A Fair Trade Malbec

This is just beautiful. Fairhills is one of the few wineries in South America to become Fair Trade Certified. The Fair Trade initiative is dedicated to 10 farms to improve the quality of life for 210 members and 300-plus children. The initiative is one of the first in Argentina, and has used sales to upgrade schools in the region, purchase new toys, establish a soup kitchen and buy an ambulance for the local health care center. 
Their wine is the Fairhills Mendoza Vineyards Malbec, and the 2008 vintage seems to be a really good vino. Definitely a best buy:

"On the nose: It brims with deep crushed black fruit character, including black plums, brambleberries, black currants and boysenberry jam. Under that is a layer of hints of embers, licorice root and earth-driven minerals, all adding to the alluring fragrance of this wine.

On the palate: The wine is very powerful in its onslaught and is rich with black fruit again, dominated by black wild cherries, loganberry crush, spicy black plum juice components, and no discernable hints of oak. The midpalate has in addition to the earthy black fruit, some smoke character, peppercorns, spice box, tobacco and some phenolic licorice notes. The finish is lingering and rich with black cherry. This wine overachieves on almost every level, considering the great value."

It is the Wine of the Week for The Las Vegas Review-Journal. Link here. 


Link to Fairhills Winery here.