Fairtrade wines

A brief note this week, as have much to do today - its a lovely sunny morning, so the first bicycle ride of the year is called for, I think, followed by a late brunch and, hopefully, watching Arsenal winning the Carling Cup...
So, this weeks wines in the Independent on Sunday are all Fairtrade wines, ie those produced under an agreement where small producers in South America and South Africa are paid an agreed fair prices for their grapes and wines. It is, of course, a laudable idea and this is the third time in past four years that I have tasted a large amount of Fairtrade wines before writing about them. I have to say that, although there are more and more Fairtrade wines around, the quality of many of them this year is, sadly, quite poor. Like English wine, it's something you want desperately to succeed, so it's all the more galling when the wines fail the most basic test of all - are they any good? Without naming names, so many of the wines I tried this year were either thin or acid in the case of the cheaper ones - mainly sauvignon blancs or chenin blancs - or simply too young and Ribena-like in the case of the reds - cabernet sauvignon, merlot or carmenere grapes picked only a year ago, which have simply not been allowed to develop long enough, either in the barrel or bottle. Why they have been rushed onto the market I have no idea. Thankfully, there were enough decent wines around to find three for recommendation in the column, which is here http://tinyurl.com/5tw8n6t
Some others which did not quite make the cut include the lovely, smooth Los Robles Canelo 2009, a cab-sauv/carmenere blend from one of the biggest Fairtrade co-ops in Chile (M&S £6.99 but reduced to £4.99 for Fairtrade Fortnight, which lasts until March 13); they also do a perfectly decent Sauvignon Blanc for the same price. Also worth mentioning are the darkly intense Sainsbury's Taste the Difference South African Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, (£9.99 but reduced to £7.49 until March 22) the crisp and apple scented White River Chenin Blanc and the lively, pizza'n' pasta friendly Six Hats Grenache,(both from South Africa; both Laithwaites; £83.88 for 12) and the Kleine Rust 2010 Chenin Blanc/Sauvignon Blanc (£42.89 for 6; www.bibendum-wine.co.uk)
Some supermarkets now have decent Fairtrade wine ranges - the biggest by far is at the Co-operative although Sainsbury's also have a good selection. And a case of their carefully chosen wine from the Fairtrade specialist online retailer, Traidcraft (www.traidcraft.co.uk) would be a great present. But, when in supermarkets, please remember my points above: don't buy a 2010 red and avoid the cheaper whites.