Growing for the Long Term: Our Commitment to Sustainable Winegrowing

At Ria’s Wines, sustainability isn’t a box we want to check. It’s an ongoing commitment to the land, the vineyard, and the future of our farm.

We’re proud to be certified through the New York Sustainable Winegrowing Program, a third-party program that evaluates vineyards on a broad range of environmental, social, and economic practices. Certification gives us a way to measure our farming, identify areas where we can improve, and hold ourselves accountable to a higher standard.

That process aligns closely with the way we think about farming at Ria’s Wines: deliberate, regenerative, and always learning. We want our vineyard to be healthy not just for this growing season, but for the many years to come.

For us, sustainability is ultimately about stewardship where we leave the land in good shape for the next season, the next generation, and the wines that come after us.

What does “New York Sustainable Winegrowing” mean?

A few things worth knowing about the program:

• It’s a voluntary, third-party certification. Vineyards complete a detailed self-assessment and are evaluated by an independent auditor to verify that their practices meet the program’s standards.
• It looks at the whole farm system. The standards address areas including soil health, water protection, input reduction, nutrient and pesticide management, ecosystem health, energy, waste, climate resiliency, worker health and safety, and continuous improvement.
• The standards are specific to New York winegrowing. It was developed around the conditions and challenges of New York and is reviewed and updated regularly with input from growers, winemakers, conservationists, and other industry stakeholders. 
• It’s about continual improvement, not perfection. Growers use the program to evaluate their current practices, identify areas for improvement, and create action plans. Once certified, vineyards undergo periodic recertification audits.

How We Farm at Ria’s Wines

At Ria’s Wines, our approach to sustainability starts with the soil beneath our feet. But it doesn't stop there, as business owners we work towards financial and social equity as well. Our viability as a business means we treat our employees fairly and strategically plan for financial success.

We farm without herbicides and work to reduce our reliance on chemical inputs wherever practical. Instead of viewing the vineyard as a collection of vines, we think about the farm as an interconnected system; one where healthy soil, plants, insects, animals, and vines all have a role to play.

Building healthy soil is one of our biggest priorities. We incorporate compost into our farming practices and use native plantings throughout the farm to increase biodiversity and create habitat beyond the vineyard rows. They are part of how we think about the health and resilience of the entire farm ecosystem. These practices feed into our goal for regenerative farming certification by 2030. (More to come on that!)

For us, sustainability is about making thoughtful choices that add up over time: reducing inputs, returning organic matter to the soil, encouraging biodiversity, and paying attention to what the vineyard is telling us.

The New York Sustainable Winegrowing certification gives us a framework for measuring those choices and continuing to improve. We want to farm in a way that leaves our land healthier and more resilient for the next year and for the generations of vines that will follow.