Comte Cathare has produced specially themed wines with the aim of highlighting the destruction of the world's rainforests and the loss of important species of plants that could be of tremendous medicinal benefit to mankind. 50p from the sale of each bottle goes directly to The Rainforest Foundation UK, to help them in their fight to halt the destruction of this most precious of resources.
In the last 50 years, over half the rainforests have been destroyed. Every year more than 30 million acres of tropical forest, an area the size of England, are lost. That's the equivalent of roughly a football pitch every second. We must do everything we can to reverse this destructicve trend. |
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The Gorilla and the Orangutan, along with many other animals, are becoming endangered through the destruction of their habitats. The Rainforest Foundation strives to halt the loss of tropical rainforests by working closely with local forest peoples. These peoples' knowledge of the forest is one of the most effective conservation tools, ensuring animals like the Gorilla can continue to exist.
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Orangutan: 100 % chardonnay, fermented and matured in oak cask for ten months.
Gorilla: 90% Syrah, 10% Grenache. The Syrah was made traditionally in oak tanks and aged 14 months in casks. This smoky bacon scented wine exhibits good meaty aromas and flavours intermixd with creme de cassis and oodles of sweet fruit. Deep ruby/purple coloured, medium to full bodies and supple textured, this is a high class syrah to drink over the next 2 to 4 years.
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100 % chardonnay fermented and matured in oak cask for ten months.
The 150 feet pau d’arco tree is under threat from loggers because its high quality wood is some of the heaviest, most durable wood found in the Amazon. The tree has a long and well-documented history of use by the indigenous peoples of the rainforest who use several species to treat a wide variety of conditions including malaria, anæmia, respiratory problems, colds, flu, arthritis and rheumatism, snakebite, poor circulation, and cancer. In herbal medicine around the world, it is also used in the treatment of diabetes, leukaemia, Hodgkin's disease and Parkinson's disease.
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This 2001 grenache/syrah’s inky ruby-purple colour is accompanied by a big sweet nose of espresso rast, chocolate, black cherries and currants. Medium bodied, with moderate tannin, good density and a long, persistent finish, it will improve over the next several years, and drink well for 5 to 6. Camu-Camu is a low growing shrub found throughout the Amazon rainforest, mainly in swampy or flooded areas. Camu-camu fruit is one of the newest discoveries of the rainforest and is now the highest recorded source of Vitamin C known on the planet with 30 times more vitamin C than an orange! Because of its high vitamin C content, the camu camu fruit could provide a possible long-term economic alternative to cutting down trees. |
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A Classic modern Languedoc, 60% Carignan made via carbonic maceration & 40% Syrah made traditionally. Full of fresh fruit, smooth & lingering.
Mullaca is an annual herb indigenous to many parts of the tropics including the Amazon. It’s use in the rainforest is well documented; in Peruvian herbal medicine it is used to treat diabetes, and indigenous tribes in the Brazilian Amazon use the sap of the plant for earaches and the roots for jaundice.
Interestingly enough, much of the clinical research by science, for example into Mullaca’s antiviral properties against HIV, has ignored the local and indigenous uses of the plant, thus, many of its effective uses in Amazonian herbal medicine remain unexplained. |
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Catharanthus roseus, which translates as “rose-colored pure flower”, is known as the common or Madagascar Periwinkle. It is a perennial evergreen herb in the dogbane family (Apocynaceae) that was originally native to the island of Madagascar. Along with its cousin the lesser or common periwinkle (Vinca minor) it has historically been used to treat a wide assortment of diseases around the world. The plant finally came to the attention of western researchers in the 1950s when they discovered that alkaloids extracted from the plant had anticancer properties. Chemotherapy, combined with the administration of the drug vincristine (made from one of these alkaloids), has increased the survival rates in cases of childhood leukaemia from 20 to 80 per cent. Extracts from the plant are also used to treat Hodgkin's disease.
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Una de Gato, or “Cat’s Claw”, is a large woody vine that is indigenous to the Amazon Rainforest and other tropical areas of South and Central America. Its name is derived from the hook-like thorns that grow along the vine that resemble a cat’s claw.
The Asháninka Indian tribe in central Peru has the longest recorded history of Cat's Claw use. Today, Peru is the largest commercial source of the plant. The Ashaninka Indians’ use and knowledge of the plant has contributed significantly to our understanding of its medicinal qualities. In herbal medicine today, Cat's Claw is employed around the world to treat many different conditions, including immune disorders, ulcers, cancer, arthritis, rheumatism, wounds and inflammation.
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Cinchona, or “Quinine Bark” is one of the rainforest's most famous plants. Legends say that the name cinchona comes from the Countess of Chinchon, the wife of a viceroy of Peru, who was cured in 1638 of a malarial type of fever by using the bark of the Cinchona tree. The Countess supposedly introduced it to European medicine in 1640, but botanists did not know the identity of the plant that is its source until 1737. Despite the fact that quinine and quinidine drugs were patented, Peru and Bolivia, where the discovery was made and from where the resources where extracted, did not share in the patents or resulting profits. |
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Dioscorea, extracted from the Mexican yam, which does not flourish anywhere outside the rainforest, has been used for hundreds of years to treat rheumatism and arthritis related ailments. The discovery of steroidal glycosides (diosgenin) in the root validated this ancient practice. Diosgenin has also had a profound impact on birth control, as it is the basic ingredient for the manufacture of the birth control pill. |
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