With so many organic options to eat, it may be easy to forget that wonderful wines can be just as sustainably produced as the food on our plates. Fortunately, Santa Barbara County boasts a growing number of wineries that have adopted one of many sustainably certified options. These varying criteria can cause confusion for wine enthusiasts, so here’s a review of three of the more common certification programs, along with insight from producers who are pursuing improved sustainability in winemaking for Earth Day and every day.

The artisan wine fair, RAW is launching a new fair in Berlin later this year, to cater for an increasingly international clientele. RAW Berlin will be the show’s third location, following RAW London, which takes place on May 17-18 at the Truman Old Breweries, and RAW Vienna. The show promotes artisan wine producers who make fine wine using natural farming techniques, including organic and biodynamic practices.

Why would anyone want to put grape stems in their wine? Richard Hemming investigates for Wine Searcher. Stems? As in the bits of a bunch of grapes you throw away? Yes! There is a growing trend for chucking the stems in the fermentation vat along with the grapes, rather than chucking them away. When making red wine, most grapes go through a machine called a crusher-destemmer, when they reach the winery.

The American wine market is slowing in terms of volume growth, despite continued expansion throughout 2014, according to Rabobank’s Wine Quarterly Q2 2015 report. But a report from the financial service agri-food team said US value growth is actually accelerating, making it a desirable market for premium brands. The report said the US wine market continued to expand in 2014 through growth volume which was “well below” rates seen in previous years.

It’s not often that you hear someone from a 300-year old company say constant innovation is the key to success. But that’s what Moet et Chandon winemaker Marc Brevot did this week during his first visit to New Zealand. “When you make wine, it’s easy at some stage to be satisfied. Then you relax and continue to produce what you know. But if you start to do that then you’re dead. You’re dead because your environment is changing all the time, whether it’s your consumer environment or your climate conditions, everything moves all the time.

Chief winemaker at Gibbston Valley Winery Christopher Keys said it meant they had most of the grapes picked when the snow arrived on Monday. “The good news is we’re 70 percent through harvest at this point so the majority of our pinot has been taken in from the warmer sub-regions,” he said. “It’s still snowing, but that’s only going to affect the later ripening areas that still have fruit hanging on to ripen, so cooler regions, Gibbston, Wanaka. Alexandra, are likely to have fruit still out there.”

Tesco is facing a bill of £3bn (A$5.8bn) on its failing supermarkets as Britain’s biggest retailer fights against falling sales and profits, City analysts have warned. The supermarket group will reveal a £3bn impairment charge on its property in annual results later this month, according to estimates by analysts at Barclays. The writedown on the value of Tesco’s stores will reflect the fact they are suffering from falling sales.

Online retailer The New Zealand Cellar has exceeded its crowdfunding target within five days of launching the project, enabling it to open its first retail outlet in London this summer. The boutique wine e-commerce business, which was launched in June by New Zealand wine expert Melanie Brown, was looking to raise A$67,000 through crowd-funding platform Kickstarter to fund the new shop in Brixton.

To be red, or not to be red is a matter of mutation. This past Friday, New Zealand Herald reporter Jamie Morton published a story about a team of researchers at INRA Colmar (France) who discovered the reason why some pinot grapes turn out red and why some turn out white. “A new study … found the colour of grapes within the pinot family spawn from naturally occurring mutations which selectively shut down the genes responsible for the synthesis of red pigments, called anthocyanins,” Morton wrote.

Some of Australia’s best wine regions have been displayed at the 92nd China Food and Drinks Fair, held in Chengdu on 26–28 March 2015. Wine Australia, in partnership with 13 exhibitors, showcased more than 100 fine wines from 40 brands and close to 20 wine regions to an estimated 100,000 festival attendees. Willa Yang, Wine Australia’s regional manager said Chengdu’s China Food and Drinks Fair was one of the most important trade events on the calendar. “We’ve had incredibly positive feedback from our exhibiting partners and visitors to our pavilion,” she said.