If your conscience hasn’t yet been pricked, you might like to be reminded that we’re bang in the middle of Fairtrade fortnight, which runs until Sunday 13th March with Red Nose Day snapping at its heels on Friday the 18th March. I’m a little wary of talking about worthy initiatives because the cynic in me worries that their sheer do-goodability can detract from the central issue. And that is: does the wine stack up value-wise?

I don’t think we need to ask those questions any more with Fairtrade products like chocolate, coffee or bananas. They have all shown that it’s not about accepting a lesser product in exchange for brownie points. Wine for some reason is different. For a start it represents only 0.6% of the wholesale value of all Fairtrade goods in the UK, so it’s still small beer, as it were, and it still has to prove itself.

The ‘we can change the world’ and ‘wine that not only tastes good but does good’ stuff is all well and good but unless there’s a solid basis for those claims in quality and value, it’s just so much empty posturing. Torres’ floral-scented, rose petal-infused 2010 Torres Santa Digna Gewürztraminer, with its grapefruity zing, justifies the claims; around £7.99, Charles Steevenson (01822 616272), Sandhams Wine (01472 852118 ), Partridges of Sloane Square.

I have visited Chile’s Los Robles Co-operative in Curicó and seen at first hand the importance of the contribution Fairtrade wines make towards workers’ conditions and community projects, especially those for children. Its 2010 Co-operative Fairtrade Chilean Sauvignon Blanc Reserva, £5.49, down from £6.75, stacks up well as an aromatic, gooseberryish, citrusy dry white, as does its 2010 Canelo Sauvignon Blanc, £4.99, down from £6.99, Marks & Spencer, with its elderflower aromatics and tongue-tingling zestiness.

In South Africa too, where the gulf between rich and poor is even greater, such initiatives make a difference. M&S has devoted its entire selection for Wine Relief to South Africa and it includes such excellent wines as Flagstone’s 2009 Knock on Wood Sauvignon Blanc Semillon, £9.49, an aromatically herbal Cape take on Bordeaux' Graves style with underlying notes of green pepper, and the fragrant, fresh wild dark berryish, succulent 2008 Newton Johnson Pinot Noir, Elgin, £16.99.

Wine Relief raises money for Comic Relief's work with those who most need help in Africa and the UK and the major retailers involved, including M&S, Waitrose, Majestic, Wine Rack, Laithwaites, Virgin and Booths set aside 10% of the retail price of selected wines sold during the weeks leading up to Red Nose Day itself. In the 2007 El Coto Rioja Crianza, £8.49, Booths have a delightful modern Rioja with smoky vanilla notes behind the smooth, mellow strawberryish fruitiness.

According to Jancis Robinson MW, who started Wine Relief in 1999, ‘the range of wines chosen is better than ever, with many of them of real interest to the serious wine lover’. Among those, I would also include the 2009 Morgon Château de Pizay, £8.99, Majestic, traditional beaujolais at its best with a vibrant cherryish richness and firm backbone that cries out for sausage or roast pork, a smoky and deliciously juicy 2009 Giesta Dão, £7.49, Laithwaites (laithwaites.co.uk) from Portugal and the fresh pear opulence and refreshing spritz,of the 2008 Alsace Pinot Gris, Cave de Turckheim, £8.99, Majestic. Don’t expect these wines to make you a better person, but they will, at least, make you feel good.

Something for the Weekend

Under £6

2008 Les Vignerons Catalans Palais des Anciens Rouge, Côtes du Roussillon Villages

This herb scented, Pyrenean foothills blend of syrah, grenache and carignan is infused with a satisfying dark fruits and angostura-like spiciness, held in suitably rustic check. £5.49, was £7.99, until 15 March, Tesco.

Under a Tenner

2008 Vasse Felix Semillon, Margaret River, Australia

A dry white Margaret River blend of semillon and a squeeze of sauvignon blanc whose lemony allure is like a liquid rich lemon drizzle cake with tangy freshness. £8.99, down from £10.99, until 3 April, Marks & Spencer.

Splash Out

2008 Pétalos Bierzo, Descendientes de J.Palacios

From the charismatic Alvaro Palacios, bullfighter, singer and winemaker, this sleek Spanish red made from old vines of Bierzo’s mencia grape is intensely black cherryish and blackcurranty and framed by a damsony bite. £15.99, buy 2 = £12.79, Majestic.