Introduced in 2010, Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing is a certification program providing third-party verification that a winery or vineyard has adopted and implemented stringent sustainable winegrowing standards based on the Industry’s Code of 200+ best practices, and has commited to continuous improvement in those areas. After meeting 60 vineyard and 41 winery criteria, companies use self-assessment data to determine what areas need to be improved, to focus their resources on practices that will make the most difference for their sustainability goals, and to continually retain certification year after year. Vineyards and wineries must also meet an overall score threshold, and measure and track metrics for water, energy, greenhouse gases and nitrogen. Vineyards must also comply with the restrictions on crop-protection materials. An annual third-party audit is required to earn and maintain certification status.