Recently I've been thinking quite a lot about applying the concept of "Fair Trade" to wine marketing in the United States. I have a sneaking suspicion that the American resistance to the delicious wines of South Africa is largely a vestige of Apartheid boycotting. I also wonder if the well documented spats between Gallo and the UFW similarly leave a bad taste in consumers' mouths about the conditions of migrant or disenfranchised workers. 
I came across a great article today in the San Francisco Chronicle wherein W. Blake Gray describes what it is like to work at the most basic level in a winery. Granted, he is an author "working" at the invitation of a mid-sized family winery... Not exactly a recent arrival from Mexico worked to death by Guimarra Vineyards in the Central Valley... But interesting, and I hope enlightening just the same.
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