Wine Industry Report

The Co-op’s Fairtrade wine range has scooped four out of eight awards at the Fairtrade Wine Committee’s annual wine tasting event.

The judging panel for the awards, made up of wine journalists and experts including Susy Atkins and Joe Fattorini, named Co-op Fairtrade Chilean Carmenère as the Best Overall Red and Best Chilean Red, the new Co-op Fairtrade Cape Sauvignon Blanc Reserve was given the Best South African White accolade, and the Co-op Fairtrade Argentine Torrontes Chardonnay was highlighted as the Best Argentine White.

The results of the awards were announced recently at a Fairtrade Wine Tasting at Vinopolis in London, which was held in conjunction with the awards.

Vicky Wood, Category Marketing Manager for BWS at The Co-operative commented: “These awards reflect the quality of our Fairtrade wine range as a whole, and the hard work and creativity of our wine team, especially our wine buyer for South Africa, Chile and Argentina, Maria Gallup. The judging panel consisted of a number of highly-respected wine experts and writers, and it’s fantastic to know that they agree with the fact that our market-leading Fairtrade wine range really is of an extremely high standard.”

The Fairtrade Wine Committee consists of Fairtrade wine importers, distributors and retailers all acting on behalf of their Fairtrade wine producers. Its principal aim is to raise awareness of Fairtrade wine, both within the trade and to consumers.