The sustainability guidelines have been developed through a series of forums involving producers, experts and technical committee members.

There are three categories of guidelines:

• Best practice (from a sustainable perspective), which should be encouraged for those who wish to produce wine in a more sustainable way.
• Minimum standards, which must be applied for those who wish to produce wine in a more sustainable way.
• Practices which, although legal, contravene the aims of a sustainable wine production system, and so should be proscribed for those who wish to produce wine in a sustainable way.

Those using the guidelines should comply with the minimum standards and where possible aim for or achieve the best practice standards.

Self-assement

WineSkills are working on a on-line self-assessment tool for the website that will enable you to monitor your performance in relation to the guidelines. We plan to launch the on-line self-assessment tool in spring 2012. For the time being, you can complete the sustainability workbook below and return it to us. We can then tell you how your results compare with others submitted to us.