News & Insights

As tasting season approaches, now is the perfect time to think about how you’ll share your sustainable story with guests, buyers, and followers.

Today’s wine buyers, especially Millennials and Gen Z, actively seek products that align with their values.

They’re not just purchasing a beverage; they’re buying a story.

Eco-conscious consumers are reshaping the market:

✓ 89% say they’ve changed their buying habits for sustainability
✓ 80% will pay more for sustainable products

In a saturated wine market, standing out is critical. A sustainable certification signals transparency.

As we wrap up another year, we’re reminded that the most meaningful investments are the ones made in people and communities.

For our final Marketing Tip of 2025, we’re shining a spotlight on two members who invest in the wellbeing of their communities year-round.

This month's Marketing Tip is a re-share of a tip from January of 2024.

There are a lot of buzzwords today surrounding eco-friendly production..

It’s no secret: the increased cost of living is affecting consumers all over the world.

Despite this, 64 percent of respondents in a 2024 study reported environmental sustainability as one of their top three purchasing considerations.

If your brand has a sustainability certification, now’s the time to show it.

Digital tools have dramatically changed the way consumers discover brands.

With 90% of consumers having used social media in the last 90 days, it's clear that having a strong presence online is no longer optional, it's essential...

Running a winery takes a full team effort. From managing wine club emails and planning events to tending the tasting room, scouting the vineyard, and supporting the winemaking crew, there’s always something that demands attention.

Time is limited, but artificial intelligence (AI) tools can help wineries work smarter.

What does your brand’s tasting experience offer?

In a recent episode of the Sustainable Winegrowing podcast, Dan McCole, Associate Professor at Michigan State University, shares something that may surprise you:

“People aren’t going to wineries for wine.”

In the world of sustainable wine, great wine starts with great people.

When employees feel valued, empowered, and engaged, they help drive your mission forward. If you can build a workplace culture that supports and uplifts your team, you’ve taken a powerful step toward long-term sustainability and customer loyalty.

Tasting season is fast approaching! It’s time to get your hospitality staff prepared to welcome a range of guests from experienced enthusiasts to first-timers.

But how can you make it a tasting experience your guests won’t forget?

Sustainable farming practices are essential for protecting the environment, improving long-term agricultural productivity, and supporting healthy communities.

In fact, many of the methods highlighted today are shared across a variety of certification programs, from sustainable certifications like SIP Certified to regenerative programs like Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC).

The Whale Rock Music Festival is renowned for rocking the Central Coast every year with live music and family-friendly activities.

But the event has an even greater purpose: supporting Templeton High School musicians through the parent-volunteer organization, TIMBA.

Andy Fles, Vineyard Manager at Shady Lane Cellars, wanted to make his fungicide program even more sustainable. So, he set up an experiment that put “soft” materials head to head with his usual program.

While final results are pending, so far, the soft program is keeping pace with the conventional!

When Melani stopped using herbicides at Bon Niche Cellars, she faced a battle with weeds.

She introduced goats, sheep, and pigs who now roam the vineyard, grazing weeds and lending their hands (hooves) in vineyard maintenance.

The animals’ work has nearly eradicated the need for mowing or spraying!

The native hedgerow project at McIntyre Vineyards began as a passion project to help protect monarch butterflies.

Today, the hedgerow thrives with little maintenance, provides habitat for pollinators, helps with erosion control, and attracts more beneficial birds and wildlife to the farm.

Foxen Vineyard and Winery lacks reliable cell service, posing safety risks for their vineyard crew.

To solve the issue, they installed a solar-powered Wi-Fi access point on a telescoping pole in the vineyard.

Now, Wi-Fi calling is available in the upper vineyard bock and worker communication and safety has improved.

VPS expanded their Personal/Professional Development program to encourage employees to prioritize continuing education.

In 2023, the company covered class fees, offered paid time off, and provided regular check-ins for 14 employees who pursued development opportunities.

After discovering their high-salinity water was unsuitable for vineyard irrigation, the team at Our Lady of Guadalupe sought a creative solution. Inspired by farmers who use reverse osmosis, they partnered to design a system for their vineyard.

Plus, the Jose Grass that thrives on their wastewater reduces soil erosion and boosts biodiversity!

You can glean a lot of information about a wine from the label.

The next time you walk down a wine aisle, you may notice that you feel comfortable with the common terms and symbols like vintage, place of origin, and percent alcohol, but feel some confusion when you see some of the increasingly present ones like natural, vegan, and organic...

There are many ways people interact with your brand. That means there are tons of places to share your commitment to sustainability.

In this Marketing Tip, we’ll explore three places your brand has visibility and how you can leverage these platforms to share your sustainability messaging.

If one of your resolutions is to ramp up your sustainability messaging, let the SIP Certified Marketing Tips serve as inspiration.

Wondering what the hottest tips last year were? We combined statistics from our 2024 podcast downloads and web page visits to bring you a list of the top 5 Marketing Tips of 2024.

