New Fairtrade project for Origin Wine
Thursday, 15 November, 2012
Origin Wine
Following the tremendous success of the Fairhills Fairtrade project,
Origin Wine, one of the leading exporters and social pioneers from South
Africa, is pleased to announce the launch of a new project with
Brandvlei Cooperative in the Breede River Valley.
As Bernard Fontannaz, who founded Fairhills in 2004,explained: "After the overwhelming success of our first Fairtrade project, which started the upliftment and the social development process for an entire community of over 1000 individuals, we believe that we need to spread our support in order for an even wider community to benefit from our projects.
With 8 years' experience in the Fairtrade market through our projects in South Africa, Argentina and Chile, we are confident that we can make a real difference to the community around our new suppliers. We are very excited to expand our Fairtrade sourcing with this new social venture with Brandvlei and to be able to spread further the social benefits generated by our growing Fairtrade sales as we see Fairtrade as a way to do business rather than a short term sales trend.
Naturally, through our Fairhills brand, we will continue to support our initial project with the income generated by Fairhills sales, which is partially owned by the community."
The new project will be in place for the 2013 vintage and it will provide Origin Wine with a steady and diversified supply of Fairtrade wines, which is just what Origin Wine needs for their range extensions, not only into premium wines like the Fairtrade Unsung Hero, but also lower Alcohol style wines such as Fair & Light.
As Jon Woodriffe, UK Sales Director of Origin Wine stated: "We have seen our Fairtrade sales move quickly into the mainstream and as well as our on-going excellent distribution for the Fairhills brand we now extensively cover the low alcohol, on trade, supermarket exclusive label and premium own label sectors with other Fairtrade brands. Consequently, it is important to develop our supply base to offer an increasing number of styles to our customers. That is a logical continuation of last year's accreditation of the farms of the Van Rhyn Family on the West Coast which allowed us to extend into the Organic and Fairtrade category. We are very excited by the new venture which will allow us to continue our innovation in the growing Fairtrade market."
Jean le Roux, Brandvlei Cellar Manager, is optimistic about the new joint venture with Origin Wine. He explains: "We at Brandvlei Cellars are excited about the new developments in our long-standing relationship with Origin Wines and look forward to supplying quality wine for the Fairtrade Brand over the next few years. Our growers are fully committed to the project which will not only expand the market base for Brandvlei Cellar but will also provide our farmworker communities with further social development and upliftment opportunities. We believe that our wines, which mirror our diverse terroir and unique cultivar spread, will be well received in the Fairtrade markets."