Co-op concentrates on Fair Trade

Category buyer Maria Gallup is about to offer fairly traded (FT) wines from Concha y Toro's winery, Trivento, and from the La Riojana co-operative, both Argentinian. She told Harpers: Everyone should be doing it; the other multiples are starting to get behind Fair Trade. The more who do it will mean there is no excuse for suppliers to bully these people.'

Wine development manager Paul Bastard said that all of the Co-op's own-label coffee and chocolate is sourced from fairly traded producers. It also supplies Fair Trade bananas, melons and tea, so it was natural within the ethos of The Co-operative Society that the wine-buying team should also seek to source FT wines. The new wines bring Co-op's Fair Trade range to 12, with six from South Africa and four from Chile.