On 09 October 2018, FIVS and the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) signed a Cooperation Agreement in which they agreed to deepen their long-standing collaborative activity in the area of sustainability, the first result of which is the BRIT/FIVS International Sustainable Winegrowing Competition. Based on the existing BRIT competition, this new co-branded international competition will honour wine organisations that take a leading role in implementing sustainable practices. Applicants will have to demonstrate, inter alia, consistency with FIVS’s “Global Wine Producers Environmental Sustainability Principles (GWPESP)” programme, which promotes the idea that the continued health of the wine industry relies on natural resources that are successfully integrated with sound ecological processes.

2020 Competition Application

The competition application consists of 20 high-level self-assessment questions relating to sustainability’s “three pillars”: environmental, social, and economic, plus a twenty-first subjective assessment – wine taste. Applicants will be asked to describe their organisation’s conservation efforts in the vineyard and in operations, including how they deal with waste, what environmentally-friendly practices they have adopted, and how the winery engages in conservation efforts vis-à-vis its customers.

All wineries that feel they are actively demonstrating a broad-based commitment to sustainability are encouraged to participate!

The 2020 competition begins May 1, 2019 with a submission deadline of September 30, 2019. DOWNLOAD THE 2020 APPLICATION FORM.