What it takes to become one of The Society’s Pioneers

We work with some remarkable producers, who are not just making top-quality wines, they are also quietly doing extraordinary things. They’re restoring soils, reducing synthetic chemical inputs, investing in biodiversity, treating workers like they’re family and raising up their local communities. We think that kind of leadership and effort deserves to be recognised and rewarded. 

At the same time, we know many of our members want wines that aren’t just great quality, they’re also made with extra care – for the countryside, for wildlife, for people, for what goes into it, for the long-term future of wine itself. But they don’t want to wade through jargon or risk being misled by vague claims. They want clarity and confidence. 

The Society’s Pioneers aims to provide just that: a small, exceptional collection of wines made by people who are leading the way – not just in quality, but in integrity. 

We have put in the work, so members can enjoy these wines knowing the story behind the bottle is as good as the wine inside it. 

Below is a transparent look at what it takes for a wine to be included in The Society’s Pioneers - the real process behind the seal.

A very high bar to entry

It is fiendishly difficult to become a Society Pioneer. That’s deliberate. Wines don’t make it in because they tick a few fashionable boxes. They’re in because the producer has shown exceptional care across farming, winemaking, people, packaging and traceability – beyond what most would consider standard good practice. 

To even get through the door, every wine must first meet all of our mandatory criteria, which include:

1. Buyer nomination

A Wine Society Pioneer must first be nominated by one of our buyers who has visited the producer in person and feels they are going above and beyond expectations. Far from being just about being a delicious wine from stand-out producer, it’s a written justification that documents exceptional practices in the vineyard, the winery and in labour standards and in how the producer supports their local community. 

2. Signed Social & Environmental Code of Conduct

Every producer in the category – no exceptions – must have signed our Code of Conduct, covering labour, ethics, and environmental baselines. 

3.  Lower carbon packaging

Every wine must be bottled in packaging below strict weight thresholds. For still wines, that’s under 420g. For sparkling, the limits differ by method.

There are a few rare exceptions we’re allowing in 2026 (which we will review for 2027). This might, for example, be where a producer’s bottle is slightly heavier but part of a genuine glass reuse scheme, or where they’ve shown clear evidence that buying a slightly heavier bottle is the lower carbon option in the round (e.g. it is made locally and from recycled material, rather than being produced and shipped from another country). Sustainability is rarely black and white, and in some areas, we’ve chosen common sense over perfection.

4. Full fruit traceability

Producers must be able to evidence where 100% of the grapes come from and confirm they are all grown to the same high standards. 

5. Recognised third-party sustainability certification 

Every one of The Society’s Pioneers must have either: 

• a third-party certification at the individual wine level (which includes Organic, Biodynamic, or Regenerative) 
  or 

• a comprehensive and recognised third-party sustainability certification at the producer level

There’s a common-sense exception here too, for our very small producers (who make on average fewer than 250,000 bottles of wine per year) where certification costs are genuinely prohibitive. In those cases, they must instead meet a higher threshold in our in-house sustainability assessment.

Then come the secondary criteria

Once a wine has met all mandatory criteria, it must then qualify through one of three additional routes. 

• If the wine is covered by a Gold* or Silver* rated sustainability certification AND the producer has achieved distinction level score (over 50%**) on our in-house sustainability assessment 

• If the wine is covered by a Bronze* rated sustainability certification AND the producer has achieved over 65% on our in-house sustainability assessment (for wines with a bronze certification, the producer must obtain a higher score on our in-house assessment than distinction level) 

• If the wine is made by a small producer*** AND the producer has achieved over 65% on our in-house sustainability assessment (small producers without a third-party sustainability certification must obtain a higher score on our in-house assessment than distinction level) 

In short: meeting the mandatory bar gets you into the waiting room. The secondary criteria decide whether the door opens. 

*Third-party sustainability certifications have been rated Gold, Silver or Bronze using the results of the Intertek sustainable alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages certification benchmark study September 2025. This study benchmarks sustainability certification schemes for their scope and robustness across the following areas: Environmental Growing/Farming (agricultural and raw material cultivation); Environmental Production (beverage production); Social Aspects Growing/Farming (human rights and labour practices); Social Aspects Production (human rights and labour practices); Governance and Quality.   

**50% may not sound like a high score, but the way we have structured our in-house assessment means it is very tough to get – which is why we consider it to be a distinction-level grade.  

***The Wine Society considers a small producer to have a typical total annual bottle production of less than 250,000 bottles

That’s the criteria – so how do we run the selection process?

Once a buyer nominates a wine, the real work begins.

Step 1 – Verification of mandatory requirements

We verify that the wine meets our mandatory requirements. This involves checking sustainability certifications, bottle weights, traceability claims and typical annual bottle production amounts (to determine if they are considered a small producer).

Step 2 – Initial data gathering of publicly available information

We run an AI-assisted assessment that reviews publicly available information from the producer’s own website, The Wine Society’s website, International Wineries for Climate Action (IWCA) website and Porto Protocol website. This helps to gather some initial information on what the producer says they are doing on governance, viticulture, winemaking, human rights and labour practices. However, we have found the results of this initial data gathering vary widely, as many (particularly small) producers have very little information available publicly. The results and information are used simply as a guide to inform the discussion with the producer in Step 3.

Step 3 — The verification call

This is the most important piece. We then hold a video call with the producer to go through our in-house sustainability assessment, line by line. This conversation covers questions on 16 topics, including: 

• Governance: Sustainability plans, carbon reduction, sustainability reporting 

• Vineyard practices: Synthetic chemical / input use, water use, cover cropping, soil management, livestock integration, biodiversity projects 

• Winery practices: Water use, energy use, waste management, packaging, winemaking practices (e.g. low-intervention) 

• Labour practices: Fair wages and working conditions, management of seasonal and temporary workers, support of the local community and local employment 

Each of these 16 topics is scored either between 0 and 3 or between 0 and 6 depending on the weighting of the topic. This is also a chance for producers to share any additional written information and documentation they have on their practices.

These conversations have been some of the most enlightening moments of this project: a chance to understand the philosophy behind the practices, not just the policies on paper.

Step 4 – Final scoring, decision and documentation

Once all evidence is gathered, the Sustainability Team reviews the entire assessment, updates the score and makes a final decision. All our documentation is kept on file should we ever be asked to show our working. 

Being honest about the grey areas 

Now, I do need to be clear: We are not saying that The Society’s Pioneers are perfect, or fully sustainable or anything like that. We also acknowledge that the selection process has its limitations and flaws – not least because much of the scoring relies on producers giving us accurate and honest information, as well as by its nature having an element of subjectivity. It is incredibly hard to fit practices into a binary ‘pass/fail’ world – there are always trade-offs, regional differences, economic realities and local constraints. While our criteria are tough, we’ve also had to make a small number of well-reasoned exceptions. Bottle weight is one example. Certification for micro producers is another. 

But what I can say with hand on heart is we have been rigorous. We have spoken to every producer, quizzed them on their practices, checked every certification and bottle weight – and have not approved anyone who doesn’t meet the criteria. Even those our hearts say should probably have made it through. 

We’ve tried to take a thoughtful, common sense and honest approach that pushes standards upward without penalising those who are genuinely doing extraordinary work but don’t neatly fit a global rulebook. 

Just the start 

And we won’t stop here. We’ll keep refining the criteria each year, tightening thresholds, improving the scoring system and continuing our conversations with producers.

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