Happy New Year! May you cheer in 2020 as a year of new bird sightings and meaningful time with birding friends. And may your toasting beverage be bird friendly!

A story I worked on for a year is now live at National Audubon. Two loves of mine—birds and libations—come together in an exploration for how we as consumers might select our wine to benefit (or minimize harm to) birds. I ask how close are we to Bird Friendly® certification (like coffee) for wine? Go read the article to find out!

One thing the article doesn’t cover is a deeper dive into how to understand existing “sustainable” certifications for wine, and what wines to buy while we wait for an official Bird Friendly® seal of approval. So here is that information. Read on!

Just Wine? What about other libations?

In the Audubon article I focus on the wine industry of the U.S.—specifically the West Coast of the U.S.—but it wouldn’t take much for a consumer to apply the same criteria of what wine producers are doing to see how a favorite beer or spirit brand might be practicing some of the same methods. After all, your favorite drink is derived from a plant, which is cultivated through man-made agriculture. You aren’t going to find many commercially available beverages pulled from the wild.

“Agriculture is not ‘natural,’” says Rafer Nelson, a wine importer in Seattle (he’s also my cousin by marriage). “No matter how well a land is farmed, (agriculture) still alters an ecosystem to feed people.” Yup. Emphasis on people. As in, not birds.

That’s where we as consumers of any kind of agricultural item can help. But for the sake of this post, let’s stick to beverages of the tippling kind.

Where to start—Consider Organic/Biodynamic as only one element of your purchase

We see “organic” and think, safe, right? Not always.

“Organic is a starting point,” says Julie Jedlicka, PhD, the primary investigator of a potential bird friendly wine certification. Organic is fine for allowing non-pest insect life (and bird food) to thrive, but cover crop and set aside habitat near whatever is cultivated is even more critical.

Some organic brands have a long standing reputation for environmentally friendly practice. Take Bonterra (owned by Fetzer, which also produces organic wine under its own label) and Frey. Fetzer participates in the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance seal (see below), in addition to producing its wine from organic grapes. Frey has set aside upper woodlands into conservation easement above its vineyards to assure no future logging.

But not all organic wine is created equal when it comes to birds.

To illustrate this point, I once chatted with a wine wholesaler for an organic label who described the bird management of the vineyards he represented. “We don’t have a problem with birds,” he said. “Birds won’t fly in an open area without tree cover, so we just trimmed the trees back. The birds don’t come near the grapes.”

I described this method later to Jedlicka over the phone. She paused and said, “That does not sound like a good idea to me. What he described was removal of bird habitat.” Whoops.

So how will you know if the wine walks the talk? That’s where a little more research comes in—hence the certification label.

What to look for next—various certification labels

In recent years the U.S. wine industry developed various third party sustainability certifications for vineyards and wine producers.

I’m addressing the certifications that apply to West Coast wine, as this region accounts for most of the grapes grown and the wine produced in the U.S. Other states have similar certifications, as do growers and producers in other wine regions of the world.

The ones below overlap with organic and biodynamic practices, but call out additional criteria for vineyards and surrounding habitat, including energy efficiency, protection of air and water quality, just treatment of employees and neighbors, environmentally preferred purchasing and habitat restoration, as examples.

These certifications are a good baseline of what matters if you want to benefit birds in your wine purchasing decision.

Lodi Rules

Lodi Rules, established in 1992 in the Lodi “Crush” region of California, is the first comprehensive sustainability certification program for the winegrowing industry in the U.S. Its rules are easy to understand and contain the kinds of bird-friendly language I would want to see for a label: Woodlands preservation, seasonal wetlands protections, restoration of buffer zones and application of cover crops with California native vegetation, with the purpose to protect and preserve… and the benefits and wildlife habitat they provide (italics mine).

Lodi Rules is a program for grape growers (aka vineyards). Wines can be Lodi rules certified if they are produced from 85 percent Lodi Rules certified grapes.

Here’s something to consider: A vineyard is the grape grower. A winery is the winemaker. They are not the same. Not every winery has a vineyard, and not every vineyard produces a wine. Many wineries make wine from grapes sourced from other vineyards. Confusing? Yup.

