What Is Regenerative Wine?

A Guide to Regenerative Viticulture

Regenerative wine begins long before the bottle. It starts with the soil, the vineyard and a different way of thinking about agriculture.

“Regenerative” is showing up everywhere these days—on farms, in food conversations and increasingly in wine.

But what does regenerative wine actually mean?

At its simplest, regenerative viticulture is an approach to growing grapes that aims not only to reduce harm, but to actively improve the health and resilience of the vineyard ecosystem over time.

That can mean healthier soils, greater biodiversity, better water retention, fewer synthetic inputs and farming practices designed around the vineyard as a living system rather than simply a place to produce grapes.

At Prinsley, this philosophy is deeply connected to how we think about wine.

We believe remarkable wine begins with living soil.

What Does “Regenerative Wine” Mean?

Unlike terms such as “organic,” regenerative wine does not have one universally regulated definition.

That's important.

Regenerative viticulture is better understood as a set of principles and farming practices focused on restoring and strengthening the agricultural ecosystem.

The exact practices vary by vineyard, climate, soil and grower.

They may include:

• minimizing or eliminating tillage

• maintaining living roots in the soil

• planting diverse cover crops

• reducing synthetic herbicides and pesticides

• composting and returning organic matter to the vineyard

• integrating animals where appropriate

• encouraging native plants and beneficial insects

• improving water infiltration and retention

• increasing biodiversity above and below ground

• reducing soil disturbance and erosion

• supporting long-term soil carbon and organic matter

• adapting farming practices to the needs of a particular site

The goal isn't a perfectly prescribed vineyard.

The goal is a healthier, more resilient living system.

Regenerative vs. Organic Wine: What's the Difference?

These terms are related, but they aren't interchangeable.

Organic farming generally focuses on which materials and farming inputs may or may not be used and, when certified, follows specific standards.

Regenerative farming looks more broadly at the health and function of the entire agricultural ecosystem.

A vineyard can be organically farmed while also using regenerative practices. Likewise, a grower may be implementing meaningful regenerative practices without carrying an organic certification.

We work with vineyards using organic, sustainable and regenerative approaches because farming is rarely as simple as a single label.

What matters to us is understanding how the land is actually being cared for.

Read our Organic, Sustainable & Regenerative Wine: What Does It Actually Mean? article for even more.

It Starts With Soil

Walk through a vineyard and most of what you see is above ground.

The vines. The leaves. The clusters.

But an extraordinary amount of vineyard life exists beneath your feet.

Healthy vineyard soil contains an incredibly complex community of roots, fungi, bacteria, insects and other organisms. Together, they influence how nutrients cycle, how water moves through the ground and how resilient plants can be under stress.

Conventional farming can sometimes treat soil primarily as a medium for holding vines upright.

Regenerative agriculture asks a different question:

How do we help the soil become more alive?

Reducing unnecessary disturbance, maintaining plant cover, increasing diversity and returning organic matter to the land can all contribute to healthier soil systems.

For us, this isn't abstract environmental philosophy.

Wine is an agricultural product.

The health of the farm matters.

Why Does Tilling Matter?

Tilling has traditionally been used in vineyards to manage weeds and cultivate the soil.

But frequent or aggressive tillage can disturb soil structure, disrupt fungal networks, leave soil exposed to erosion and contribute to the loss of organic matter over time.

Reducing tillage—or eliminating it where conditions allow—can help preserve soil structure and support biological activity.

That doesn't mean no-till is automatically the correct answer for every vineyard.

Regenerative farming isn't about blindly applying one technique everywhere.

A vineyard in Mendocino may need something different from a vineyard in Napa or Sonoma. Soil type, rainfall, slope, vine age, disease pressure and climate all matter.

The larger principle is simple:

Disturb the system only as much as necessary.

What Is a Cover Crop?

Those grasses, flowers, clovers and other plants growing between vineyard rows aren't necessarily weeds.

They may be an intentional cover crop.

Cover crops can help protect bare soil, reduce erosion, improve water infiltration, add organic matter and provide habitat for insects and other wildlife.

Different plants can perform different jobs.

