary of the launch of the program. Last year experienced moderate growth in the number of vineyards and wineries moving to become certified as being sustainable. The number of vineyards becoming certified increased seven percent and the number of wineries increased 15 percent in 2020.
A total of 76 million bottles of wine came from California with labels bearing sustainability credentials in 2020. There are stipulations for using one of the Certified California Sustainable logos. At least 85 percent of the grapes must come from a certified vineyard. All of the grapes used in the wine must also come from California.
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