Member growers of the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission (LWWC) have long been industry leaders in developing and implementing sustainable winegrowing practices. There are currently about 90,000 acres of winegrapes in California Crush District #11 accounting for 20% of the state's winegrape production. Since its inception in 1992, LWWC's sustainable winegrowing program (SWP) developed 3 program components, Grower Outreach, Field Implementation, and the Lodi Winegrower's Workbook.

After the publication of the Lodi Winegrower's Workbook and its use by many LWWC growers, some wondered if using sustainable winegrowing practices could add value to their winegrapes and wine. This added value might come in one or more ways. For example, consumers may seek out Lodi wines because they are grown with extra care by generations of family farmers who are responsible to the land, the community and their workers. Additionally, some wineries may seek out sustainably grown winegrapes and might even pay a premium for them. People may want to visit Lodi to see where sustainable winegrowing is practiced. What began with the initial question of whether sustainability could add value to winegrape production has resulted in the development of a fourth SWP program component, The Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing Program.

In April of 2001, a committee of LWWC growers convened to explore the idea of adding value to Lodi winegrapes and wine through a marketing program using an environmental message. They reviewed programs with similar goals both in the United States and overseas and came to three conclusions:

1. Developing a set of sustainable farming standards certified by a third party provides the most credibility for a program.
2. The sustainable farming standards should be based on the Lodi Winegrower's Workbook because it is the most comprehensive sustainable winegrowing document.
3. The best third party certification model was the Healthy Grown® program for Wisconsin fresh market potato growers.

The Healthy Grown® certification system requires a grower to achieve two goals for their fields to become certified; 1) exceed a minimum number of sustainable farming practices points, and 2) not exceed a maximum number of environmental impact units associated with the pesticides used on each specific field. The committee decided to develop a sustainable winegrowing certification program containing these two components.

The original LWWC grower committee was expanded in late 2003 and tasked with drafting the sustainable winegrowing standards (Lodi Rules Committee Members).