Legumes can contribute nitrogen. Deep-rooted plants may help open compacted soil. Flowering species can provide habitat and food for beneficial insects.

Instead of thinking of everything other than the grapevine as competition, regenerative farming considers how diversity can strengthen the entire vineyard.

What About Water?

Water is one of the defining agricultural issues in California.

Healthy soil can behave somewhat like a sponge.

Soils with good structure and organic matter can often absorb rainfall more effectively and retain moisture longer than heavily compacted or degraded soils.

That makes practices that improve soil health particularly meaningful in drought-prone regions.

Some vineyards can also be dry farmed, meaning mature vines are grown without routine irrigation after establishment.

Dry farming isn't appropriate for every vineyard or every site, but where it works, it can dramatically reduce reliance on irrigation and encourage vines to develop deeper root systems.

For us, water stewardship isn't a trend.

It's part of thinking seriously about the future of farming in California.

Read our article about dry-farming here>

Biodiversity Matters, Too

A vineyard doesn't have to be a monoculture.

Trees, native plants, insects, birds, animals, fungi and microorganisms can all be part of the agricultural landscape.

Regenerative viticulture seeks to create conditions where more of that life can exist alongside the vines.

That may mean flowering cover crops.

Hedgerows.

Bee habitat.

Sheep grazing between rows.

Bird boxes.

Native vegetation around vineyard edges.

Compost.

Or simply allowing a vineyard to look a little less perfectly manicured.

A vineyard buzzing with life might not look as tidy.

We think that's beautiful.

Does Regenerative Farming Make Better Wine?

This is where we need to be careful.

It would be easy to say regenerative farming automatically makes better-tasting wine.

That's too simple.

Wine quality depends on an enormous number of factors: variety, site, vintage, farming, harvest decisions, winemaking and the people involved.

But we do believe that healthy vineyards give us the opportunity to make more expressive wines.

When vines are grown thoughtfully, soils are cared for and fruit arrives balanced and healthy, there is often less that needs to be “fixed” in the cellar.

Our winemaking philosophy follows naturally from there.

Pay attention in the vineyard.

Harvest thoughtfully.

Intervene where necessary.

Then get out of the way.

Is Regenerative Wine the Same as Natural Wine?

No.

“Regenerative” primarily describes an approach to farming.

“Natural wine” generally refers to winemaking, although the term itself has no single universal definition.

A wine can come from a regeneratively farmed vineyard and be made conventionally.

A natural wine could theoretically come from fruit grown using farming practices that aren't regenerative.

At Prinsley, we're interested in the whole chain:

How was the vineyard farmed? Who grew the fruit? What is happening in the soil? How was the wine made? And how much intervention was actually necessary?

The bottle is only the final chapter.

Why Prinsley Works With Regenerative Vineyards

Prinsley works with exceptional vineyards across Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino, with an emphasis on growers using organic, sustainable and regenerative farming practices.

Our connection to this work is both personal and professional.

Prinsley is rooted in generations of Napa Valley agriculture, while our winemaking and viticultural experience has taken us into vineyards around the world.

That perspective has taught us something important:

There is no great wine without agriculture.

And there is no sustainable future for wine without taking care of the systems that make agriculture possible.

So we seek growers who are asking thoughtful questions.

How can we build healthier soil?

How can we use less water?

How can we encourage biodiversity?

How can we farm resilient vineyards as the climate changes?

How can we leave this piece of land healthier for the people who come after us?

Those questions matter to us just as much as what eventually goes into the bottle.

Regenerative Wine Is Ultimately About Relationship

Wine has always been about place.

But place isn't just an appellation printed on a label.

It's soil.

Water.

Weather.

Plants.

Animals.

Farmers.

Families.

Communities.

And time.

Regenerative viticulture asks us to recognize those relationships and farm accordingly.

There is no finish line where a vineyard suddenly becomes perfectly regenerative.

It's an ongoing practice of observation, adaptation and stewardship.

And perhaps that's what we love most about it.

Healthy soil. Resilient vineyards. Thoughtful farming. Beautiful wine.

For us, they belong to the same story.

Explore Prinsley wines from thoughtfully farmed vineyards across Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino →