Wine’s Most Inspiring People: The Consistent Force Behind Sustainability in Practice

Over the holidays, I stopped to taste the extraordinary array of wines at Castoro Cellars in Paso Robles and almost tripped over the SIP certified sign at the entrance. This winery is proud of their role as an early adapter of Sustainability in Practice (SIP) and the principle of sustainable practices don’t stop with a sign.

Ask Greg at the tasting bar, and he will let you know that they are so green (and love rock and roll) that the weekend summer concerts have equipment and generators run solely by solar power. Castoro, a unique and historic winery with a frisbee golf course set among their vineyards, has never wavered from the SIP guidelines and has proudly exceeded them, stating that with time sustainability has become profitable.

Encouraging growers and wineries to address their practices and become SIP Certified has been the role of Beth Vukmanic Lopez for the past 10 years. After a degree from Cal Poly and a job with Malcolm DeMille, the designer of high-end golf trophies, Lopez answered an ad for a position with The Vineyard Team. Little did she know that the fledgling program called Sustainability in Practice (SIP) would soon become the model for green programs in vineyards and wineries across the U.S.

Read the whole article on wineindustryadvisor.com