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GRAPE GRO WING throughout the specialty crop supply chain. I described the SISC program in my May 2009 Vineyard View column, "Introducing the Stewardship Index." CSWA's sustainable winegrowing pro- gram joint committee is recommending the initial set of metrics based on criteria that include economic and environmental impact, data availability from winegrow- ers and winemakers, ease of use and the state of the science on which the metrics are based. These metrics are: energy, water, greenhouse gas production and nitrogen ap- plied. The SWP joint committee is a group of more than 50 growers and vintners from organizations throughout California. The project will create an online perfor- mance metrics sustainability portal that growers and winemakers can use to calcu- late metrics for their operations and access educational information that will help in using the metrics. The metric results will be transferred confidentially to the SWP online system for storage and report- ing, similar to how the self assessment of sustainability practices for vineyards and wineries has been handled in SWP's self- assessment workbook program. The goal of CSWA's performance met- rics project is to incorporate the metrics You know how good your Zinfandel is... Promote your wines to leading Zinfandel enthusiasts and extend your winery's relationship in the market. Join Us! We are champions of Zinfandel— America's Heritage Wine Become part of our proud legacy New metrics from the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance include amount of water used, greenhouse gas production, nitrogen applied and energy output such as fuel consumption. Performance metrics vary from one growing season to the next, from one region to another, from one crop to another and so forth. into the SWP's free online system where growers and winemakers can confiden- tially store data, track improvements over time and access tools and resources to help minimize operational costs and benchmark their performance relative to their peers. Later this year CSWA will be convening workshops throughout California to pilot test the metrics and the online system with winegrowers and winemakers. I encourage California winegrowers and winemakers to attend one to learn about and pilot test the metrics chosen by CSWA and begin to understand the future direction of sustain- able winegrowing. For those of you outside California, zinfandel.org • 530-274-4900 Zinfandel Advocates & Producers is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. ZAP is dedicated to advancing public you can participate in the SISC pilot test project, which is available to any wine- grape grower or winery in the United States. For more information about SISC, visit stewardshipindex.org. knowledge of and appreciation for American Zinfandel and its unique place in our culture and history. 64 Wines & Vines sePTeMBeR 201 1 A word of caution It is important as we move into this new era of measuring sustainability performance that we do not forget about the variability in bio- logical systems. The calculation of one per- formance metric for a season is one number, but it is important to remember that the cal- culation from this metric will vary in space and time. Performance metrics vary due to differences from one growing season to the next, from one region to another, from one crop to another and so forth. The danger I see is that people will focus on a single number from a metric calcula- tion rather than analyze the much more complex variability of numbers over space and time. However, understanding what is causing the variation will be the most valu- able information in improving sustainabili- ty performance. At this time, because of the variability likely to occur from one region to another, I think performance metrics will be most valuable for a winegrower or wine- maker to use within their operations, track- ing them over time and making adjustments in practices based on the outcomes. Dr. Cliff Ohmart is vice president of profes- sional services for SureHarvest and author of "View from the Vineyard: A practical guide to sustainable winegrape growing," due to be pub- lished this month by Wine Appreciation Guild. Previously he served as research/IPM director at the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission. He has been writing about sustainable wine- growing issues for Wines & Vines since 1998. References 1. Dr. Joe Browde, SureHarvest, provided the information on CSWA's SWP program. KENT HANSON