Around 30% of German wine is produced by co-operatives.
They also exist in South Africa and Australia. France is big on them too.
But the most powerful co-operatives are in Italy. 50% of the production
is controlled by over 600 co-operatives who may have grape growers as
members or even co-operatives. This includes about 20% in the form of
bulk wine, the balance being in bottles, bags or other containers.
The three big Italian co-ops GIV, Caviro and Cavit account
for more than a fourth of the total production in Italy. Every appellation
that I have visited in Italy, has several private family run wineries
and one or more co-operatives of small growers, that often produce more
than these wineries put together.
There could be several reasons of the growing power of
co-operatives. The primary reason would be of course, financial. Smaller
farmers were always strapped of cash, especially in the South where millions
could barely survive on farming befor it joined EU. The successive governments
and political parties have encouraged forming of agricultural co-operatives
and several are being increasingly formed in the agro-sectors like wine,
cheese, olive oil, olives, meats, vegetables, fruits and other agricultural
products.
Co-operatives are ventures jointly owned by their members;
in wine industry it is mainly the small growers. Some grape growers join
co-ops because they find a ready market for their grapes. Some can't afford
winemaking facilities of their own so they may give the grapes to the
co-op to make wine but they sell it under their own label.
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Ms. Assunta Cillis, GM of Cantine Due Palme, also
the President of opera Consortium with her husband Angelo Maci, the
President |
Due to the sheer size and resources, they can afford to be innovative and
research-oriented. Caviro, for instance, the biggest co-op in Italy was
the first in the world to introduce tetra-packs for wine packaging. Most
of them use it more extensively now to produce low or entry level wines
for masses.
The co-op movement has come a long way since the seventies
and eighties when they made mainly bulk wines with no distinct personality.
They may not infuse the personality a small boutique winery can, but they
certainly produce higher ended wines from select vineyards, using modern
technology and equipment that the smaller wineries cannot dream of installing
due to paucity of funds or economies of scale.
The best known Italian wine is Sassicaia produced by
Marchese Nicolo Incisa della Rochetta Tenuta San Guido and Winemaker Giacomo
Tachis. Marchese has now teamed up with Giacomo and a cooperative from
Sardegna, Cantina di Santadi,and jointly they have come out with a special
wine 'Barrua', which sells for over $60 a bottle.
Co-operatives have many strengths that are exploited
for making quality wines. Many such wineries have won gold medals and
awarded 'Three –glasses' from Gambero Rosso , the most prestigious
Italian award.
Alto Adige has 70% of its output through co-operatives
who produce some of the best quality wines, along with everyday drinking
wines. Trentino has about 80% production coming out of the co-operatives
with Cavit taking the lead.
There are different levels of co-ops. The first level
has only individual growers as primary members. The second level has many
co-operatives as member, like Caviro and Cavit. Chianti Geografico is
an example of a co-ops made of individual growers. Co-operatives can work
jointly as a consortium too.
Each co-operative can be a member of many other co-operatives.
For instance Cantina di Soave is a single level co-op who could be a member
of either or both the Cavit and Caviro, which are second level of co-operatives.
Co-operatives and India
The co-op system may find use with the contract farmers
of Mahrashtra or many medium sized farmers. Not only might the growers
be rewarded by the marketing strength of the co-operatives but also would
be assured of a reasonable return for the toil on their soil. Technology
up gradation also becomes much easier as does the general management of
business.
An interaction with the co-ops can be highly beneficial
to the producers in general and small farmers in particular to form joint
ventures.
Importers can draw special benefits from these co-ops
as most of them are willing to produce under the own labels. With the
new trend in India of owning a label and getting wines produced from overseas
producers, anyone can approach them and have then bottle any specs under
their own labels at various quality levels.
Cavit for instance started to make Ecco Domani label
for the giant Gallo of California till a couple of years ago when some
mutual disagreements made them discontinue the partnership.