As 2024 comes to a close, we want to recognize 5 ways your certification made you the SIP this year.

It’s one thing to be able to say that your grapes are grown sustainably. But to be able to explain to someone what that really means is a different story.

Fortunately for you, there's an easy framework that can help...

While the year is nearing its end, there’s still a lot of activity (and work) ahead with the holidays.

This Marketing Tip will give you ideas for a greener holiday season. Use them in the tasting room and at home!

Have you ever wondered, “Do third-party certifications appeal to consumers?”

If so, you’re not alone...

We often talk about sustainability in the vineyard, but that doesn’t account for the whole picture.

After months of careful cultivation in the vineyard, the grapes still have a lengthy journey ahead. It’s no secret that the journey takes place in the winery.

But what exactly does it take for a winery to be more sustainable?

As a member of a sustainably-minded ag business, you have the potential to shape the way people view our food system.

There is a dramatic difference between how consumers and producers understand sustainability.

While both groups have positive perceptions of sustainable agriculture, the general public has a much more limited understanding of it and even ranked “sustainability” as one of their top four least-understood terms...

Your tasting room is more than just a place to try your wines.

It is also what your guests visualize when they hear your name or see your wine on the shelf. And it’s what they tell their friends and family about when they recall their visit.

Does your tasting room offer a memorable experience?

While most consumers say that environmental friendliness plays a significant role in how they make purchasing decisions, brands’ messaging about sustainability only reaches half of global consumers (GlobeScan, 2022).

Your sustainable story can be shared across any of your communication channels: social media, wine club newsletters, tasting room signage, and so much more.

Wondering what to tell your audience about in your next story?..

For your wine club members, is there anything more exciting than delivery day?

Unboxing the latest assortment stirs sweet memories of their last visit and welcomes them once again to connect with your community.

Your wine club newsletter prepares them for the delights ahead. But does it invite them to relish in the social and environmental virtues of their loyalty?

Shoppers’ sense of urgency around climate change is rising.

While many brands and retailers today are making eco-friendly claims, some chalk up to little more than greenwashing: a marketing ploy designed to make products seem more sustainable than they are.

Because of this, consumers feel that they can’t always trust “green” claims...

By acting environmentally and socially responsible today, we give future generations a healthy place to call home. The actions that you as an individual take, have an impact.

The summer months bring more staff and guests into tasting rooms across the country. Invite your whole team to join in your brand’s sustainability efforts when you practice these 5 Sustainable Tasting Room Habits.

What does it mean to farm sustainably?

Sustainable farming is a collection of practices spanning from water and energy conservation, to soil health and biodiversity, and social equity.

There are so many examples of sustainability in action to point to right outside of your window...

Your tasting room may be the most customer-facing facet of your wine business. This makes it the perfect setting to display your dedication to sustainability.

Provide visual cues to let your guests know that the wine they sip is more than delicious – it’s environmentally and socially responsible.

Get inspiration from this Marketing Tip to share your commitment with your guests in fun, decorative ways.

“Food disconnect” is a term used to describe the average consumer’s lack of knowledge about where their food comes from and how it’s made. When it comes to wine, most consumers only see the finished product in the grocery store or tasting room!

While everyday agricultural practices may feel ordinary to you, these topics are fascinating to the average consumer, who likely has little to no insight into the block to bottle process behind their glass of wine.

This week’s Marketing Tip tells the inspiring Sustainable Story of how Bien Nacido Vineyards’ irrigation team demonstrates diligent Water Management through the use of technology and a growth mindset.

Have you ever been asked “What’s the difference between organic and sustainable?” Or, have you seen farming operations that have both certifications?

In this Marketing Tip, you’ll learn how Certified Organic and sustainable compare, and get some ideas for engaging in a conversation about what your certification means.

Businesses are vital contributors to the communities they serve. Beyond stimulating the economy and creating jobs, many business owners go the extra mile by creating a meaningful philanthropy program. Their efforts profoundly impact facets of the community that need support the most.

This week’s Marketing Tip tells the Sustainable Story of how Oso Libre demonstrates tremendous Social Responsibility through the Por Vida Foundation.

In this Throwback Thursday Marketing Tip, we’re revisiting the most downloaded Marketing Tip Monday episode of 2023: #178: The Training Your Tasting Room Staff Needs.

SIP Tip: find Episode #178 at vineyardteam.org/podcasts, or anywhere you enjoy podcasts!

When asked to define the 3 P's of Sustainability (People, Planet, Prosperity), Prosperity is often the one gives people pause.

But it's such an important leg of the stool!

A business can also extend their prosperity through collaborative efforts with like-minded groups.

For example, Cambria Estate Winery is a Business rooted in women’s leadership. Their team partners with organizations that share their dedication to uplifting and empowering women in an incredibly impactful way.

Beyond doing good by the environment and your community, your sustainably certified wine grapes differentiate your brand in today’s oversaturated wine market.

But do you know how much of a value-driver your certification really is?

