Long Island Sustainable Winegrowing (LISW) Announces Formation and Sustainable Vineyard Certification
Most wineries on the East End of Long Island like to talk about being “sustainable” in their vineyard practices and winemaking. There’s discussion about windmills and compost piles and this spray or that application, but let’s be honest, ”sustainable” is a nebulous term… at least in the way they are using it, to denote a certain “green”-ness without formal biodynamic or organic certification. Those require strict adherence to defined rules over a set period of time.
“Sustainable” is a bit of a “green” grey area without any local definition or certification. It is a term that is decidedly open to interpretation. Because of that ambiguity, it is no doubt being abused by some wineries that want to cash in on the green movement without really acting as stewards for their land.
This weekend, on Earth Day as a matter of fact, the Long Island Sustainable Winegrowing, Inc. (LISW) will announce its formation and begin to bring some structure and clarity to “sustainability” in Long Island wine country.
LISW, a not-for-profit organization, will provide education and certification for Long Island vineyards and is the first sustainable vineyard certification program in the eastern United States.
According to the press release:
This effort provides further example of New York City’s local wine district raising the bar for eco-friendly farming practices and pioneering the union of viticultural science, world-class winemaking, and social responsibility.
As the 2012 vintage enters spring bud-break, LISW will begin the multi-year certification process for Long Island farm wineries using international standards of sustainable practices in quality wine-grape production that have been refined for Long Island. These sustainability guidelines use a checklist system consisting of recommended and prohibited practices and materials, thoughtful planning and numerous ecological options, as verified by independent third-party certifiers. All Long Island vineyard owners have been invited to join LISW to begin working on the transitional pathway toward the adoption of more sustainable practices and ultimate certification.
A core working group of leading Long Island wineries participated in the inception of LISW: Bedell Cellars, Channing Daughters Winery, Martha Clara Vineyards, and Shinn Estate Vineyards. These founding partners worked in conjunction with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County to write and codify specific sustainable grape growing guidelines for Long Island’s two AVAs: the North Fork of Long Island and The Hamptons, Long Island. The foundation of the program is the New York VineBalance Grower Self- Assessment Workbook, which acts as a roadmap for evaluating sustainable viticultural practices. Development of the VineBalance Workbook began in 2004 as a major cooperative effort led by Cornell University Cooperative Extension with funding from the New York Wine & Grape Foundation and New York Farm Viability Institute. The VineBalance Workbook is now recognized and endorsed by the Agricultural Environmental Management Program of the New York State Soil & Water Conservation Committee and New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets.
LISW recognizes that social responsibility complements the high quality winemaking and natural beauty already associated with the Long Island wine region. “We are eager to strengthen the ecological leadership and social responsibility of the Long Island wine region,” said Richard Olsen-Harbich, Winemaker at Bedell Cellars. “This effort has been an important process for Long Island wineries to demonstrate they are serious about making world-class wines that are also ecologically sensitive. New Yorkers should take pride knowing that the most sustainable and lowest carbon footprint wines are made right here in their own backyard, on the East End of Long Island.”
Long Island winegrowers are joining a small but expanding group of sustainable winegrowers who care about the environment. Oregon and California have similar programs but the Long Island ecosystem is particularly fragile due to its proximity to creeks and bays. “We farm land that is part of an important watershed and the Long Island sustainable standards will guide local viticulturists in returning to more natural methods of farming. Addressing our vineyards as living systems, setting aside biological compensation areas on the farm, and farming transparently and mindfully are key points to our standards,” said Barbara Shinn, Co-Owner and Viticulturist of Shinn Estate Vineyards. “Integrating science, personal farming knowledge and creative problem solving ultimately transforms outdated practices into ones that harmonize with our surrounding ecosystem. Protecting our creeks and bays and stewarding the health of our soils is our priority.”
LISW believes that wineries should work in harmony with the natural world to build a community between vineyards, workers and the land. “Creating a pathway and a process for dialogue ensures that we continuously improve our management strategies to maintain our clean water and air, a healthy workforce, healthy soils and healthy vines,” said Larry Perrine, CEO/Partner of Channing Daughters Winery. “We see the viability of our vineyards as being rooted in an integrated ecological system and we strive to develop viticultural practices that produce the highest quality fruit possible, while also being stewards of our land and economically viable over time.”
