Lodi has done it – we’ve reached the 10,000 acre milestone of our Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing program!

Wine Business.com broke the news this morning:

Press Release: Lodi Winegrowers Achieve Sustainable Certification on 10,000 acres
From Daily News Links, 01/07/2009

January 5, 2009 (Lodi, CA) – Continuing to demonstrate their leadership in sustainable winegrowing, Lodi growers recently broke the 10,000 “certified sustainable” acres mark. Dr. Dan Sonke, Senior Scientist at Protected Harvest, confirms that “in 2008 one hundred forty three vineyards met the rigorous environmental standards of the Lodi Rules, representing more than 10% of the district’s vineyard acres.”

This achievement comes only 4 years after the initiation of the Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing (www.lodirules.com), California’s first 3rd party certified sustainable winegrowing program. The Lodi Rules takes a comprehensive approach to address the overall health of the vineyard and farm ecosystem. The farming standards go beyond pest management to promote practices that enhance biodiversity, air quality, soil and water health, efficient energy and water use, and employee well-being. It was developed under the auspices of the Lodi Winegrape Commission and is certified by Protected Harvest, a non-profit organization that independently certifies farmers’ use of stringent environmental growing standards (www.protectedharvest.org).

Many wines made with certified fruit from the 2005, 2006 and 2007 vintages bearing the Lodi Rules logo are now entering the marketplace. “Making wines from Lodi Rules certified fruit is helping wineries tell their story about great Lodi wines made from grapes grown with extra care by generations of farming families who are responsible to their land, their workers, and the community in which they live” according to Stuart Spencer, Program Manager of the Lodi Winegrape Commission. “We are proud of this accomplishment and look forward to even greater participation in future years.”

For more information please call Dr. Cliff Ohmart at the Lodi Winegrape Commission, 209.367.4727, or via email — cliff@lodiwine.com.

LangeTwins has been a part of the Lodi Rules program since 2006 and we manage 961 certified acres to date.  With our long tradition of sustainable practices, we will continue to certify our vineyards in years to come.

Look for the Lodi Rules logo on the back of our 2007 Sauvignon Blanc and 2007 Chardonnay – both these wines were made from winegrapes certified sustainable under the Lodi Rules program.

For the latest on Lodi Rules and sustainable topics, keep up with Dr. Cliff Ohmart’s blog!