In this Marketing Tip, get insight into the significance of sustainably grown grapes in the larger market from Gregg Hibbits, who has nearly 30 years of experience selling wine grapes.

Every wine enthusiast has different preferences, behaviors, and levels of investment in their pursuit of great wine. A few years ago, Wine Intelligence identified six distinct consumer segments in the US market and we wondered “how can we tailor a message of sustainability to align with these differences?” ...

You may be wondering, what do emotions have to do with simple, everyday decisions? It turns out, quite a lot!

In this Marketing Tip, we’ll help you identify how your brand elicits positive emotions, and what you can do with that information.

People today are paying closer attention to the values of the brands they support.

Sustainable winegrowers and winemakers can easily connect with conscious consumers over these 7 values.

The sustainable winegrowing community is growing!

Its members are here because they believe in the cause. They value our planet and its human and natural resources. They know that through sustainable agriculture practices, we have the power to improve the health of the people and the planet now and into the future.

There are a lot of buzzwords today surrounding eco-friendly production...

Do you know where your food comes from?

When it comes to wine, most people only see the finished product: what’s in their glass.

For sustainable wine brands, there’s yet another level to this disconnect - one that actually introduces an opportunity...

Once we learned that storytelling helps customers understand your sustainable practices and can increase your sales, we’ve been dedicated to helping you:

• Write your Sustainable Story.
• Teach your team about it.
• Share it with your audience.

Throughout the year, we’ve shared tips on how to integrate your sustainable message into every level of your branding and marketing...

Your wine club members are more than just wine enthusiasts – they’re YOUR WINE’S enthusiasts!

Your newsletter is an opportunity to share your brand’s history, current endeavors, and behind-the-scenes details that aren’t available through other channels.

Read on to learn from two examples from SIP Certified members.

Sustainable businesses know that in order to stay relevant and successful, they must be aware of opportunities to evolve.

Progress begins with investing in our most valuable resource: the People.

There are countless opportunities for individuals in the wine industry to expand their skills and education.

Read on to learn how Talley Vineyards supports all of their employees in their professional development.

Looking for a fun group project for the upcoming slow season? Grab your team and create a Sustainable QR Tour!

A Sustainable QR Tour is a unique, educational, self-guided way for your visitors to learn about your brand’s sustainable practices.

In this Marketing Tip, we’ll walk you through all of the steps to create your Sustainable QR Tour.

A successful business does more than sell a great product. Companies that embrace the Businesses value of sustainability treat their employees and the community with care and respect.

Looking for ways to engage your brand with your community?
Read on to learn how the whole team at Niner Wine Estates is involved in giving back.

Now that you have a bank of powerful visuals from last month’s photography tips, this month, we’re going to share how you can use them on your brand’s social media.

This week’s Marketing Tip will make it easy for you to regularly create content that entices, educates, and inspires your audience.

Variety is the spice of life! It's crucial to keep this in mind when we look at monocrops like wine grape vineyards.

Protecting and regenerating habitat ensures that future generations have a healthy, thriving planet to call home.

Maverick Farming, a vineyard management company in Santa Barbara who manages several SIP Certified properties, made changes to their tillage practices and noticed several benefits to their habitat.

Welcome to the fifth Sustainable Story from SIP Certified Members: Habitat at Maverick Farming.

97% of people start their search for a local business online. When someone looks up your business, what do they find? Are your images and videos up to date? Do you show what makes your brand special? Does your imagery convince searchers to pay you a visit?

If those questions gave you some uncertainty, it may be time to update your imagery!

Energy efficiency is about using less fuel and energy to perform the same tasks and get the same results. When a business makes energy efficient changes, they combat climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption.

Center of Effort has made several small energy efficient improvements around their winery that compounded to have tremendous expense savings results.

Welcome to the fourth Sustainable Story from SIP Certified Members: Energy Efficiency at Center of Effort.

The simple yet powerful tool to help you and your staff tell your Sustainable Story – the brand new, 30-minute online training course.

Jean-Pierre Wolff’s innovative subsurface irrigation technology delivers water and fertilizer directly to the vine roots 3-feet underground.

This means that native and noxious weeds with shallow roots can’t access these resources so his vineyard has fewer weeds to manage.

Welcome to the third Sustainable Story from SIP Certified Members: Safe Pest Management at Wolff Vineyards.

Want a quick reference for the 7 Values at an arm’s reach? Sounds like you need the new tasting room table sign!

Just in time for the summer winetasting season, the new signs feature a graphic of the 7 Values on the front, and a QR code to “read this month’s Sustainable Story” on the back.

One of California’s biggest sustainability concerns is water. Shale Oak addresses this critical resource concern by using their tasting room and winery roof to capture rainwater. This water is stored and used to deficit irrigate their 5-acre vineyard and maintain landscaping during the drier months.

Welcome to the second Sustainable Story from SIP Certified Members: Water Management by Shale Oak

As a SIP Certified winegrower, your daily practices embody the 7 Values of the program: Social Responsibility, Water Management, Safe Pest Management, Energy Efficiency, Habitat, Business, and Always Evolving.