This initiative has a long history of development because many viticultural “best practices” have been finely tuned among the region’s grape growers for the past 35 years. “With a long history to guide us, Long Island vineyard managers have developed unique and safe practices for producing quality wine grapes and have endeavored to create a unique definition of sustainable viticulture,” said Jim Thompson, Vineyard Manager at Martha Clara Vineyards. “I believe these efforts will have a big impact on the public perception of our industry and the results so far have been very encouraging.”
Eco-savvy consumers have another choice they can make from a crowded wine marketplace – one that supports their local economy, the land and the people who grow their favorite wines. Interested consumers are encouraged to discover how deep sustainable growing practices have taken root on Long Island. A comprehensive list of sustainable farming guidelines and principles is available from LISW upon request, and complete up-to-date information can be found by following LISW on the internet (lisustainablewine.org - launching this weekend), Facebook (facebook.com/sustainablewinegrowing) and Twitter (twitter.com/liswinegrowing). The organization has pending 501(c)(3) not-for-profit status and the first certified sustainable Long Island wines will be available for sale in early 2013.
This is exciting news for the region. Though I work in marketing at my day job, I always favor transparency and reality over smoke and mirrors. I look forward to keeping tabs on the goings on and speaking with the growers LISW is working with this season.
Good story and congratulations to all involved. However I do have and issue with people saying the most sustainable and lowest carbon footprint are made here on Long Island. I do believe that Mendocino County takes the cake on that issue.
Not sure how to quantify Edward’s posit on Mendocino exactly, but I would also ask about the carbon footprint. I read through the website and while I see extremely important subjects related to Low Input, what about Output, especially of greenhouse gases, etc. What guidelines are there on the subject of electricity, diesel and gas, etc.?
New Yorkers should take pride knowing that the most sustainable and lowest carbon footprint wines are made right here in their own backyard, on the East End of Long Island.”
Now show me the facts that make this statement try. This is a BOLD statement to make without facts to back it up.
Thank you for the comments.
To clarify - my comments are aimed towards New Yorkers who are looking at making the most sustainable choices in the wine market. For a New Yorker, its a more sustainable choice for them to buy a Long Island wine (or any New York wine for that matter) than a wine from the west coast or overseas. That’s the context we are talking about. I think it’s a fairly straightforward concept.
Jim, all good questions. We’d love to have Peconic Bay on board! I’d be happy to send you the guidelines.
Charlie has been watching the process closely and is very impressed and pleased with the whole thing. We’re on board naturally!
Great Jim, glad Peconic Bay is on board, we haven’t heard from you guys yet and enrollment confirmation is due a week from today. Since you are considering joining in this season we look forward to you volunteering the time to take on the issue of carbon footprint.
Edward and Jim,
Thank you for your feedback! And Jim we’d love to have Peconic Bay in the program!
Just to be clear, it HAS been proven without a shadow of doubt that, mathematically speaking, for a New Yorker, living in New York, wines bought in NYC that were imported from France have a much lower carbon footprint than wines from California. These results were published by the American Association of Wine Economists and a summary can be read here: http://www.drvino.com/2007/10/30/calculating-the-carbon-footprint-of-wine-my-research-findings/.
By proxy, Long Island wines consumed by New Yorkers are even lower in carbon footprint than European wines because of transport costs. Bottling wine closer to the point of consumption always lowers carbon intensity signficantly, and trucking wines across America has a higher carbon footprint than shipping full bottles by boat from France. Again by proxy, most Long Island wineries bottle using bottles they got from Europe by boat, with empty weight, not full of liquid.
Whatever carbon footprint that a green winery in Mendocino has in producing wines on its estate is dramatically overshadowed when they have to put that wine on a truck to get it all the way across America to NYC consumers. Interestingly, according to the economic analysis I pointed out above, the place where the carbon footprint of wines from France vs. California evens out is in Columbus, Ohio (due to the differential between shipping by land vs. sea).
