Get Certified
Sustainability In Practice (SIP) Certified® is a third-party verified program that proves that vineyards and wineries walk the walk on sustainability. SIP Certified holds winegrowers and winemakers accountable to measurable standards while giving consumers confidence in the wines they choose.
Vineyard & Winery Wine Self-Assessment
The Simple 3-Step Process
Whether you’re certifying a vineyard, winery, or wines, the process is the same:
- Complete your application
- Get started here
- Schedule your third-party inspection
- SIP Certified accredited inspectors are available to review your application(s)
- Pay certification fees
- Certifications are finalized upon payment
What to Expect
Documentation Requirements
To show your adherence to the Standards, you’ll upload documents to your application in the SIP Certified database.
Vineyards & Wineries
The Vineyard and Winery Standards encompass 14 chapters that touch every level of your business, from the soil to your workforce.
The Standards are made of are two types of questions:
- Requirements: all of these practices must be in place to earn certification.
- Management Enhancements: sustainable farming doesn’t look the same for everyone. These questions offer flexibility through “Not Applicable” answers—you must earn at least 50% of the points from the questions that are applicable to your operation.
You can preview the Vineyard & Winery Standards here.
Wines
Wine certification involves chain-of-custody documentation tracing the wine from the vineyard to the bottle. Any wine made with at least 85% SIP Certified fruit (estate or purchased) can apply.
You can preview the Wine Standards here.
Certification Timeline
Vineyards & Wineries
The annual certification timeline runs Dec 1 of the previous year through Nov 30 of the certification year. For example, to earn 2026 certification, documents must show practices starting Dec 1, 2025.
- Dec 1: Certification cycle begins
- Start using SIP Certified practices
- Mar 15: Inspections open
- Complete between Mar 15 and July 15
- Jul 15: Inspections due
- Complete all inspector corrections
- Aug: Eligibility & Invoicing
- Will arrive via email
- Sept: Invoice payments due
- Certificates are issued upon payment
- Dec 5: Year-Ends due
- Vineyards: 9.1.2 PURs and Chapter 14 Water & Nitrogen Use Reports
- Wineries: 11.3.4 Noise Test (every 3 years)
Wines
You can apply for SIP Certified wine any time throughout the year!
For wines that have never been certified before, we recommend applying prior to bottling. Please do not print your labels before receiving your notice of Eligibility.
Please note, each new vintage of a wine must be certified.
Costs
Certification costs are tiered based on acres farmed (vineyards), gallons produced (wineries), or annual cases certified (wine).
Learn more about costs on the Vineyard & Winery and Wine pages:
Start Your Journey
Whether you’re certifying your vineyards, winery, or wines, you can get started in the SIP Certified database.
If you have questions, please contact program staff.