Now that you have used the worksheet to identify your own Sustainable Story, we’re going to give you some guidance on how to incorporate it into multiple levels of your brand’s messaging, starting with your website.

Did you know that planting a tree can be as easy as enjoying a bottle of wine? It can be when you buy a bottle of Vina Robles’ the Arborist!

Welcome to the first Sustainable Story from SIP Certified Members: Social Responsibility by Vina Robles

Employees who are regularly trained and educated report higher levels of motivation, performance, company loyalty, and more.

Yet, almost 52% of employees in the food and beverage industry only receive training when they join their organization. Of those that do receive regular training, only 4.5% receive training about their company’s mission and values (TalentLMS, 2019). This is a huge disservice to both employees and the company!

It’s here! The tool that you need to tell your Sustainable Story. Research shows that demand for sustainable keeps growing. This brand new, Our Sustainable Story series was made to help you tell your customers how you take care of the people and the planet so that you can increase your wine sales.

We know our SIP Certified members are generous donors in the community. Last week, we shared the exciting news about the expansion of the Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship (applications are now open!). In the same spirit of giving back, this week, we want to acknowledge some of the ways your SIP Certified peers give back.

The most important "P" is the People!

Of the 3 Ps of Sustainability (People, Planet, and Prosperity), People is no doubt the most important one. Without the supporters, partners, and cherished friends in our community, who would be here to enjoy the prosperous planet we are all striving toward?

Branding isn’t something you can set and forget – that’s why this week, we’ll go over ways you can manage the strategies you have already put in place.

We are exposed to an estimated 4,000 to 10,000 advertisements per day. Branding and advertising are crucial to the success of businesses, but the trust that your brand builds with consumers carries a heavy load when it comes to the success of your efforts. Do consumers trust your brand?

... That searches for sustainable goods have increased globally by 71% since 2016?

Products carrying a sustainability claim have continued growing through the COVID-19 pandemic, capturing a 17% market share during the first half of 2020!

Did you know that telling your sustainability story can help you sell more wine? Listen to this 22-minute episode of the Sustainable WInegrowing with Vineyard Team podcast where Craig Macmillan, Critical Resource Manager at Niner Wine Estates interviews Kathy Kelly, Professor of Horticultural Marketing and Retail Business Management at Penn State University about the findings of her recent studies. According to her research, describing specific practices and why there are important not only sets you apart from the competition, but helps to create an emotional connection with your customers, and can even increase their willingness to pay more for a bottle of sustainable wine!

By attaining SIP Certified, you show that you successfully implement some of the strictest standards in sustainable winegrowing – not every winegrower has what it takes to get SIP Certified. As a SIP Certified winegrower, you can take pride in the knowledge that your practices are proven to help protect the people and the planet.

You are part of the over 46,000 vineyards and 5 wineries that are SIP Certified, and can add your wine to the collection of over 55 million bottles of wine that bear the SIP Certified seal.

Did you know that over half of the vineyard acres in California are certified sustainable, and more than 80% of California wine is made in a certified sustainable winery?

Growing grapes and producing wines sustainably helps protect the people and the planet for now and for generations to come. Certified sustainable wine producers must continually monitor and adjust their practices to ensure they meet the strict criteria of their sustainability program.

SIP Certified has all of the tools and resources you need to attain and maintain your SIP Certified sustainable status.

This is the final installment of our Certify Your Wines Marketing Tips theme! Putting the SIP Certified seal on your bottle is the best way to be sure your wine isn't being overlooked when shoppers are out looking for sustainable wines. When wine enthusiasts see the SIP Certified seal on your bottle, they know they are looking at a wine that was made with conscious care for the people and the planet.

But don't take it from us -- here's what fellow SIP Certified members have to say about certifying their wines:

Most wine shoppers purchase from retail outlets, whether online or in person. This means that the majority of your wine sales probably aren't coming from your tasting room or even your winery's website, where you have a controlled platform from which to deliver the message of your brand's sustainability. With the search for sustainable goods on the rise, you need a way to let wine enthusiasts know about the sustainability of your wine when you can't be there to tell them.

Since you can't be over the shoulder of every wine enthusiast as they shop for their next bottle, putting the SIP Certified seal directly on the bottle's label will ensure the market knows that your wine was made with care for the people and the planet!

The number of winery businesses has grown, on average, 4.5% each year for the past five years, with over 7600 wineries currently operating in 2022. Among the dizzying sea of wine options, your sustainable certification differentiates your brand!

When wine shoppers pick your bottle from the shelf and see the SIP Certified logo, they can feel good knowing that they are supporting a system of winegrowing that is done with conscious care for the people and the planet.

With over 140 SIP Certified members, it's no surprise that there are many tried and true methods for keeping staff informed and up to date on matters of sustainability. For this last Marketing Tip in the Train Your Staff series, we talked to a few of our members about how they make the sustainability a familiar and comfortable topic among their sales and hospitality staff.

