Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Worthwhile Wines

Keeping in the spirit of previous posts (here and here) on the art of wine making, I have to bring to your attention the awesomeness of Atlanta-based company, Worthwhile Wines.



Run by Tom Lynch, who used skills learned in his previous job in sales and marketing to start the company, started down the road to being a wine importer when visiting South Africa with his daughter. They put aside some time to volunteer in a rural village, and ended up starting a nonprofit called Isipho (which means "gift" in Zulu). Isipho provides that village with the tools needed to sustain themselves with food, which alleviates malnutrition and all the ills that follow it, as well as support for the local teachers. This was not enough, and a few years later, Tom left his 9 to 5 job to focus on making even more of a difference, by importing South African wines dedicated to a triple-bottom-lined business: people, planet and profit.

The company is fair trade and supports sustainable growing practices... besides that, importing South African wines contributes to the people working the farms, who own shares in the company they work for. Worthwhile Wines also purchases offsets on all their imports for a minimal carbon footprint.

I'm not much of a wine drinker, so I encourage you to read further on what Worthwhile has to offer. You can also find more on their website on where to find their wines in the US, there are a lot just near me, here in Boston. You can also read more about how Tom and his daughter were moved to start their work, and more on the wine itself.

And in the words of this fantastic sticker from Wine Riot Boston, I say Drink South African!

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