Ripon, Calif.—The more than 3,100 vineyards farmed by Ron and Jamie McManis are now all certified as sustainable through the Lodi Rules program. The couple, who are fourth generation farmers, founded the vineyard in 1990 and built a winery in 1998.

McManis currently produces around 400,000 cases per year. Since being established in 2005, the Lodi Rules program has grown include 36,500 certified wine grape acres with more than 12,500 of those outside the Lodi region. McManis now accounts for nearly 9% of the certified, productive acres in the program. “Jamie and I are very proud of our vineyards and our staff who have made this possible,” said Ron McManis in a press release. “Our son-in-law Dirk Heuvel has spent countless hours on this process, over the last several years, and our company has dedicated tremendous resources to our certification, as we believe that it’s important for all of our customers to see what kind of a company we are."   

The Lodi Rules certification requires a grower adopt more than 100 “sustainability practices” and conduct a Pesticide Environmental Assessment System (PEAS), which is unique to the Lodi Rules. PEAS is a model used to quantify the environmental and human impact of all pesticides applied in a vineyard.