Does your team understand what sustainable winegrowing is? Can they talk with your clientele about your brand's SIP Certified sustainable status? Have them go through the SIP Smart course to learn the basics of sustainability and the SIP Certified Program! It only takes about an hour, and they will come out of the course with a better understanding of what it means to be SIP Certified.

Consumers today are growing increasingly environmentally conscious. WWF commissioned global research by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIC) in 2021 (An Eco Awakening) that found that searches for sustainable goods have increased globally by 71% since 2016. If you're not telling consumers that your business is run sustainably, now's the time to start!

The warm summer months attract tourists and locals alike to the beautiful wineries and tasting rooms of popular winegrowing regions. With this predictable increase in consumer traffic in mind, it's a good idea to educate your consumer-facing staff about your sustainable practices so they are prepared to share your brand's values with new and returning patrons while serving up your latest creations.

Your brand's website is an excellent hub for consumers to find your brand's core information, such as your address, hours of operation, menu, shop, history, and awards. But what can you to do connect with your loyal supporters in their daily lives? Regularly post on social media, of course! There are various social media platforms, each suitable for different types of content.

We are offering our members the opportunity to be featured by several social media influencers this year in an effort to spread awareness of SIP Certified and the good work of those who produce high-quality wines through practices that help protect the People and the Planet.

Check out our latest collaborations!

Social media has changed the way consumers and businesses interact. It not only provides convenient two-way communication between us as consumers and the products and services we support, but it has opened the door for consumers to participate in the marketing and messaging of these brands by creating their own content showing off their latest finds to friends, family, and communities.

Are you making the most out of your social media efforts?

The Internet has become an integral part of our lives - we use it every day to stay informed, plan for the future, pass the time, and so much more. Perhaps most remarkably, it has enabled us to connect with others at a speed and on a scale unfathomable to people of the not-so-distant past. The role social media has played in this broad expansion of human interaction cannot be understated. Read more about our 5 Social Media Tips.

The pandemic changed many things about our daily rituals, not least among them being the way we shop and the businesses we choose to support. Wine Club memberships and various online channels continue to offer consumers easy ways to stock up on a selection of wines curated to their unique preferences, but the consumer mindset has evolved since the onset of the pandemic, and so have their subscription decisions! Read more about the 3 Subscription Models that have emerged based on these changes.

Summer is approaching! Sustainability efforts ramp up during these warm months in order to conserve energy and keep crops on a healthy path to harvest. Check out our Seasons of Sustainability tips to prepare for the change in season.

More Americans than ever are making environmentally conscious decisions when it comes to the products they buy and the businesses they support. Consumers want to support brands that share their values and take action to preserve the health of the planet. It's important to let them know that your brand protects the people and the planet!

In this post, we go over how other SIP Certified brands are sharing their sustainability efforts with the public.

Include this information about SIP Certified in your next wine club email or shipment! Your members will enjoy hearing about the good work you're doing to care for the people and the planet.

Use our Earth Month tips to talk about your commitment to the planet during the month of April.

Do Point of Sale (POS) materials matter? That’s just one of the questions the Vineyard Team (developers of SIP Certified) wanted to answer during our two years of research under a grant from the CA Department of Food and Agriculture.

Consumers have a plethora of options when it comes to wine sales channels. It's crucial to differentiate yourself in the market! Leverage your commitment to sustainability to make your brand stand out in a crowded marketplace and speak to the growing trend of consumers opting for brands and products that have sustainable practices and values.

In this Marketing Tip, we will discuss three avenues where you can promote the message of your sustainability.

Consumers continue to prioritize their health and wellness as we enter the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. But consumers’ health needs have evolved beyond the basics of physical well-being...

Recent studies have shown consumers are seeking sustainable, ethically produced goods and services more than ever before. And 66% of those consumers identify sustainable wines by their label and POS materials.

Capture consumer interest in sustainability by adding the SIP Certified logo to your wine labels, or promoting your SIP Certified status through POS materials!

In this Marketing Tip, we will address what Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z care about most when selecting their next bottle of wine.

Have you or a member of your staff had a customer ask what your SIP Certification means? It covers many aspects of your business, and it can be difficult to know where to start! That's why we went straight to the source and asked tasting room and marketing professionals how they communicate SIP Certified practices to their customers.

Have you or a member of your staff had a customer ask what it means to be SIP Certified? It covers many aspects of your business, and it can be difficult to know where to start! That's why we went straight to the source and asked tasting room and marketing professionals how they communicate SIP Certified practices to their customers.

February is traditionally a slow month for tasting rooms. ReSIProcal February is a way to increase your tasting room traffic, promote camaraderie between brands, broaden the SIP Certified message of sustainability, and encourage guests to sample other SIP Certified wines! Joining is as simple as sending an email saying you'd like to participate.

We have put together 6 SIP Buzzwords to introduce to your consumer-facing staff to use as talking points during tastings, phone calls, emails, or any other sales interaction. These words can be used as jump-offs to a larger conversation relative to your sustainable practices, or just serve as conversational anecdotes when faced with questions about your involvement in SIP Certified.

