New York Wine & Grape Foundation

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.

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.

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

Related News

USDA Accepting Applications to Help Cover Costs for Organic Certification

August 10, 2020

WASHINGTON, August 10, 2020 – USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced that organic producers and handlers can apply for federal funds to assist with the cost of receiving and maintaining organic certification through the Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP). Applications for eligible certification expenses paid between Oct. 1, 2019, and Sept. 30, 2020, are due Oct. 31, 2020. “For producers producing food with organic certification, this program helps cover a portion of those certification

A Long History of Sustainability at Silver Thread Vineyard

May 28, 2020

Silver Thread Vineyard was established in 1982 on the eastern shore of Seneca Lake, at the heart of New York’s Finger Lakes region. At this location the bottom of the lake drops almost 200 feet below sea level, a dramatic mass of water that creates a distinct microclimate on the leeward (eastern) hillside — cooling breezes in summer, radiating warmth through the winter, and extending the length of the growing season.

vineyard at sunset

Leading by Example: Sustainability & Biodynamics at Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard

May 28, 2020

Attitudes, practices, and policies have been changing especially in the last decade with regards to sustainability. There is mounting concern for personal health, and environmental and social problems that the world is facing including sickness and disease, extinction of plant and animal species, depletion natural resources, global warming, etc.

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.

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.

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.