Place in the Sun sponsors socio-environmental road trip

One of South Africa’s newest global wine brands, Place in the Sun, is partnering with the EXPEDITION Project, a highly innovative social and environmental campaign developed to inspire sustainable change across South Africa.  The easy-going, generous-spirited wine brand launched internationally last year is the lead sponsor of the project conceived by Capetonian social activist Roger Wynne-Dyke.

Roger Wynne-Dyke, with a glass of Place in the Sun Sauv. blanc

The year-long initiative, which essentially involves a road trip around the perimeter of South Africa, visiting 200 towns in 365 days, is documenting the challenges and opportunities affecting the communities it encounters, with a view to helping in developing practical and relevant solutions.

The entire voyage will be visually chronicled and include a series of interviews, culminating in a TV and online series on the journey, the people and the energy, wildlife, climate, cultural and business projects that emerge.

Says Deidre Samson, global marketing manager for the brand: “Place in the Sun is inspired by the imaginative but also very practical and positive approach of the EXPEDITION Project to addressing needs in South African communities.  Although the brand is making the journey possible, the initiative is also encouraging people in their personal capacity to support the project either materially or by donating time or skills.

“It provides a very well-matched fit with our own positioning. Through the Place in the Sun website, we have already embarked on a similar strategy, encouraging wine lovers to converse online about projects they know of, that have been developed to make a difference. The website provides a forum to express support for individual and broader programmes that literally help people and communities find their place in the sun.”

Starting and ending in Cape Town, the members of the EXPEDITION Project will be travelling from Cape Town along the west coast to the Namibian border and then move northeast across the country to the Mozambican border before finally turning southwest along the east coast back to Cape Town.  The stopovers will include towns and small villages from Alldays to Zeerust and in every instance, the project will take a souvenir that encapsulates the community encountered, while leaving something behind to seed the process of creative problem-solving.

Says Wynne-Dyke: “The first year is literally a journey of groundwork, identifying areas that can be meaningfully addressed. Our plan is not to impose solutions but to listen to the communities we meet and, based on what we discover, help develop a new way of thinking, where people find ways to create their own change.  Our role will be to inspire and facilitate change by showing what is possible, by networking, bringing skills, facilities and equipment to those who need them to make their solutions a viable, sustainable reality.”

Samson said the wine brand was similarly serving as a conduit to facilitate an improvement in the quality of people’s lives.

Place in the Sun, through its Fairtrade accreditation, is simultaneously working to accelerate community upliftment amongst farm workers. The range of one white and three reds is produced from grapes sourced from Cape vineyards that have been certified by FLO-CERT under the Fair Label Organisation (FLO) Standards that forms part of Fairtrade.  Growers are paid a premium for their fruit that is directed towards social development of the wine-farm workers, who decide on how the funds are to be spent.