After two years, we are excited to bring back the very popular ReSIProcal February -- a month-long event created to increase your tasting room traffic, promote camaraderie between brands, broaden the SIP Certified message of sustainability, and encourage guests to sample other SIP Certified wines!

As the holiday season approaches, it is the perfect time to produce content that speaks to popular holiday activity; food and wine pairings. Whether it’s creating recipes yourself, partnering with local chefs, or tapping your followers for suggestions, having a food element in your communication strategy speaks to the lifestyle of foodies and oenophiles alike.

SIP Certified’s Seasons of Sustainability calendar reminds us all of the tasks at hand during these winter months and that keeping your vineyard and winery sustainable never takes a rest. These kinds of practices are important in your certification and worth sharing with your consumers to tell that block-to-bottle story. Use these activities to create blog posts, social content, and tasting room talking points. It’s this type of content that captivates and educates.

It is a very healthy business practice to create a year in review. This not only tracks your peaks and valleys, but allows for great perspective while planning for the next year. Sharing your year in review with internal staff and stakeholders also provides increased employee engagement and participation in overall company goals.

When a consumer is on the wine aisle their decision-making process can be daunting. Aside from the consumer’s personal experience with brands, regions, and varietals, it’s becoming apparent that their values are playing a huge role in purchasing decisions. It’s evident that conveying your brand values on your label is crucial to stand out on the shelf.

When developing a brand, one of the most fun and important aspects, often overlooked, is creating a style guide. Consistent branding across all marketing channels from the bottle label, website, and other marketing collateral is an integral part of your brand’s framework. From the style of font you use to your logo positioning, and color schemes, all of these should be mapped out accordingly to keep your business “on brand.” With a sustainable business, having the guide alleviates unforeseen branding costs and lays the groundwork for a lasting, iconic brand.

There is no time like the present to certify your wines sustainable. Here are two important stats you should know...

Fair Trade, Organic, Sustainable… the list of product labeling consumers are faced with is growing and the question is, “Do they care?” The good news is, the answer is a resounding “YES”. Seeing products on shelves labeled “sustainable” is an increasingly desirable attribute for consumers. These kinds of labels, better known as “ecolabels” in the marketplace, are almost the norm for most CPG (consumer packaged goods) products looking to stand out on the shelf.

As we all move towards a sustainable future for our brands and products, it’s important and rewarding to look at statistics indicating that our hard work is paying off. Looking at data across the sustainable landscape shows changing consumer behavior and overarching trends in an array of categories similar to wine. The good news is that sustainable messaging is resonating with consumers across market sects and is slowly becoming an expected norm.

It is no secret that over the last year and a half, online sales numbers in the wine sector have jumped through the roof. There are a number of sustainable ways to sell wine online without overextending your staff, maintaining brand consistency, and most importantly; growing your audience.

Fall is a special time in wine country with the coming of harvest season and fall wine club shipments. It’s a time to remind your club members, mailing list subscribers, and other followers who you are as a brand and highlighting your brand attributes like sustainability.

Our social media influencer campaigns continue to be an incredible way to educate consumers about the benefits of purchasing SIP Certified wines. These fun wine posts help distill the messaging of sustainability down to digestible language. Here are the latest highlights on our Member wines.

In our second installment of email marketing tips from expert marketer Erica Walter, we explore strategies, cadence, and metrics. With any email marketing program, it’s important to set goals and measure them. Walter walks through some applicable methods when it comes to planning your email marketing.

Erica Walter is an email marketing maven with a long career history in the wine industry. Her solutions for email campaign strategy are approachable, actionable, and most importantly, measurable. We sat down with Erica to talk about email, strategy, growth, and communication.

In an effort to broaden brand awareness for SIP Certified, we engaged social media influencers in Q1 and Q2 of 2021. These campaigns were an incredible way to educate consumers about the benefits of purchasing SIP Certified wines and helped destill the messaging of sustainability down to digestible language via Instagram influencers. While the concept of working with influencers may sound intimidating to some, we can assure you that with clear goals and succinct calls to action, the process is super rewarding and for DTC sales can be very lucrative.

Summer in wine country brings a wave of tourists, heat, and the impending excitement of harvest on the horizon. Sustainability efforts ramp up during these warm months in order to conserve energy and also keep crops on a healthy path to harvest. This is an excellent time to educate your tourists.

According to a recent study, Americans are planning on travelling more than ever this summer and are opting for road trips and weekend getaways. With stops in wine country, these travellers are looking for feel good experiences and educational tastings. Training staff and using the learnings of the SIP Smart course will not only aid staff in educating guests, but also provide experiences that convey your brand’s commitment to sustainable practices.

Shipping wine is an aspect of winery operations rife with opportunities for sustainable solutions. From eliminating styrofoam from your packaging materials, to providing consumers with gentle reminders to recycle shipping boxes, instituting a sustainable mindset in this part of your business is a fantastic way to minimize your footprint as well as educate consumers on how they can do their part.

