Worthwhile Wine Company: Where Great Wines Mean Better Lives

Online, March 16, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Worthwhile Wine Company is the brainchild of Founder Tom Lynch, who wants to make it easier for consumers to do what 70% of them say they want to do according to McKinsey Quarterly: buy more sustainably made products. Worthwhile Wine is a Fair Trade Certified™, triple bottom line wine import company that addresses the reasons most people say make it harder for them to buy more sustainable wines - concern about trading quality for sustainability, confusing sustainability claims, and difficulty finding as many sustainably made wines as they would like.

To accomplish this, Lynch started with great wines - a large and diverse portfolio of wines that have been recognized or recommended by credible third parties - and met Worthwhile Wine's own standards for great wine. This includes more than 20 wines recognized as "good value" or "best buy," multiple 90+ rated wines and dozens of wines that have won double gold and gold medals in international wine competitions. When buying from Worthwhile Wine, consumers won't have to choose between quality and sustainability.

"It is important for consumers to trust that quality and value are the foundation of any wine that comes from Worthwhile Wine Company, no matter what style or price they prefer" says Lynch.

Worthwhile Wine makes it easier for people to wade through the confusing sustainability claims with their proprietary "Worthwhile Profile™" which provides brief, simple information about quality and sustainability in straightforward colloquial language.

"People are accustomed to spending 30-60 seconds to read a little something about the wines they are about to purchase," says Lynch. "By providing simple, clear, short information about the quality that is in the bottle and the worth that results from the way the wine is made, they can then more easily make an informed decision about their purchase," he adds.

Finally, through traditional and newer digital channels of distribution, Worthwhile Wine hopes to make it easier for consumers to find more of the wines they want.

"We are a big believer in the traditional three-tier distribution system and always prefer to have our wines distributed in that way," says Lynch. "But the wine market is crowded, and there are only so many wines that distributors can carry. In the instances where there is not a distributor available to take some of our wines to market, we will be creative and aggressive about providing alternative channels for consumers."

Worthwhile Wine imports a large number of offerings from one of the most attractive emerging
regions in the world and makes them available to distributors, retailers, restaurateurs and to
consumers directly. The portfolio initially focuses exclusively on great, sustainable wines from South Africa. South African wines are among the few imports with growing sales (+7% Jan-Sept '09 according to WOSA). This is mostly due to the incredible quality of wine now being made in South Africa and the critical acclaim the country's wines are now receiving.

Lynch explains, "They've been making wine in South Africa for 350 years. For most of the last 40 years, they haven't been able to export due to Apartheid era trade restrictions. They just made wines in a style that fit their home market and did not work to make 'global wines.' But since 1996, the country has been expanding their wine-making experience, working to make more diverse wine styles and rapidly improving quality. The wines are now some of the best in the world, and, from a sustainability perspective, South Africa is one of the most progressive wine industries anywhere."

Although Lynch already had early career experience as a marketing manager for wineries, he got
into sustainable wines because his family runs a non-profit focused on sustainable gardening in
South Africa.

"After tasting more than 430 wines in a three-week period, I was amazed by the unbelievable diversity of styles and great quality of South African wines," says Lynch. "South Africa really does have it all because of the country's micro-climates and different types of soil; it is The Rainbow Nation, and its wines are the perfect reflection of the social and environmental diversity of South Africa itself. South Africa isn't about being good at just one particular type of wine like Australian Shiraz, or Argentenian Malbec. The magic of South African wine is you can have a different bottle every week of the year and they are all different, unique and compelling experiences."

Worthwhile Wine not only imports sustainably made wines, but also operates in a sustainable manner. Most importantly, Worthwhile Wine Company has achieved what no other importer has by purchasing carbon off-sets for the shipment of all wine into the United States so that these imported wines will have a carbon footprint equal to that of a domestic wine. Worthwhile also donates a portion of net proceeds to non-profit organizations in South Africa and the United States.
In addition to purchasing carbon off-sets for the shipment of wine, the company also buys carbon
off-sets for business travel to limit environmental impact in every way possible and also partners
with persons and companies that operate in a sustainable manner. This multifaceted approach to
imbibing is what differentiates Worthwhile Wines from other wine importers.

Demand for sustainably made wines is one of the biggest volume growth areas in the wine
industry, and Worthwhile is perfectly situated to be a big part of meeting that demand. The
company offers some of the best quality wines available from 19 different South African wineries,
and all of them are sustainably made by families who have been farming their estates for up to
nine generations. These are wines that consumers can feel good about drinking.

"While there are many high quality wines available and a large number of wine values to be found
today, I believe that worth is more important," says Lynch. "We will offer wines of great worth."

Worthwhile Wine imports is currently building a national distribution network and will have wines
available beginning in February of 2010, in time to take advantage of the exposure that the World
Cup 2010 will bring to South Africa and their great food and wine.

While the wide-reaching variety and quality of Lynch's portfolio is what makes this importer initially attractive, the sustainability factor is what makes it ultimately worthwhile. Many of these wineries are even part of certified programs for environmental and social sustainability such as the Bio-diversity & Wine Initiative and Black Enterprise Empowerment. Lynch's goal is to make these wine buying decisions clearer for consumers; he has established himself as an importer that consumers can count on.

South Africa is the source of some of the best wines in the world, featuring increasing quality, steady pricing and a diversity of styles.

Building on its sustainability platform, Worthwhile Wines will launch its wines as Fair Trade Certified™ with TransFair USA, the third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States. TransFair USA enables sustainable development and community empowerment by cultivating a more equitable global trade model that benefits farmers, workers, consumers, industry and the earth. For consumers who choose to make socially-conscious purchases, the Fair Trade Certified mark guarantees that farmers receive fair prices for their products and additional investment through the Fair Trade premium for social, environmental and economic development in their communities. In 2008, U.S. retail sales of Fair Trade Certified products increased 20 percent to hit an estimated $1.25 billion, and U.S. companies paid more than $10 million to build schools and hospitals, among other projects, to improve the lives of farmers around the world.

In addition to the quality and the sustainability of these South African wines, consumers can also count on the current stability of the South African currency, the rand, against the United States dollar. This gives importers of South African wines such as Lynch a competitive advantage and enables them to battle misperceptions that imports are down.

"While many consumers do not associate South Africa with quality wines or wines at all, I feel as though 2010 will be the year when South African wines receive the attention they deserve," predicts Lynch.

Pricing for Worthwhile wines ranges from $6.99 for wines sold at supermarkets all the way up to $150 for bottles sold in high-end restaurants.

Worthwhile Wine Company is based in Atlanta at 935 Ponce de Leon Avenue. For more information about Worthwhile Wine, call 678-358-5241 or visit www.worthwhilewine.com.

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