Make that trade fair!!!

While I love California wines, there is such a large world out there full of new terroirs and with that comes new varieties as well as wine making styles. I am very much in support of The California Wine Industry, yet I see infinite potential in many other places. With water costs rising, wine country land selling at the price of ocean front property, and a possible climate change in the future, I can see the world's best wines being produced in new areas of the world. I see tons of potential in Chile, Argentina, The Pacific Northwest, and recently Mexico. These new (to growers) areas, excluding The Pacific Northwest, often are able to produce wonderful wines at a fraction of the costs that it takes to produce here in California. In addition to this, labor is often much cheaper also. But with cheap labor, comes human exploitation. One way to combat this and work with the global economy is to promote Fairtrade products. I am familiar with fairtrade products, but only normally come across them in the form of coffee beans. There is ascending support for fairtrade wines to start hitting the industry. Fairtrade is a great thing because it allows the people producing the wines to get worthy wages and in turn instills a greater sense of pride into the wines that they are producing. While the importer may be making a little less money, I doubt that the prices for these wines are going to go up too much. I see this as a way to allow people worldwide to enjoy some of the finer things in life that come along with wine country living. Here's a link to a sale that will be going on to promote some fairtrade wines (20% off!!!!!)