Now in its eighth year, the California Green Medal Sustainable Winegrowing Leadership Awards provide recognition to vineyards and wineries that are leaders in implementing the Three E's of sustainability (environment, economic and social equity).

Welcome to Sustainable Winegrowing with the Vineyard Team where we bring you the latest in science and research for the wine industry. I'm Beth Vukmanic, Executive Director at Vineyard Team, steering committee member and judge for the California Green Medal Awards. Applications are open now through January 30, 2023. As a listener to this podcast, you could be a perfect candidate to receive recognition for your good work.

The Green Medal Awards inspire others in the industry and highlight the benefits of participating in a sustainability program. It's a great opportunity to showcase the amazing commitment many California growers and vintners have made to protecting the environment and enhancing the communities in which they live and work. We're proud to count a number of SIP Certified members among the winners including Jackson Family Wines, Monterey Pacific, Inc., Pisoni Family Vineyards, Sheid Family Wines, and Trinchero Family Estates.

We wanted to highlight last year's winner of the Leader Award, Wente Vineyards in Livermore. So, our host, Craig Macmillan, Critical Resource Manager at Niner Wine Estates, with a long-time SIP Certified vineyard and the first ever SIP Certified winery, took a few minutes to talk with Nikki Wente. If you attended our Sustainable Ag Expo in November, you had a chance to hear from Nikki about their use of autonomous and electric vehicles. In this interview, she talks about their no-till system, use of sheep in the vineyards, oak forest land, electric tractors, and balancing capital investments. Listen in to hear her number one piece of advice for sustainable winegrowers.

You can apply for the Environment, Community, or Business awards and also the Leader award by going to greenmedal.org. Check out the show notes for a link, to read about previous winners and to learn more about Nikki. Until next time, this is Sustainable Winegrowing with the Vineyard Team.

References:

• California Green Medal Award | Apply
• California Green Medal Award | Winners
• SIP Certified California Greene Medal Award Winners
• Wente Vineyards