The point in our LISW press release is a simple one about local consumption being the most sustainable option, not about assessing carbon footprint for any particular business. Still, the overall point made, that we did not address energy consumption anywhere in our code of ethics, is valid, and is primarily because we were so focused on viticultural practices. Perhaps we can think about working energy use into our practices in the future, as it is certainly something we all take very seriously and would be a worthwhile enhancement to the program.
Thanks again for the feedback.
Best regards,
Trent Preszler
CEO
Bedell Cellars
Trent,
I can see if you looked at shipping that might be the case. But look at the bigger picture. Long Island has to farm 3 acres apposed to 1 acre in CA to get the same amount of wine. So that is 3 times the tractor work, three time the fertilizer and well over 3 times the sprays. Plus most supplies come from CA. So I would guess even a wine shipped from CA to NY leaves less foot prints even if they get the wine from a tasting room on LI.
I think the point MOST were making was going greener is better for the world and I am glad LI is catching up to what we in CA were doing 15 years ago. I hope that soon every one on LI is in the works to go a step further than sustainable towards organic or biodynamic.
And if shipping is killing our country then everyone should move closer to the food sources and the would be West.
Cheers,
Edward
I see nothing but positives in the future as this program moves forward. It shouldn’t be a contest between who is the most green or who went green first, the future of our land and progeny is the quote unquote Big Picture, not preserving Mendocino County’s trademark as “America’s Greenest Wine Region.” Who can definitively say something like that, and why would they, except for carving a self righteous marketing niche for themselves, and as far as being organic and biodynamic, who can definitively say that doing so is a step up from sustainability? Isn’t copper toxic? Surely there are synthetic pesticides that are actually safer or need to be applied less often than allotted organic materials that would actually be a better choice for the grower who is not constrained to keeping their farm organically certified. To me, sustainability means picking the best route for your region, your climate and your community, not the best-fit that allows you to slap a gold star on the bottle and drive up sales, and growers on Long Island has been following sustainable practices for decades; the first meetings to form a third party certification were held in 1994. It is only now that the program has crystallized into something transparent that will actually help consumers make better choices.
Having the entire country move to California is a completely ludicrous solution to solving the carbon emissions issues involved with shipping. What needs to happen is localization of produce and agricultural goods, more people buying locally and sustaining their own economies instead of other states and foreign markets. Regional wine styles married with regional food is not some new off the wall concept, in fact most of the classic wine and food pairings arose out of just the same situation in Europe over centuries before the advent of industrialization and mass transportation.
Steve,
Biodynamic is copper toxic if you are in humid areas where downy mildew is an issue.
In CA it is dry and we are not spraying copper on vines to prevent downy mildew that is an issue that the French faced.
My only issue is people posting statements where they have not spent the time or money to show facts.
I will end with show me the numbers they don’t lie.
Cheers all and don’t get me wrong I am all for what is going on here I made the first Biodynamic wine in the USA in 1998. Avid outdoors person lover of nature.
Edward
Here’s my take on the sustainability of drinking local wine. Just more reasons why we as New Yorkers, should celebrate, enjoy, and support our local vintners:
http://www.edibleeastend.com/online_magazine/spring-2012/livin-la-vida-local/
R. Olsen-Harbich,
After reading the link you posted. You spit out empty facts you could never back up. Last year my friends Mendocino Vineyard got 7 tons an acre and he only sulfur dusted 4 times (no spray) how many times did you spray? and what? how much fuel did it take? what was the yield?
“Across the state and the region. Long Island vintners are leading the way in sustainable and organically bases vineyard practices” Are you kidding me you are 30 if not more years behind. Please name all the certified organic wineries on LI?
As for the $95 per bottles on the NY city wine list. What are the wines? Most likely some of the top producers in the world. That just proves that your wines for less money are less sought after in your own back yard.
I like NY and all but if you live in a glass don’t play with stones. You can put down CA and all but why is the biggest in the world choosing to plant over 3 times the total acreage of LI in CA?
LI can produce about 600,000 cases with 3,000 acres, CA could produce 1,500,000 cases with the same acreage and with 20 less spray applications.