(Canada) - An interesting and informative element of the Vancouver International Wine Festival that ran from Feb. 23 through March 3 - with a regional focus on California - was the prevalence of sustainable winemaking practices in so many of the wineries in the state of California, today. Often confused with organic winemaking, sustainable winemaking may or may not be "organic" and - similarly and inversely - wines that are produced organically, may or may not adhere to sustainability guidelines. The inherent concept behind sustainable winemaking is that the grapes have been grown and the wine has been made utilizing techniques that allow the vineyards and environment to continue to produce similarly fine wines on an ongoing basis.