What Fairtrade Wine Means To The Fairtrade Movement

Anna Pierides, product manager at the Fairtrade Foundation in the UK, explains why Fairtrade wine has become such an important category in helping consumers to better understand Fairtrade products, and its commercial benefits.

“Fairtrade wine continues to display a positive and healthy level of growth, both globally and in the UK. The UK is the largest seller of Fairtrade wine in the world, and this is indicative of the growing customer demand and appreciation of the good quality of Fairtrade-certified wines.

Fairtrade wines have been winning more and more industry awards year on year, which is a real boost of confidence for producers and retailers.

We continue to engage with business partners to ensure that Fairtrade wine availability and visibility in the UK market is prevalent. Some retailers are particularly supportive of Fairtrade in the wine category with The Co-operative being the leading stockist of Fairtrade wine, and selling the largest volume in the UK and globally.

Since donning the retailers’ shelves just over 10 years ago, Fairtrade wine has come a long way. We have witnessed a steady growth of retail own label Fairtrade wines, and more recently the brands who have certified some of their wine variants to Fairtrade. This is a reminder not only of customer demand, but also of the prevailing importance and need for ethical certification in the wine industry.

The next few years will be an exciting time for Fairtrade wine, and we are confident the growing demand will generate significant economic benefits for the producers, and their families.”

December 2015