---

Wine lovers are invited to join us for a tasting of Fairtrade wines

6pm – 9pm in The Gallery, Vinopolis No 1 Bank End London SE1 9BU

Come and taste the wines, and find out more about Fairtrade.

Why Fairtrade wine?

Many of us choose wine without giving much thought to those who produce it, but if we all make small changes to how we shop – we’d not only get a great glass of wine, but make real, sometimes dramatic changes to the lives of others.

The event:

There will be over 100 Fairtrade wines on display to try from Argentina, South Africa and Chile. There will also be an opportunity to talk to people from the Fairtrade Foundation, top retailers that stock these wines and beneficiaries of Fairtrade who will be circulating and available to give a personal account of how their communities have benefitted from Fairtrade and the individual Fairtrade projects.

The stats:

Sales of Fairtrade wine continue to grow impressively despite shoppers feeling the pinch.  The Fairtrade wine category now accounts for 0.5%¹ of the total UK wine market² – nearly double that of the total wine sales from Bulgaria³. If growth continues at this rate over the next two years it is expected that it will overtake the wine sales of widely known wine producing countries such as Portugal⁴.

Awards:

The winners of the third annual Fairtrade Wine Competition judged on 22^nd September 2009 will be on display and available to taste. Trophy winning categories include Best Overall Fairtrade Wine, Best Overall Fairtrade White Wine and Best Overall Fairtrade Red Wine. Visitors will be invited to vote for their favourite wine – to see if they agree with the judges and the winning wine will receive a ‘people’s choice’ award, sponsored for the second year running by Café Direct.  Voters also get the chance to win a 12 bottle case of Fairtrade wine as all entries will be included in a prize draw, this will be delivered to the winner after the event.

The Fairtrade Village:

Alongside the fabulous selection of wines available to try this year, you can also sample and buy products from non-wine exhibitors in the ‘Fairtrade Village’ area of The Gallery. These include: Café Direct, Freeminer Brewery (ale), Fairtrade Spirits Company (spirits), Zaytoun (Olive oil), Organic Seed and Bean Company (chocolate), Fullwell Mill (dried fruit, bars etc), Rudolf Stein Ltd (clothing);Bubble and Balm (cosmetics – body butters, scrubs etc); Visionary Soap (cosmetics – soaps, bubble baths etc) and Doves Farm Foods (Fairtrade cereal bars, cookies and biscuits).

To buy tickets:

Visit the Vinopolis Website http://www.vinopolis.co.uk/specialevents/fairtrade.php

Cost: £10*This is a not-for-profit event, all proceeds go towards running costs.

-ends-

Notes to Editors

¹Based on wholesale literage figures supplied by the Fairtrade Foundation (531,000 9L YOY to June 2009)

²Total ‘off-trade’ (take-home) wine market 97,500,000 cases (9L) according to recent Neilsen figures (to June 2009) and total on-trade (restaurants/bars) wine market 16,250,000 9L cases.

³Country category stats also based on Neilsen figures (to June 2009) examples quoted: Bulgaria 279,000 9L cases; Hungary 775,000 9L cases ⁴Portugal 916,000 cases

The UK Fairtrade Wine Committee was formed in 2006 with the aim of raising awareness in the UK wine trade and with the consumer.   Made up of licensees representing the wines in the UK, this committee is the only one of its kind in the Fairtrade sector, as its members actively collaborate to raise the profile of its products; and the benefits to the workers and local communities that produce them. 

The licensees (also UK Fairtrade Wine Committee members) include in alphabetic order: Brand New World (Isabelo and Moon Tree Vineyards, South Africa), The Co-operative (Argentina, Chile, South Africa), Concha y Toro (Otra Vida, Los Robles) E I Wines t/a Ehrmanns Ltd (Los Unidos, Stellar Organics, Soluna), Equality Wines Ltd (Equality by Las Lomas, Chile), Off Piste Wines (Hope’s Garden) Origin Wine Ltd (Fairhills, South Africa, Chile and Argentina), La Riojana (Santa Florentina, Viñedos de la Posada, Valdeviña, Ecologica, Solombra, Finca Federada, Tilimuqui), Seckford Agencies (Thandi). 

What is Fairtrade? Fairtrade was introduced to ensure a better deal for growers and small-scale producers in developing countries. These people have often found that because of their remoteness or size of operation they are unable to obtain a fair price for their products. Fairtrade strengthens the position of disadvantaged producers enabling them to find solutions and tackle their poverty. For growers, Fairtrade means prices that always cover the cost of production and allow for sustainable livelihoods. For workers, Fairtrade means decent working conditions and regular wages that meet international and local labour standards. As well as receiving a minimum price for their crops, producer organisations that supply Fairtrade products receive an extra premium which is a sum of money paid on top of the agreed Fairtrade price for investment in social, environmental or economic development projects, decided upon democratically by producers within the farmers’ organisation or by workers on a plantation.The premium is fixed by the FLO Standards Unit in the same way as the minimum price and remains the same, even if the producer is paid more than the minimum price for the product. The premium fund is typically invested in education and healthcare, farm improvements to increase yield and quality, or processing facilities to increase income.

“Fairtrade is a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Its purpose is to create opportunities for producers and workers who have been economically disadvantaged or marginalized by the conventional trading system. If fair access to markets under better trade conditions would help them to overcome barriers to development, they can join Fairtrade.” 

About the Fairtrade Mark The FAIRTRADE Mark is an independent consumer label which appears on UK products as a guarantee that the producers receive a better deal. Fairtrade is a tool for development that ensures disadvantaged farmers and workers in developing countries get a better deal through the use of the international FAIRTRADE Mark.
Fairtrade Labelling was created in the Netherlands in the late 1980s. The Max Havelaar Foundation launched the first Fairtrade consumer guarantee label in 1988 on coffee sourced from Mexico. Here in the UK, the Fairtrade Foundation was established in 1992, with the first products to carry the FAIRTRADE Mark launched in 1994.For more information on Fairtrade, please visit the Fairtrade website: www.fairtrade.org.uk

For further information or to register for the press/trade event during the day (10am to 4pm) please contact Karis Hunt karis@chillipepperpr.co.uk or call M: 07714 286412.