Your suitability is a part of your story and in this webinar we had two incredible presenters give social media tips on how to share the stories of the people making and enjoying your wines. As consumer demand for sustainably produced products grows, SIP Certified shows that winegrowers use practices that protect the people and planet so their customers know that their wine was made with care.

There is nothing like a consumer getting lost in a wormhole of videos and engaging with your brand. Before you get nervous about video production costs and hiring a crew; look no further than your all powerful smartphone and the myriad of easy to use editing software available.

It is no secret that in recent years, wine consumers' level of education and understanding of complex production methods, terroir, and varietal knowledge is steadily increasing. Questions about tasting notes and food pairings are less likely to be heard and inquiries relative to farming, harvesting, and production are taking precedence over the more casual winespeak. Here is a glossary of terms you will likely be asked about by your customers.

Content creator and social media maven Heather Daenitz puts it simply on her website, “I get it, social media marketing is a beast. Between hashtags, algorithms, and trying to figure out exactly what to post, it's a lot easier for you to just ignore it.” She will also be the first to tell you to do the exact opposite and dive into social and the vast possibilities it holds for your brand. The numbers don’t lie when it comes to social and it’s more important than ever to be where your customer is.

Vineyard and winery certification tells the block-to-bottle story and it’s important to tell people about what happens from farming to sipping. While Spring around the vineyard and winery may not be the busiest time of the year, it is in many places, the most beautiful. Vintages take shape in the spring and it’s an exciting time to share with consumers across all of your communication channels as well as stories for your sales teams to share.

It’s no secret that 2020 was a monumental year for changes in consumer behavior and the wine industry saw these shifts happening at record speed. Looking ahead to 2021, how has the last year shaped what is to come in 2021? Let’s take a look at the top 5 trends to expect in 2021.

From best winegrowing practices to explaining your certification to marketing tips and tricks, this recording from the SIP Certified 101 webinar is jam-packed with valuable education.

In an effort to help supplement your brand’s content and provide evergreen solutions, SIP Certified encourages you to share this easy SIP Certified 101 guide to help inform consumers about your sustainability efforts. Be it on social media, in email campaigns, or as collateral in your tasting room, this guide aims to be an easily digestible infographic to educate consumers.

Be it through social media channels, email messaging, or through printed collateral, let these pairings based on the amount of time and money one has to put together a meal be a resource for for your own content pieces.

Please take the time to answer our short survey about ways we can improve the content we produce in our newsletters. Your feedback will help shape the year ahead as we develop compelling messaging and actionable resources. Thank you for your support and we look forward to another year of helping your brand succeed.

In the "spirit of wine" this holiday season, I wanted to share a fun podcast to get you into the holiday spirit and inspire you to continue building your own community of consumers and friends dedicated to your mission.

The holidays are a time of year for giving and supporting our communities. As SIP Certified business, it’s important to create a plan for giving and get your whole staff involved.According to the Mintel market intelligence agency, 73% of American’s consider a companies’ charitable work when making a purchase.

SIP Certified buzzwords that are easy for your customer-facing staff to learn and use as talking points during tastings, phone calls, emails, or any other sales interaction.

In the last year, it is blatantly evident that wine sales channels are dramatically shifting. Leveraging your commitment to sustainability will not only make you stand out in a crowded marketplace but speaks to the growing trend of consumers opting for brands and products that have sustainable practices and values.

We went straight to the source and asked tasting room and marketing professionals how they communicate SIP Certified practices to their customers. With these real-life question and answer scenarios, training staff, and creating language around how you convey sustainable practices to your customers is conversational and fun.

We are very excited to launch a four-part training series over the next few months that will empower our members' customer facing staff to speak with confidence about sustainable practices in the vineyard and the winery.

This year is a roller coaster of new protocols, customer experiences, and facility developments. While it can feel overwhelming at times, having the right resources to keep you up to date on your state’s protocols is vital to helping you tailor the customer experience. Here are industry veterans tips on how to navigate this monumental shift in tasting room experience.

With Harvest in full swing and tasting room traffic rearing up for the high season, we’ve put together a fun box of the SIP you need to delight and inspire employees to keep SIP top of mind when educating guests. From bottle openers to polishing towels, tabletop info to brochures, this swag is useful and fun for employees.

When we think about being a sustainable vineyard or winery, we often focus on farming and winemaking practices and often overlook a key facet; the tasting room. Because this is the most customer-facing aspect of many businesses, it’s an incredible opportunity to institute sustainable practices that not only aid in 360-degree sustainability practices, but also provide an opportunity to teach consumers in real-time the importance of sustainability. Let’s take a walk around the grounds of a typical tasting room and please follow the links for more information and product ideas.

SIP Certified along with Wolf Consulting conducted and analyzed surveys of wine drinkers to provide insights and information for SIP Certified brands to specifically target generations of drinking age; Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z with appropriate messages to increase awareness and desirability of sustainable winemaking practices.

