In college I was not one to celebrate “Thirsty Thursday’s” but since the weekend is coming up and I’m sure some of us will be opening a bottle of some much needed wine to de-stress Friday night, I wanted to share one of my favorite Fair Trade wines. My friends and my fiance often joke that I’m a wine snob, I promise I’m not I just really hate making “wine face”. When I first started drinking wine I liked the sweeter white wines and slowly I started appreciating the taste of red wines. When I go out, depending on what I’m eating I’ll typically get a Merlot or Zinfandel red wine and when I’m at home I’ll have just about any white wine. I’m most partial to Moscato, Riesling, and Sauvignon blanc. When I began switching over to buying primarily organic and fair trade food and products, I felt like wine and spirits was a gap in the market. I also didn’t want to forgo quality and exceptional taste in my wine.
When I was out shopping with Conor and his mother, we stumbled upon Place in the Sun, a fair trade wine company. I saw the fair trade certification symbol, grabbed the wine and put it into the cart. I’m not going to lie, I didn’t have high hopes at first.  It was on the cheaper side of the wines that I typically buy and in my head I’m used to Fair Trade costing a little more so I was a little apprehensive of this. Before I go into the wine and how it tasted, I do want to share a little more about the company. Below are a few paragraphs from their about us page, please click here to check them out! Typically I like to explain a company in my own words but they’re beautifully on point.
 Place in the Sun is a proudly South African brand that aims to actively contribute to social transformation and uplift the communities that contribute to the production of our wines. We’re a team of down to earth, passionate people who want to realise dreams and make things happen. We’re also lucky enough to harvest grapes grown in the Cape Winelands that benefit from the influence of two seas, ancient soils and a magnificent floral kingdom.
As a Fairtrade certified wine, Place In the Sun is committed to creating wines, which speak to the spirit of social upliftment. The brand buys it’s grapes at a premium rate, with the profits going into a farm workers trust, to be used to build schools, fund training opportunities and create a vegetable garden to improve nutrition among the workers and their families.
There’s nothing more valuable than empowerment, which is why part of our vision is to help through trade rather than aid – to give the gift of knowledge and boost morale through inspiration. This means that by buying and enjoying Place in the Sun wines, you’re also supporting the local workforce and the community who they support. We believe that happy people make the best wines!
Onto the tasting of the wine! The white wine that I purchased from Place in the Sun is their Sauvignon Blanc 2012. I’m by no means a wine expert and I still struggle to taste the subtle differences between flavors sometimes. As I poured the wine I could already see that it was very clear and vibrant with a subtle green hue. When I first smelled it I got a citrus fruity smell but I couldn’t place the fruit. According to the wine tasting notes the aroma is passion fruit, which is actually uncommon for a Sauvignon Blanc wine. You find more citrus flavors in wines like Pinot Grigio, Riesling and Chardonnay.
Upon tasting it I didn’t make my wine face, so it passed my first test. 😉 The flavors were fruity and balanced and I definitely tasted a hint of pineapple. I didn’t think I would but I was happily surprised. The fruity flavors are a little more tropical so if you’re unlike me you may find it a little on the citrus side.
In the future I would like to try this wine paired with a seafood pasta dish. It was recommended and I can tell that it would be very complimentary. I do plan on purchasing this wine again because it was affordable, it is doing a lot of good in the world and I really enjoyed the taste of it. I would really like to try their Cabernet Sauvignon and their Unwooded Chardonnay next. Do you have any favorite fair trade or organic wines?
