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Red Nose Wines help to raise nearly three quarters of a million pounds for Comic Relief - 01/06/2009

There's a good reason everyone in shot is looking so jolly and that's because this year the Red Nose Wines produced by SAAM Mountain Vineyards raised the grand total of £736,376.00 as part of Wine Relief 2009.

This is a wonderful achievement and is testament to the power of cooperation in the name of a good cause. SAAM Mountain Vineyards, Bibendum Wine Ltd, JF Hillebrand, Quinn Glass, Erben and Multiprint all worked together with the major retailers to make sure that the bottles of Red Nose Red and White hit the shelves for £4.99, of which £1 went straight to charity. Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, M&S, Morrisons, Somerfield and Booths all did a brilliant job selling the wines, which were a real hit with drinkers.

Jancis Robinson MW, who with Tim Atkin MW had helped select the blends, was delighted to present the cheque saying "When he first suggested Wine Relief back in 1999, my husband Nick Lander never dreamt it would raise these sorts of amounts. Thank you, thank you, everybody."

This year Wine Relief raised a total of more than £1 million, bringing the total it has raised in the last ten years up to over £3.7 million. Michele Settle, Marketing Director at Comic Relief said, "It's a fantastic achievement to have raised such an amazing amount of money for Wine Relief 09. It was a first for us to have two distinct Red Nose Wines and it simply wouldn't have been possible without the immense support and cooperation of all our partners, suppliers and supporters. Money raised will be spent by Comic Relief to give extremely vulnerable, poor and disadvantaged people in the UK and Africa a helping hand to turn their lives around."

Kirstie Papworth from SAAM Mountain Vineyards highlighted the value of the collaborative effort: "SAAM is proud to have raised £736,376.00 for Comic Relief by producing critically acclaimed wines in an industry-leading initiative. As a direct result of working closely with the whole supply chain, from farmers to retailers, SAAM could bring wines to the consumer for a £4.99 RRSP while still donating £1 per bottle to great causes in Africa and the UK."

Of course, none of this would have been possible without the enthusiastic support of the major retailers in the UK. Justin Howard-Sneyd MW, Manager of Wine buying at Waitrose, had no hesitation getting involved in the project.

"Waitrose is a different kind of business, being part of John Lewis, a co-owned enterprise - and our focus is on having a sustainable business in the long term, which means respecting our partners, suppliers, and the environment, as well as making a sufficient profit to maintain a healthy organisation.

The Wine Relief initiative strikes so many chords with us, that we were delighted to get behind it this year to raise us much money as possible for Comic Relief. First of all, thanks to Jancis and Tim's skills or blending and persuasion, the wine tasted great, and was great value, at £4.99. Our partners who work in the wine section of our branches had great fun selling it and we managed to raise £60,000, which is a hugely satisfying reward for everybody's hard work."

From left to right in the photo above: Simon Farr (Bibendum Wine Ltd), Justin Howard-Sneyd MW (Waitrose), Jancis Robinson MW (Wine Relief), Karl Reynolds (Comic Relief Head of Fundraising), Michele Settle (Comic Relief Marketing Director), Tim Atkin MW (Wine Relief), Kirstie Papworth (SAAM Mountain Vineyards).