Areas to Consider in Shaping Your Wine Industry Equity Goals

Key arenas to review as you define and shape your WINE Pledge goals.

Checklist of Subjects to Address

Goal categories and subjects to review as you set your WINE Pledge goals—You’ll note that the headings here may work interchangeably with a number of the subjects addressed in the WINE Pledge.

Addressing 

• Racism

• Sexism

• Mental Health 

• Sexual Harassment / Assault

• Alcohol Abuse Disorder

• Bullying, Rage Management (internal/external - company/public facing)

Training Beyond 

• Ableism

• Ageism

Training to Expand 

• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Sample Goals - Create Your Menu

Here are a few sample goals to consider as you identify the areas in which you or your business can better create and reflect equity in our industry. Some goals are short-term and some are long: we recommend choosing a mix of snacks, appetizers, and mains to keep your progress achievable and consistent.

Snacks

Include all staff members in wine tastings with vendors, if they are interested. 

Train staff on etiquette when dealing with someone with a disability

Educate staff about the warning signs of alcohol abuse, Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), and normalize supportive language around it. 

Acknowledge Indigenous names of vineyards and farms on menus. 

Add image descriptions on Instagram posts so that those in the blind and low-vision communities can access the content.

Write schedules that prioritize breaks within and rest between shifts.

Provide or facilitate access to healthy foods.

Make a point to email five businesses/individuals every month to encourage them to join the Pledge. 

Post signs in braille. 

Provide adaptive flatware for people with limited upper mobility.

Have straws available for customers/workers with limited hand function. 

Share at least 1% of monthly sales AND an additional 1% of special event sales with causes you care about.

Review website, social media, and marketing materials and make needed changes to ensure that language and photos reflect the inclusiveness that you are committed to embodying.

Seat elders, BIPOC, AAPI and LGBTQIA+ in prime / high-visibility locations within spaces.

Apps

Provide paid sick days and personal days to ALL workers, no questions asked.  

Share vineyard land with Indigenous farmers at no cost. 

Add Indigenous names for vineyard locations on wine labels. 

Buy from growers and farmers who employ natural farming methods or are transitioning to regenerative agriculture. 

Communicate your business's anti-racist, anti-discrimination, anti-ageist, anti-classist, and anti-harassment policies and protocol clearly and in writing to workers, partners, and associates at the outset of any professional relationship. 

Add wines made by BIPOC and LGBTQ+ individuals (and other marginalized communities) to your business’s list/shelf/portfolio.

Provide sign language training for staff to communicate better with hearing-impaired customers and workers. 

Make a policy to give space, including paid time off, to workers who are grieving or experiencing personal or collective trauma stemming from police executions, hate crimes, sexual assault, and other forms of physical and emotional violence.

Use Automated Website Accessibility Solutions for ADA & WCAG Compliance.

Calculate and offset carbon footprint. 

Convert to bulk packaging like kegs and bag-in-box formats where possible. 

Institute a compost program in partnership with local farms. 

Eliminate single-use products and/or incentivize reusable products.

Incorporate discussion of implicit bias, privilege, race into onboarding and training. 

Hire and promote people over 50 with proven skills, commitment and capability.

Employ a DEI consultant to initiate communication and training around issues of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Mains

Donate at least one percent of business profits to One Percent for the Planet, organizations that benefit BIPOC, AAPI, or environmental groups. 

Provide free or low-cost healthcare coverage for ALL workers, including seasonal labor.

Transition to Regenerative, Biodynamic, non-synthetically or systemically farmed, low to no till, ecologically managed wine growing, including contracted vineyard management.

Create gender parity in your workspace within six months.

Pursue certifications applicable to your business: B-Corp, Fair Trade, Biodynamic, Organic, etc. 

Provide equity with bonuses, commission, or profit-sharing. 

Invest in and encourage the promotion of employees from directly oppressed and impacted groups before filling positions from outside sources. Create mechanisms for workplace advancement, regardless of department or position.       

Have ADA-compliant bars and dining and bar tables throughout on-premises wine spaces, not separate from other customers. 

Build ADA-compliant restrooms.

Create organization-wide racial parity within a specified period of time. 

Create organization-wide gender parity within a specified period of time

Make workspaces more inclusive of all genders, especially in regard to bathrooms, changing areas, dress code and staff understanding and use of pronouns. 

If you farm, evaluate intensified downstream water contamination from vineyard spray program runoff and learn whether current vineyard management boosts or drains the regional water table.

Set vineyard ownership and management standards (for yourself or those vineyards you work with) that respect, reveal and enhance the biodiversity on the land, take responsibility for preserving and improving the fertility of the soil and balance of ecosystems, while monitoring all activities affecting the environment, consumer health and the fortunes of the local community.

Conduct and implement recommendations on wine production water usage and energy efficiency audits for cellar management, using available state and federal incentive structures for funding where available.