But at the Friday night at the grocery store level, it’s not so hard: Some readily available Lodi Rules wines are Estate Crush, Harthill Farms, Herzog and Pat Paulson. Find more wines to choose from at Lodi Rules.

California certified vineyards and wineries

The California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA) introduced its Certified Sustainable seal in 2010 to apply to vineyards, wineries and estate wineries (vineyards that produce their own wines). If you’re wondering, the CS seal incorporates Lodi Rules certified grapes and organically certified grapes. Are you tracking this?

Though I can’t access the details of their California Code of Sustainable Winegrowing workbook, their ED Allison Jordan replied to my questions about its content. “The chapters on water conservation, healthy soils and responsible pest management address creating, restoring, and maintaining habitat for wildlife, including birds. The Code is the centerpiece of both our educational and certification programs,” she said by email. She also sent a link to a member winery’s creek restoration project, which suggested that a motivated winegrower could find financial support and economic benefit for such an effort.

According to their website, “CSWA is currently a subscriber to the ISEAL Alliance, an internationally recognized organization dedicated to ensuring credible and innovative sustainability standards. (Current ISEAL certification programs include Marine Stewardship Council, Rainforest Alliance, Forest Stewardship Council, among others.)” 

Some recognized and widely available wines under this certification seal are Ferrari Carano, Francis Ford Coppola Sonoma and the aptly named Hawk’s Roost Ranch. Find more at CSWA website.

Salmon Safe wines

Salmon Safe is a certification label applicable to certain consumer goods (wine, beer, food), industries (construction, farming), recreation (golf courses) and institutions (universities) in Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, Canada and Northern California.

As its name implies, the certification focuses on clean watersheds that benefit native West Coast Salmon species. Any protection of watersheds will benefit birds, although that is not the intent of Salmon Safe. Sometimes unintended consequences are a good thing!

In my research, I did not find the seal displayed on wines that are part of the program. It’s up to the winemaker to add the seal, even if they are part of the program. So it’s helpful to find out in advance of picking up your bottle.

Some Salmon Safe brands found in West Coast groceries are Chateau Ste. Michelle (their Cold Creek Estate and Canoe Ridge Estate wines), L'Ecole No. 41 (Estate Wines, Walla Walla Wines) and Lopez Island Vineyards Estate Wines. If you like beer, check out that list, too!

The Indies are worth supporting

In my research for the Audubon article, I found winemakers who produce wine outside of any obvious certification doing right by birds, too. Wildridge Winery, Ransom Wine and Spirits, Spring Mountain Vineyard and Ravenswood. All are wines produced from vineyards where birds are considered and in most cases outright protected. Whether through bird boxes for owls or bluebirds, cover crops, minimal chemical use and commitment to preservation of non-agricultural land as set aside, each of these wine producers demonstrates support for the birds coexisting with their grapes.

Don’t get distracted by pretty labels or stuff that isn’t an issue for birds

Do not assume that a wine is bird friendly if it has a bird on the label or is named for a bird. That is the same as assuming something is organic because it has the word “natural” on it. It’s marketing and it ultimately means nothing.

Another concern I came across in researching the article is the netting of grapes near harvest and how that might impact nesting birds. It doesn’t. Grape harvest occurs in early fall, and any birds nesting in the vines have long fledged, and in many cases, migrated. Netting and harvesting (even machine harvesting) for the most part does not harm birds.

Go shopping

Now that you have some idea for what to look for, go shopping! The wine list I suggest in this post are found at my local Safeway and Whole Foods, so I am hoping you can find them at your local grocery, wherever you are.

And support your local wine shops, too! Your wine vendor will know (or should know) what to recommend if you say you want something bird friendly, drawing from the information in this post. I wish you well, and have fun. Knowing your purchase supports bird life makes raising a glass more satisfying.

Quick disclaimer: This is information I share freely; no one is paying me to say it. These are my opinions based on research for how the grapes are grown, which is the part of viticulture that impacts bird life the most. And most importantly, while I appreciate wine and avoid the rot-gut variety, I’m an every day wine consumer, not a collector of fine vintages. Proceed with your purchase at your own risk!