New York Wine & Grape Foundation

join or renew
Search
Close this search box.
text: Great Wine

New York Sustainable Winegrowing

New York Sustainable Winegrowing is a comprehensive program that includes educational events and resources as well as an official certification process for vineyards who are seeking to advance their environmental, social, and economic sustainability. Certification is based on science backed regionally defined standards and independent third-party audits so you can feel confident in the wine you are drinking.

Look for our Trustmark at vineyards and wineries and on bottles in 2024 to ensure that the wine you are enjoying is environmentally sound, socially equitable, and financially sustainable. 

Vineyard Resources

If you are a current Certified Vineyard and are looking to access specific documents and resources or would like to become a Certified Vineyard, please visit our Sustainability page below.

VIEW HERE
Picture of Justin Jackson

Justin Jackson

Sustainability Program Manager

Contact

Certified Vineyards

The current list of vineyards achieving certification are as follows:

Finger Lakes

  • Airy Acres Vineyard*
  • Amberg Grapevines*
  • Anthony Road Wine Company/Martini Vineyards*
  • Atwater Vineyards* 
  • Bet the Farm/Jacob Thomas*
  • Boundary Breaks*
  • Bright Leaf Vineyards*
  • Buttonwood Grove Winery*
  • Buzzard Crest Vineyards/Barrington Cellars
  • Chateau Frank*
  • Damiani Wine Cellars *
  • Doyle Vineyard Management (Caywood)*
  • Doyle Vineyard Management (Dresden)*
  • Doyle Vineyard Management (Pulleney)*
  • Dr. Konstantin Frank Eric Volz Vineyard*
  • Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery*
  • Forge Cellars*
  • Fox Run Vineyards*
  • Heart & Hands Wine Company*
  • Hermann J. Wiemer*
  • Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard*
  • Heron Hill Winery*
  • Hillick and Hobbs*
  • Hosmer Winery/Patricia Verona*
  • Hunt Country Vineyards*
  • Ingle Vineyard*
  • Kashong Glen Vineyards 
  • Kasper Vineyards  
  • Keuka Lake Vineyards West*
  • Keuka Lake Vineyards East*
  • Keuka Springs Vineyard*
  • Lake Road Vineyards*
  • Lakewood Vineyards *
  • Lamoreaux Landing Wine Cellars*
  • Neverstill Wines/Hidden View Vineyard *
  • New Vines Winery*
  • Ravines Wines Cellars Geneva*
  • Ravines Wines Cellars Hammondsport*
  • Ravines Wines Cellars Ovid*

Finger Lakes (con’t)

  • Rock House Vineyards*
  • Sawmill Creek Vineyards*
  • Shale Creek Vineyards*  
  • Silver Thread Vineyard*
  • Simmons Vineyards *
  • Six Eighty Cellars*
  • Standing Stone Vineyards*
  • Thirsty Owl Wine Company*
  • Three Brothers Wineries*
  • Treleaven Wines/King Ferry Vineyards*
  • Vine Enterprises Vineyard  
  • Vineyard View Winery/Crooked Vines*
  • Wagner Vineyards* 
  • Wiemer Julia Vineyards *
  • Wiemer Serenity Vineyards*
  • Young Farms Vineyard  

Hudson Valley

  • Benmarl Winery*
  • Clover Pond Vineyard*
  • Fjord Vineyard*
  • Hudson Valley Vineyards 
  • Milea Estates Vineyards*  
  • South Dominion Vineyard
  • Whitecliff Hudson* 
  • Whitecliff Vineyard*

Long Island

  • Bedell Cellars 
  • Ev&Em Vineyards
  • Oregon Road Estate Vineyards/Lieb Cellars/Suhru Wine *

Champlain Valley

  • Four Maples Vineyard & Winery*

Niagara

  • Arrowhead Spring Vineyards*
  • Chateau Niagara Winery

*Vineyards marked with an asterisk are also members of the New York Wine & Grape Foundation.

Certification Standards

Certification is based on maintaining a minimum score in the VineBalance workbook. This workbook is designed to provide grape growers in New York and other regions of the Northeast with guidance in evaluating and adopting best management practices that minimize environmental impacts, reduce economic risks, and protect worker health and safety. Standards in the workbook are set by a panel of experts including academics, industry members, and extension specialists focusing on practices relevant to New York grape production. Annually, these standards undergo review and revision to ensure they are up to date with science based best practices and economic feasibility. Currently the workbook features nine objectives.  

