WHEN WILL MAJESTIC WINE GO LIQUIDE

Jane MacQuitty



January 01, 2005

Ethical wines



Reaching for wine in 2005, spare a thought for the frequently underpaid and occasionally exploited grape pickers. Impoverished southern-hemisphere countries such as South Africa and Chile are the major culprits here, but it’s worth remembering that California’s grape crush would not happen without the annual help from Mexican “wetbacks”, and Europe’s wine vintage is often harvested by bands of inadequately paid itinerants from the EU’s poorest regions.

The UK is the second biggest Fairtrade market in the world, with sales up by 83 per cent in the past few years, but while Fairtrade bananas and coffee are easy to find on shop shelves, wines made by growers who are paid a guaranteed price for their grapes, have decent wages and employment conditions and work for vineyard owners who are committed to social improvements are rare. Chile’s Los Robles co-operative, one of the oldest Fairtrade concerns, formed by local farmers after a massive earthquake in 1939, has only just received official accreditation. The current 2003 Traidcraft Los Robles Carmenere, a fine, sweet, creamy, spiced raspberry of a wine and a terrific choice with Gordon Ramsay’s beef (£4.99, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose), will switch to a Fairtrade label soon.



It wasn’t until ten years ago that labour legislation was even introduced on South Africa’s predominantly white-owned wine estates. Yet since then there have been numerous black-empowerment projects. Charles Back from the Cape’s acclaimed Fairview estate is one of many involved. Back, responsible for the delicious 2003 Goats do Roam in Villages White (Majestic Wine Warehouses, £5.99), a grapey, peachy, multi-varietal blend that will be a whiz with the butternut squash and scallops, originated a Fair Valley scheme. This farm, adjacent to Fairview, has its revenue ploughed back into a communal association, allowing its workers to build housing, education and community buildings and earn a decent wage in safe, healthy surroundings. WIETA, the South African wine industry’s ethical-trade association, is also doing what it can to make winery owners aware of the conditions of its workforce and hopes soon to have Fairtrade accreditation. It may not be much, but it’s a start.