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Green Medal Award Leader 02 Reduced

News & Press

Jun 30, 2021

O’Neill Vintners & Distillers Receives Wine Institute's Green Medal Leader Award

Four Cal­i­for­nia winer­ies and vint­ners were named Green Medal win­ners rec­og­niz­ing a com­mit­ment to sus­tain­abil­i­ty in Leader, Busi­ness, Envi­ron­ment and Com­mu­ni­ty categories.

The Cal­i­for­nia wine com­mu­ni­ty is a glob­al leader in sus­tain­abil­i­ty, with over 80% of Cal­i­for­nia wine made in a Cer­ti­fied Cal­i­for­nia Sus­tain­able Win­ery. More than half of the state’s wine­grape acreage is cer­ti­fied as Cer­ti­fied Cal­i­for­nia Sus­tain­able Wine­grow­ing, Fish Friend­ly Farm­ing, LODI RULES, Napa Green or SIP Certified.

“The Green Medal is an oppor­tu­ni­ty to rec­og­nize the industry’s cut­ting-edge lead­ers in sus­tain­abil­i­ty,” said Alli­son Jor­dan, CSWA Exec­u­tive Direc­tor. ​“Their sto­ries illus­trate what it means to grow and craft qual­i­ty wine­grapes and wine while pro­tect­ing the envi­ron­ment, being a good neigh­bor and employ­er and main­tain­ing thriv­ing fam­i­ly farms and businesses.”

““We are thrilled to be pre­sent­ed with this award and hon­or from the Wine Insti­tute (…) as a pri­vate­ly-owned com­pa­ny, we have the auton­o­my to invest in the future, lis­ten to what con­sumers expect of us, and har­ness the ener­gy of our 300 ded­i­cat­ed employ­ees to car­ry out this crit­i­cal mis­sion. Con­grat­u­la­tions to the O’Neill team and to the oth­er award win­ners this year.””

— Jeff O'Neill

LEADER AWARD – O’Neill Vint­ners & Distillers

Certified Sustainable Bottle Logo

O’Neill Vint­ners & Dis­tillers, locat­ed in California’s Inland Val­ley, is the recip­i­ent of the Leader Award, giv­en to a vine­yard or win­ery that excels in the three ​“Es” of sus­tain­abil­i­ty — Envi­ron­men­tal­ly sound, social­ly Equi­table and Eco­nom­i­cal­ly viable practices.

As a com­mu­ni­ty leader, O’Neill Vint­ners & Dis­tillers has an over­ar­ch­ing belief that sus­tain­abil­i­ty is the right thing to do for everyone’s future. They are com­mit­ted to mak­ing a real impact, not just in sus­tain­able farm­ing, but also by ensur­ing a well-round­ed, diverse work­force with schol­ar­ship and intern­ship oppor­tu­ni­ties to advance Black, Indige­nous, and Peo­ple of Col­or (BIPOC) rep­re­sen­ta­tion. The company’s human­i­tar­i­an mind­set trans­lates into its rela­tion­ships with the com­mu­ni­ty as well.

Dur­ing the onset of the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic, O’Neill Vint­ners & Dis­tillers made and dis­trib­uted hand san­i­tiz­er to local first respon­ders and hos­pi­tals. Oth­er exam­ples of lead­er­ship in prac­tice are the instal­la­tion of a new BioFil­tro worm farm and the recy­cling of over 43 mil­lion gal­lons of water for field irrigation.

With mul­ti­ple third-par­ty envi­ron­men­tal and sus­tain­abil­i­ty cer­ti­fi­ca­tions, includ­ing Cer­ti­fied Cal­i­for­nia Sus­tain­able Wine­grow­ing, Cal­i­for­nia Cer­ti­fied Organ­ic Farm­ers and British Retail Con­sor­tium; inno­v­a­tive research projects; advance­ments in BIPOC rep­re­sen­ta­tion; and a long-term com­mit­ment to sus­tain­abil­i­ty through cap­i­tal improve­ments in solar, water, and soil, O’Neill Vint­ners & Dis­tillers has demon­strat­ed that sus­tain­abil­i­ty is the ulti­mate expres­sion of its com­mit­ment to peo­ple, to the plan­et and to profit.

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