  1. To promote the use of practices that reduce reliance on off-farm inputs. 
  2. To build, regenerate, and conserve healthy soils for future generations. 
  3. To protect surrounding reservoirs and waterways from pollution. 
  4. To improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 
  5. To conserve natural resources, reduce waste streams, and recycle. 
  6. To encourage healthy ecosystems, biodiversity, and wildlife habitat. 
  7. To increase climate resiliency and promote climate-smart farming. 
  8. To provide education and pathways for continuous improvement. 
  9. To foster a socially equitable and economically viable industry. 

Related News

NYWGF Releases VineBalance Update for Sustainability Pilot Program

October 27, 2021

The NYWGF Sustainability Program is pleased to announce the release of a VineBalance 2022 update for New York’s sustainable winegrowing certification pilot program. The latest update expands upon the environmental risk assessment presented in the original VineBalance workbook to address the objectives of the NYWGF Grower Sustainability Advisory Committee: input reduction, soil health, water protection, energy conservation, resources and waste, ecosystem health, climate resiliency, continuous improvement, and social equity. This update was vetted against leading

hands holding dirt

NYWGF Sustainability Program Offers Soil Health Scholarships

October 15, 2021

The NYWGF Sustainability Program is pleased to offer scholarships to the Advanced Soil Health Virtual Certificate Course offered by the Cornell University Soil Health Program. This online course will take place December 4th – 11th from 8am to 11:30am and will include live sessions with soil health experts on December 6th, 8th, and 10th. Harold van Es, Cornell University Professor of Soil and Water Management, and Joseph Amsili, Extension Associate  for the Cornell Soil Health Program, will lead the course.  Healthy soil is the foundation of a healthy vineyard. It is important to practice soil health management throughout the year to reduce erosion, improve infiltration, sequester carbon, and foster a diverse soil

illustration of power plant

Community Solar Explained: What It Is and How It Works

September 27, 2021

What Is Community Solar?Community solar farms (also referred to as projects) are large, commercial-grade solar arrays shared by multiple community subscribers who receive credits on their electricity bills for their share of the power produced. Community solar farms offer residents, businesses, and municipalities an easy way to support clean, renewable energy AND save up to 10% on their monthly energy costs (with no change in utility provider). It’s easy, which is one of the many

2024 Unity Awards: Sustainability Recipient - Rich Olsen-Harbich

Rich Olsen-Harbich began pioneering sustainable winegrowing techniques decades before it was cool.

“This Sustainability Award really validates what we’ve been doing at Bedell Cellars since 1980,” Olsen-Harbich, winemaker at Bedell Cellars, notes. “Sustainability is a zero-sum game. It is a pathway that you walk on, without an end in sight. You always want to find a way to be even more sustainable.”.

The Sustainability Award recognizes an organization or winery that has exemplified sustainable practices.

NYWGF is a Founding Member of the Sustainable Wine Roundtable

The Sustainable Wine Roundtable (SWR) is an independent, nonprofit, multi-stakeholder initiative to unite the international wine community around a consensus definition of sustainable wine. The mission of the SWR is to develop guidelines and best practices to advance sustainability in all aspects of wine production and trade. As a Founding Member, the Foundation will join with sister programs to share expertise and develop a global sustainability standard for wine. For more information, visit this link.

porto protocol logo

NYWGF Joins Porto Protocol

We are thrilled to announce that the New York Wine & Grape Foundation has joined the Porto Protocol. The Porto Protocol Foundation is an open and dynamic platform of ideas and workable solutions to combat climate change. The mission of the Porto Protocol Foundation is to drive collaborative action by bringing together a network of change makers and workable climate solutions for and within the wine world. For more information, visit this link.

The NYWGF Sustainability Program would not be possible without support from the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, USDA Rural Development, New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, Genesee Valley Regional Market Authority, Yates County, New York State Wine Grape Growers, and John Ingle of Ingle Vineyard and Heron Hill Winery.

text: Doing Good.

New York Sustainable Winegrowing

New York Sustainable Winegrowing is a comprehensive program that includes educational events and resources as well as an official certification process for vineyards who are seeking to advance their environmental, social, and economic sustainability. Certification is based on science backed regionally defined standards and independent third-party audits so you can feel confident in the wine you are drinking.

Look for our Trustmark at vineyards and wineries and on bottles in 2024 to ensure that the wine you are enjoying is environmentally sound, socially equitable, and financially sustainable.