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The Fairtrade Fortnight began on Monday, an annual campaign to promote ethically traded products by the Fairtrade Foundation. I have followed the rise of Fairtrade wines for over two decades now and find it inspiring to see how many more and better bottles now carry the Fairtrade accredited logo.

If you’re also inspired to check out more of these wines this week or next, head to the Coop, now the world’s largest Fairtrade wine retailer, with 57 accredited wines in total, ranging in price from 4.59 £ to £12. . The company was also the first to sell Fairtrade wine, in 2005; it now sells around 14.5 million liters a year.

Edward Robinson has been the buyer of the range since 2010 and explains that the retailer pays a premium in the cost price to the cellar which goes directly to its workers, not to the owners. Money raised from Coop Fairtrade wine sales has been used to fund community projects such as nurseries, schools and water sanitation. The store works with suppliers and producers to help achieve Fairtrade accreditation and to launch exclusives with brands such as Bruce Jack and Vergelegen in South Africa.

And it is in South Africa that Fairtrade wine is now “produced on a large scale”, says Robinson. On the Coop range, 45 wines are South African, and the retailer has just announced that it will soon sell only Fairtrade wine from the country. As Robinson says, “The quality, volume and value are now so good that it’s surely time to ask why anyone would want do not want to choose Fairtrade wine from South Africa. Fair enough, and here are my top picks of all the Fairtrade labels in the store.

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