California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance Wins 2026 V d’Or Award for Sustainability Leadership
The California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA) has earned international recognition after receiving the 2026 V d’Or Business Award for Sustainability, honoring its Climate Action Toolkit as one of the most forward-thinking and impactful environmental initiatives in the global wine and spirits industry.
The prestigious award highlights CSWA’s long-standing commitment to environmental stewardship and its leadership in equipping winegrowers with practical, science-driven tools to address climate change. The recognition reinforces California’s prominent role in advancing sustainability standards not only within the U.S. agricultural sector but across wine regions worldwide.
Recognition at Wine Paris
The V d’Or Business Awards were presented on the eve of Wine Paris, one of the most influential international gatherings for wine and spirits professionals. Organized by Vinexposium, Wine Paris serves as a global platform for innovation, sustainability, trade development, and knowledge exchange within the sector.
Administered by Vinexposium, the V d’Or awards recognize excellence across key industry pillars including innovation, sustainability, education, and leadership. The awards aim to spotlight programs and organizations that are driving measurable progress while fostering collaboration across the value chain.
By honoring the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, the 2026 V d’Or jury underscored the growing importance of structured climate action planning within agriculture and beverage production.
Best Sustainability V d’Or: A Focus on the Future
The Best Sustainability V d’Or Award specifically recognizes an interprofessional organization or initiative that addresses environmental challenges critical to the long-term viability of the wine and spirits industry.
CSWA was selected for its Climate Action Toolkit, a comprehensive framework designed to strengthen climate resilience throughout California’s wine sector. The Toolkit provides winegrowers and vintners with science-based methodologies to:
- Identify and assess climate-related risks
- Prioritize climate-smart agricultural and operational practices
- Establish measurable goals
- Track progress over time
- Transition from commitment to concrete implementation
The award affirms the Toolkit’s value as a scalable and structured model for climate adaptation and mitigation in specialty crop agriculture.
The Climate Action Toolkit: Structured, Science-Based Guidance
Climate variability, extreme weather events, water scarcity, and shifting growing conditions are increasingly shaping the global wine landscape. In response, CSWA developed the Climate Action Toolkit to provide wine businesses with a practical roadmap for building resilience.
Developed in collaboration with an advisory group composed of industry leaders, climate scientists, sustainability experts, and agricultural professionals, the Toolkit reflects a multidisciplinary approach grounded in both research and field experience.
The framework is designed to help producers:
- Conduct climate vulnerability assessments
- Evaluate operational and vineyard-level exposure to risk
- Develop tailored climate action plans
- Implement best management practices
- Monitor, measure, and report outcomes
Rather than offering broad recommendations, the Toolkit delivers step-by-step planning guidance, enabling winegrowers to integrate climate preparedness directly into business strategy and vineyard management.
This structured approach ensures that sustainability efforts move beyond aspirational statements and translate into measurable, long-term impact.
Leadership Rooted in Collaboration and Science
According to Alliance Executive Director Allison Jordan, the award represents the culmination of decades of coordinated effort within California’s wine community.
“This award reflects decades of collaboration across California’s wine community, grounded in planning and science and focused on preparedness and enduring stewardship,” Jordan said. “We appreciate Vinexposium’s recognition of California’s sustained leadership in this work, and its relevance to the challenges facing wine regions today.”
California’s wine sector has long prioritized sustainability as a core principle. The Alliance’s programs are built upon the understanding that environmental stewardship, economic viability, and community well-being are interconnected pillars of long-term success.
The Climate Action Toolkit strengthens this legacy by aligning climate preparedness with business continuity, risk management, and responsible resource use.
Building on the California Code of Sustainable Winegrowing
The Toolkit expands upon CSWA’s stewardship of the California Code of Sustainable Winegrowing, one of the most widely adopted sustainability frameworks in U.S. agriculture.
The Code provides a comprehensive self-assessment and continuous improvement program covering vineyard practices, winery operations, water efficiency, soil health, energy use, biodiversity, and social responsibility. It has played a foundational role in shaping sustainability benchmarks within the American wine industry.
By integrating climate planning into this established framework, the Climate Action Toolkit ensures that resilience becomes an embedded component of sustainable winegrowing rather than a separate initiative.
The program emphasizes:
- Continuous improvement
- Data-driven decision-making
- Accountability and transparency
- Practical implementation tools
- Industry-wide collaboration
This integration reinforces California’s reputation as a global leader in agricultural sustainability and climate-smart production systems.
A Competitive and Global Nominee Field
The 2026 V d’Or Sustainability category featured a diverse and competitive field of nominees representing wine regions across Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Oceania. The breadth of submissions reflected the accelerating momentum behind environmental innovation within the global wine and spirits industry.
The Alliance’s selection highlights the importance of:
- Strategic climate planning
- Technical rigor
- Interprofessional collaboration
- Shared industry resources
- Scalable solutions
In particular, the award recognizes the value of tools that enable progress at scale. Climate change represents a systemic challenge, and solutions must be accessible, adaptable, and actionable across diverse production contexts.
The Climate Action Toolkit’s structured design allows wine businesses of varying sizes—from family-owned vineyards to large-scale producers—to participate meaningfully in climate resilience planning.
Preparing Agricultural Systems for a Changing Climate
Agriculture remains among the sectors most directly affected by climate variability. Winegrowing, with its reliance on specific climatic conditions for grape quality and varietal expression, is especially sensitive to environmental shifts.
Through the Climate Action Toolkit, CSWA promotes proactive adaptation strategies rather than reactive responses. These strategies include improved water management, soil health enhancement, emissions reduction planning, biodiversity conservation, and energy efficiency improvements.
By encouraging long-term preparedness, the Alliance supports not only environmental outcomes but also economic stability for wine businesses and rural communities.
The Toolkit demonstrates how agricultural systems can transition from vulnerability to resilience through structured planning, science-backed guidance, and collective action.
Driving Meaningful Progress Across the Industry
The V d’Or recognition signals that sustainability is no longer optional within the wine and spirits industry—it is a defining element of competitiveness and credibility.
CSWA’s Climate Action Toolkit exemplifies how industry organizations can move beyond awareness-building to deliver practical, measurable tools that empower producers.
As climate challenges intensify, collaborative frameworks such as this will play a crucial role in protecting agricultural productivity, preserving natural resources, and maintaining consumer trust.
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