RAISE A GLASS

A delicious, award-winning malbec has helped to build a school. Other wines are providing healthcare for thousands of people and clean water to villages in South America and South Africa.

I’m talking about Fairtrade wines. The Co-op was the first to lead the way selling such wines in the UK in 2004. Now others have followed, notably Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury.

To mark Fairtrade Fortnight (until Sunday March 12) I spoke to Ed Robinson, wine buyer for the Co-op.

It has about 70% of the UK’s Fairtrade wine market, and about 30% of the global market. The Co-op works with growers in South Africa, Chile and Argentina. A percentage of the wine sales, here in the UK, goes to the growers’ communities.

It is fitting that the ethos of the Co-op – founded in 1844 by the Rochdale Pioneers to help its local community – should now be supporting others overseas.

It is now 15 years since the Co-op’s first major wine-funded project brought clean running water to the remote village of Tilimuqui in Argentina.

Ed told me: “The heroes in all of this are the customers. They believe in Fairtrade wine and come back and buy it again week in and out.”

He is moved by the story of two teenage girls who have been supported by Fairtrade projects since they were seven months’ old. One is now heading to university, another is training to work in the creches that allowed her own mother to go to work.

Because of Fairtrade-funded creches, mums can go to work, an extra income comes in, education is supported, and the next generation invests their skills back for others. Because of us, buying wine. Some Co-op wines to look out for: Finca Notables Malbec Fairtrade 2019, £20, down from £22 until April 25

Co-op Fairtrade Organic Irresistible Malbec 2020, £8 (top)

Co-op Fairtrade Bonarda Malbec 2021, £5.50

Vergelegen Cabernet Merlot Fairtrade 2019, £9 (middle)

Co-op Fairtrade Irresistible Sauvignon Blanc Reserva 2022, £5.75, from £6.75 until March 14

Welmoed Rosé Fairtrade 2022, £7 (bottom)

Las Moras Fairtrade Malbec Rosé 2022, £7

■ Visit fairtrade.org.uk, or follow #fairtradefortnight on social media

■ Jane is a member of the Circle of Wine Writers. Find her on social media and online as One Foot in the Grapes.