The 2010 Drink Well Do Good Tour: Raising a Glass to Economic Development

The 2010 Drink Well Do Good Tour, a multi-city food, music and art exhibition concluded its cross country tour May 22, 2010 at the Atlanta International School in Atlanta, Georgia. The goal of the tour was to raise $150,000 for the M'Hudi Learning Center and promote the mission of the International Society of Africans in Wine (ISAW)Foundation. Highlights of the Atlanta tour were a silent art auction and a wine tasting featuring South African wines.

Stephen Satterfield, president and founder of ISAW and catalyst behind the Drink Well Do Good Tourhas over six years in the wine industry as a sommelier and wine educator. He told the Atlanta crowd that wine is the lens through which he views the world. As the tour took him from New Orleans to New York; Austin to Atlanta and other points in between, his message remained the same- to reduce poverty and create economic opportunity in South Africa through the wine business.

The South African wine industry was built on slave labor and Mr. Satterfield is on the ground floor of a movement that will provide blacks with unprecedented opportunities to broaden their participation in South Africa's $3 Billion dollar wine industry. The M'Hudi Learning Center, located on the M'Hudi Estate, one of only two black owned vineyards in South Africa, will offer a curriculum focusing developing skills that foster a thriving and sustainable wine industry in South Africa.

The event ended with Mr. Satterfield encouraging attendees to get involved in this grassroots movement and outlined action steps to take:

1. Become a stakeholder. Donate funds or host wine tasting events to generate funds for the movement.
2. Go to local wine merchants and request that they carry South African wines.
3. Become a Cape Wine Collector.
4. Volunteer with ISAW. The ISAW Foundation has many volunteer opportunities where people can get involved and watch the economic develop process in South Africa unfold first hand.