For the past year, our wine buyer, Peg Todloski, has been working on bringing in wines from La Riojana. La Riojana is a co-op winery in the La Rioja province of northwest Argentina. It consists of 500 growers, most of who farm less than 7 acres of vineyards. The vineyards are farmed organically, and the wines are fair trade certified. By buying directly from the co-op, Peg was able to source high quality wines that sell for $6.99. Because the wines are fair-trade certifie,d a portion of the cost of the wines goes directly to fund community projects like a water system, a secondary school, and a hospital.
It takes a long time to get a project like this off the ground, and we’ve been working on it for almost a year. We are so excited to announce their arrival to North Carolina, and to all our stores next week. We have included these wines in our Fall Wine Sale, so for four weeks starting September 30, you’ll be able to purchase the Malbec, Chardonnay, and Cabernet for just $5.99 a bottle. Here’s Peg opening the first case. She looks tired but says it was worth all the effort!