Skip to main content

About

LIVE was formed in 1997 by a small group of visionary winegrowers in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. In 1999 they incorporated their fledgeling organization as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization and soon after achieved a prestigious accreditation from the European chapter of the IOBC. LIVE has been certifying vineyards in Oregon since then, followed by Washington growers in 2006, and Idaho in 2012. In 2008 LIVE developed a first-in-class winery certification program. Today, LIVE certification is available to vineyards and wineries throughout the Pacific Northwest of the US and is partnered with numerous other certifications and NGO's around the world whose goal is a more sustainable future in wine.

Background image Background image Background image Background image Background image Background image

A Growing Movement

We measure and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. We use regenerative farming practices like planting cover crops to sequester atmospheric carbon in our soils. We protect and restore oak habitat and reduce our impacts on rivers and streams. We recognize that this is the greatest challenge of our time and are working to meet it.

All LIVE members are required to maintain ecologically rich ares on our farms. These include swaths of wildflower meadows, dense rich hedgerows, forested stands of trees, and protected riversides. We have a responsibility to connect our agriculture to lands that support a flourishing ecosystem of flora and fauna.

Farm and winery crews are the foundation of our industry, Our businesses provide healthcare, safe and healthy working conditions, and fair wages for our teams in the field. It is our goal to build real equity within our wine growing community.

Soil is alive! It is teeming with microorganisms and webbed with fungi. We farm to keep it that way, through healthy compost and biochar applications, nitrogen-fixing cover crops, and mycorrhizal inoculation. All of this life nourishes our vines and reflects itself in the terror of the wines you love.

We implement land management practices that reduce a century’s old reliance on harsh chemicals. By integrating beneficial insects and bird habitats, using grazing animals to control weeds, and enabling wildlife’s free passage across our farms, we reduce the need for pesticides and restore healthy ecosystem functioning. 

As LIVE members, many of us dry farm our wine grapes without irrigation, use gravity flow systems to clarify our wines, and rely on solar energy and biodiesel to power our operations. The wine industries of the Pacific Northwest are proud to lead the way in minimizing the raw materials we use to produce some the finest wines in the world.

Let’s Get Certified — Join the LIVE Community

Who We Are

Meet the Board

The Four Top

Change happens when people collaborate for the common good. LIVE is one of the oldest, strongest, and most visionary sustainability certifications in wine because its members built it from the ground up.

Katherine Cole

Learn

We have developed multiple platforms to share technical training and thought-provoking perspectives on issues related to sustainability with our members. Listen in on advice for sustainable wine distribution, enroll in an online course to learn how to increase your vineyard biodiversity, or watch a video about our little pollinators and their benefits.

Learn More

Recent News

2022 Annual Meeting Minutes

Download the minutes from the 2022 LIVE Annual Meeting.

Read More

Oak Hubs

This spring, LIVE partnered with a group of environmental science students from Willamette University to distribute oak saplings to our members. Their group, called Growing Oaks, was formed to promote

Read More

Vineyard Standards Updates for 2022

Each year, LIVE's Joint Technical Committee meets to review our vineyard standards and discuss key pest determinations, testing requirements, and new chemistry evaluations. Updates for the 2022

Read More

Industry Carbon Footprint

LIVE and Good Company have collaborated to publish a comprehensive study on the carbon footprint of the regional Pacific Northwest wine industry. This is a landmark publication for LIVE that will help

Read More

Winery Recycling Hubs Update

We need your help recycling winery plastics and increasing recycling rates. Our recycling partner, Agri-Plas, Inc. continues to experience a challenging recycling market. In order to continue

Read More