What is the Clean-Crafted Commitment®?

 We’re glad you asked! The Clean-Crafted Commitment is Scout & Cellar’s proprietary standard that works to deliver you the highest quality wine—that’s delicious—while meeting our high standards for sustainable production and pesticide use. When Scout & Cellar launched, we looked at existing certifications used in the beverage industry and none of them went far enough, so we designed our own.   

 The Clean-Crafted Commitment is based on three key principles:   

1. Grown without artificial pesticides: Scout & Cellar tests grapes/wine for over 175 commonly used artificial pesticides including atrazine and glyphosate.   
2. Produced without artificial processing aids or ingredients and without the addition of sugar: Healthy fruit has authentic and distinctive flavors allowing us to not use artificial processing aids or ingredients.   
3. Is low in sulfites: Each wine sample is tested to ensure sulfites are less than 100ppm.    

 We ensure every wine meets these requirements with independent, third-party lab testing for pesticides and sulfites. Our expert team audits all of our partners to guarantee that grapes are grown, produced and processed in accordance with our rigorous standard. And finally, all of our wines must pass the deliciousness test, conducted by our in-house team of wine experts. Our wines reflect the vineyard, the grape and the vintage, making each bottle a unique, authentic experience.    

What steps does Scout & Cellar take to ensure it’s Clean-Crafted Commitment® is being upheld?  

We are proud to have an internal quality team that manages our third-party, independent testing program and works closely with our partners to ensure our standards are being upheld. We personally audit our partners, vetting their documentation for growing, production, pesticide application, and processing to ensure it complies with our rigorous standards. This type of records review is uncommon in the industry and is part of what gives us confidence that we are delivering you products produced in accordance with our Clean-Crafted Commitment.   

Scout & Cellar is also committed to continuous improvement. This means that the standard can expand as we learn more about certain pesticides and their impacts to the environment and human health. In addition, we are committed to re-auditing partners as needed to confirm their practices continue to meet the rigor outlined in our industry leading standard.   

What testing does Scout & Cellar perform?   

Our wines undergo three different rounds of testing as outlined by our Clean-Crafted Commitment:   

1. We use an independent third- party lab to test the grapes/wine for artificial pesticides.  
2. We use an independent third- party lab to test the wine for sulfites, ensuring less than 100 ppm.   
3. We test the wine for taste, delivering you delicious wines made from healthy fruit.   

 Every single wine sample is tested in these three ways, because we know there is variability between harvests, farms and vintages of wine.   

What pesticides does Scout & Cellar test for?   

We test for over 175 of the most commonly used artificial pesticides in the wine industry, like glyphosate and atrazine. Please note that we proactively evaluate new pesticides to the market as well as new information that becomes available about existing pesticides.

Does Scout & Cellar allow any pesticides to be used?   

Nothing bugs us more than artificial pesticides, so we prohibit their use on our products. Like many standards (including USDA Organic) we do allow for some safer pesticides to be used if necessary. You will recognize some of them as they are commonly used as safer alternatives: cinnamon oil, garlic oil, cedar oil, rosemary oil, diatomaceous earth, and several others.

What happens if a wine sample fails to meet the testing requirements?   

We don’t use it! If a wine sample fails our internal tests (which some have), we will not bring that wine to market. Our growing and production partners are free to sell the wine to other brands to sell on the market (so the wine isn’t wasted).   

Why are sulfites used in the production of wine?  

Good question. Many people are surprised to learn that sulfites are both naturally occurring in grapes and they are also intentionally added to preserve freshness and prevent oxidation. While we are not a sulfite-free brand (that is impossible when in the wine business) we are proud to test each wine release to ensure the sulfite content is less than 100ppm. We use the 100ppm testing threshold, inspired by the Demeter ® Biodynamic ® standard.   

Do you produce your own wine?   

Most of them! We are a winery that produces delicious wines by working with both large and small growers. We make wines from these grapes at our partners’ winemaking facilities, as well as our own, to be blended, vinted, bottled, cellared and sold through Scout & Cellar. In addition, we directly source finished wine that has passed on our Clean-Crafted Commitment. Whether working directly with growers or sourced finished wine, we make sure our partners adhere to our Clean-Crafted Commitment through our extensive auditing and testing program.   

What is Scout & Cellar’s commitment to transparency?   

It’s one of the foundational values held by our company. We are proud to be rolling out ingredient labels for all of our wines (on the individual product web pages), beginning with our 2021 vintage domestic wines. We will also be sharing caloric content and any processing aids used in the production of that wine. This level of transparency is an uncommon practice in the industry, and we are excited to be a leader in this arena.   

How is Scout & Cellar different from other wines on the market?   

Our dedication to delicious wines that adhere to the Clean-Crafted Commitment® is what makes Scout & Cellar different from other wine producers on the market.   

Our Clean-Crafted Commitment requires that:    

1. Grapes are grown without artificial pesticides   
2. Wine is produced without artificial processing aids or ingredients, and we never add sugar   
3. Wine is low in sulfites   

 We ensure every wine meets these requirements with independent, third-party lab testing for pesticides and sulfites. Our expert team audits all of our partners to guarantee that grapes are grown, produced and processed in accordance with our rigorous standard.   

 Our industry is a community, one that celebrates bringing people together. Our company values this sentiment and we encourage our Independent Consultants and our Customers to foster this sense of community and avoid speaking disparagingly or drawing comparisons between our wine and other brands. Instead, we encourage you to speak to what makes us different, specifically our Clean-Crafted Commitment.  Thank you for joining us in this commitment to fostering a positive sense of shared belonging and community in the wine industry. 

How is it different from the USDA Organic certification?   

Our standard goes beyond what is required for the USDA Organic certification because we wanted to go deeper. Our Clean-Crafted Commitment leverages audits and finished good testing, which set us above and apart from the USDA Organic standard. Additionally, there are some materials that are allowed under the USDA Organic standard but not allowed under our Clean-Crafted Commitment.  

Are all the vineyards certified by the USDA Organic standard?   

Not all, but many are. As you may know, obtaining the USDA Organic standard is cost prohibitive for many small and family farms and vineyards. Additionally, not all USDA Organic vineyards would satisfy our Clean-Crafted Commitment. We want to support small operations and will still choose to source from vineyards that meet our strict standards (they are doing the work, but don’t have the certification), knowing that our Clean-Crafted Commitment goes beyond what is required for the USDA Organic label.   

Does the Clean-Crafted Commitment allow genetically modified organisms (GMOs)?  

No. GMOs are prohibited along every stage of production of the wine, including the grapes grown and processing agents. This is confirmed with the vineyards through our extensive auditing process. Our brand is not actively seeking out the GMO-Free Label Project certification for the same reason we do not require partners to be certified organic by the USDA. Many family farms are priced out of these third- party certifications and we believe in using the power of our supply chain to support family farms.   

How does Scout & Cellar plan to uphold your commitment to sustainability while also growing in scale?   

Given our high standards, we see our growth as an opportunity to transform the wine industry for better. The greater the demand for grapes grown and wine produced to meet our Clean-Crafted Commitment, the greater our ability to create a more sustainable wine industry. While it won’t be easy, we will continue to be relentless in requiring our partners to meet the strict requirements of the Clean-Crafted Commitment.