South Africa's Olympic Fairtrade Winner

Monday, 18 March, 2013
Andreas Späth
Visitors to the 2012 London Olympic Games drank thousands of small bottles of South African Fairtrade wine. In doing so, whether they were aware of it or not, they made a tangible impact on the lives of a community of farm workers many thousands of kilometres away.
The delicious Olympic Rosé and Chenin Blanc came from Stellenrust, one of South Africa's largest family-owned wine farms. Located in the rolling foothills of the Helderberg between Stellenbosch and Somerset West, Stellenrust gained its Fairtrade accreditation in 2010, which means that for every 0.75lt bottle of Fairtrade wine sold, about 50 cents go to the farm's 70-odd workers.

This so-called Fairtrade Development Premium is democratically administered by all of the farm's workers collectively and it can only be used for community upliftment and development projects. Every month, the workers meet to discuss what their premium money should be used for and every three years, they elect five people onto an administrative premium committee. A two-thirds majority is required for a project to be funded using premium money. All financial transactions are carefully recorded and all of the paperwork is audited annually.

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Olympic Rosé and Chenin Blanc from Stellenrust
Olympic Rosé and Chenin Blanc from Stellenrust

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