SIP Certified recently surveyed tasting room professionals to better understand the challenges facing tasting rooms in a COVID world as well as the resources used to keep up to date on protocols, and some of the triumphs navigating these monumental times. We focused on operational, customer-facing, and communication-centric questions that provided insight into both successes and hurdles in operating a tasting room at this time.

of distributor portfolios, on-premise lists, and supermarket shelves. The importance of communicating your sustainable practices can be conveyed on your label, but the real follow-through comes with providing training to your distribution partners and sales representatives in order to keep all things SIP Certified top of mind.

The vast Social Media landscape can feel overwhelming and daunting for brands big and small. Creating winning strategies that are manageable, drive sales, and increase brand engagement are crucial for success across all available platforms.

As wines make their way through distribution channels, your brand ethos can get lost in the shuffle of distributor portfolios, on premise lists, and supermarket shelves. Full Glass research recently conducted a survey of over 4700 people in the trade and found that sustainable messaging helps drive sales as consumers are increasingly aware of and demanding sustainable wines.

From calendar updates based on re-openings and safety protocols to updating your content library and reviewing metrics, the rapidly changing landscape of social media marketing needs strategic thinking and planning. Take a look at this checklist to keep your social channels an up to date, driving force in your marketing strategy.

How are you connecting with your consumer online, in their day-to-day and social schedule? Brandi Moody explains how to understand your customer data, segment it accordingly, and use this information to empower your staff to heighten communication with consumers. These actions lead to increased brand engagement, sales, and a sustainable future.

As consumers become more cognizant of how and where they’re spending their money, sustainability is increasingly at the forefront of their minds. All data points to a continued uptick in sustainable goods purchases with millennials leading the charge with an open willingness to pay more for sustainable products.

Now that most wineries are wrapping up wine club shipments, it’s time to strategize and have some fun planning your next major offering. Because the tasting room sales channel is not a lucrative piece business as of late, it’s important to innovate online and offer something fun for your customers that doesn’t compromise your bottom line. Mix it up in your online store and email campaigns by offering fun product bundles.

Exploring all things sustainability from best winegrowing practices to explaining your certification to marketing tips and tricks.

Having a strong onboarding and training program is crucial to running a business. A solid onboarding process can improve employee retention and alleviate high turnover. According to research by Glassdoor, great employee onboarding can improve retention by 82% and productivity by over 70%.

Creating online content is more important than ever and while it may be tempting to experiment with a number of different outlets and platforms, tread lightly, stay organized, and keep these important parameters in mind.

In recent years, consumers are bombarded with the hyper-labeling of ingredients to identify characteristics that align with health and lifestyles. More and more packaging is labeled with things like, “Keto-friendly,” “Gluten-free,” and “Plant-Based” along with a myriad of other information, While adding these health attribution labels may speak to many consumers, it can leave many with more questions.

Not all wine tasters are alike - a major understatement. As traffic ebbs and flows in tasting rooms, it’s evident that interests, price points, and preferences differ. Wine Intelligence recently published a study outlining six distinct consumer segments in wine. It’s important to know how to talk to each of them about sustainability.

When a consumer is on the wine aisle their decision-making process can be daunting. From finding the right Chardonnay to pair with their fish or that Zinfandel to enjoy on their patio, the options oftentimes seem endless. Aside from the consumer’s personal experience with brands, regions, and varietals, it’s becoming apparent that their values are also playing a huge role in purchasing decisions. It’s evident that conveying your brand values on your label is crucial to stand out on the shelf. 

How easy it is to become wrapped up in the holiday madness, finding ourselves ripping apart box after box and bag after bag, jamming it all into our recycling bins, wondering if half of it is recyclable anyway? Being sustainable is no easy chore. However, offering SIP Certified wines to our customers is definitely a step in the right direction! This month, we would like to offer a few tips on ways to incorporate sustainable practices in your tasting room during the holiday season.

As social media becomes more integral to your brand’s success SIP Certified would like to discuss ways to increase followers and engagement on Instagram and Facebook. Tugging at someone’s emotions is one of the best ways to capture smiley face emoji’s and shares, so posting images and using hash tags which highlight a better planet for future generations is a topic that elicits our insides to feel warm and fuzzy.

What steps are you taking to draw attention to your wine’s sustainable certification in off-premise retail? We are now offering an irresistible, attention-grabbing raptor in retail display formats to perch right on top of your floor stacks!

Not all smells are romantic, but SIP Certified practices ensure quality end results. To keep your hospitality team on point with SIP Certified practices, we encourage you to adopt some of these ideas into your continuing educational training.

If you are as organized as Marie Kondo you probably have all your ducks in a row with your upcoming fall shipment. Am I right?? Here are some ideas on how to incorporate SIP Certified into your Fall Shipment.

The goal of this series is to educate winery hospitality and sales professionals in a quick and simple way on how being SIP Certified can support you, in turn raising your customers awareness on what makes SIP Certified members so special, and ultimately increasing your sales and brand loyalty.