We recently wrote about the Swedish State monopoly Systembolaget’s Code of Conduct for “ethical” wines. We were, however, not totally correct when we said that “Systembolaget […] adopted a few years back a so-called code of conduct. This means that they demand that wines purchased from risk countries come from producers who comply with certain rules regarding conditions for people working in the vineyard.”
Helena Paues, deputy press secretary at Systembolaget, called us and pointed out that the Code of Conduct, which is supposed to safeguard the rights of workers, not only applies to risk countries. The Code of Conduct is, since 2012, a part of the purchasing terms of Systembolaget and applies to all suppliers, from all countries.
This is of course true even if the headlights are mostly directed to South Africa and South America. We take for granted that things are as they should be in Europe, Australia, USA …
If you want to know more about different ethical labels and certifications for wine you should look out for our forthcoming book on wine and the environment.