The biggest benefits will be forthcoming with supermarkets
entering the retail in a big way. A new breed of importers is expected
to crop up, which will work with companies like these co-ops and satisfy
the import demands and service the clients. Each of these retails might
want their own specs at different price points, making it a worthwhile
business model for importers to consider
Co-ops can form different groups depending upon the perceived
benefits. For instance 5-wine cooperatives and 10 food sector co-ops including
cheese, olive oil and meats and vegetables formed last year an ' Opera
Consortium' under the president-ship of Ms. Assunta Cillis who is also
the General Manager of Cantine Due Palme, in Puglia. Details about Opera
may be viewed on www.operaconsortium.it
Following are the visiting co-ops
www.caviro.it
Caviro, the 40-year old co-operative is Italy's largest
producer of wine with a membership of over 20,000 growers. A collective
of 41 co-operatives, it cultivates about 44,600 hectares of vineyards.
Controlling 10% of Italian vineyards, it is the biggest co-operative in
Italy and third biggest in Europe.
It was the first wine company in the world to introduce
wines in alternative packaging such as Tetra Paks, about 25 years ago
(1983). 90% of retail outlets in Italy stock some wine or the other from
their stables.
Caviro, with five Italian cellars from the most established
wine-growing regions, has established the VoloRosso and Tavernello brands
and has wines from 7 regions of Italy.
Caviro's strengths are quality control, innovation and
research. The company works closely with individual growers throughout
Italy including Tuscany, Abruzzo and Sicily to source grapes and produce
premium bottled table wines alongside quality wines in alternative packaging.
www.cavit.it
Cavit was founded in 1950 in Trento by several vine-growers
as a consortium. Today, it is a second-level co-operative, in other words
a cooperative of cooperatives, which brings together 11 Trentino's cellars.
The importance of Cavit can be gauged by the fact that 80% of Trentino
produced wines are made by the co-ops. Teroldego Rotaliano is perhaps
one of Italy's smallest appellations which produce a limited production
of red wine with Teroldego grapes. It is spread only over a few hectares
of plain land area known as Rotaliano; the land is at a massive premium.
Cavit owns a portion of the land and produces wines within this appellation.
Cavit also produces some of the best value-for-money
sparkling wines using the classical method and Chardonnay grapes which
grow very well in this region.
www.cantinasoave.it
One of the first monuments one tends to visit in the
suburban town of Verona, the Borgo is an impressive fort. Right next to
it is another monumental but modern building, Borgo Rocca Sveva winery
of Cantina di Soave.
Founded in Via Roma in 1898, it was the first wine cooperative
in Veneto region. Today it is perhaps the single biggest co-operative
which boasts a membership of 1500 growers. The current grand scale was
achieved with the merging of Cantina di Cazzano di Valtramigna in 1996
and Cantina di Illasi in 2005, giving the Soave based co-operative an
access to Valpolicella wines too and making it a giant in both the white
and red wine sector. The Le Poisie is a value-for-money range it produces
while Rocca Sveva made for the restaurant segment is of high quality and
reasonable price, giving credence to the theory that co-ops can also make
good quality wines at affordable prices. Le Poisie is already being imported
by Sultania Trading of Mumbai.
The winery at Rocca has a unique experimental vineyard,
with 42 different varieties of white and red grapes and is perfectly suitable
to study the affinity with the territory and evolution of each single
grape.
The winery owning five wine making facilities produces
30 million bottles of wine, twice the total annual consumption of about
15 million bottles of all qualities of wine in India.
www.cantineduepalme.it
Cantine Due Palme is one of the largest co-operatives
in Southern Italy. It is based near Brindisi in the central wine producing
region of Salento in Puglia which is like the Central Valley of California
and Riverina in Australia. The land is flat and rains are in winter after
the harvest and quite predictable.
The cooperative is relatively new. Established in 1989,
it has grown to a membership of 850. Puglia is dominated by red, indigenous
grape varieties including Negroamaro, Malvasia Nera and Primitivo. Non-native
grape varieties include Sangiovese, Montepulciano, Cabernet Sauvignon
and Merlot, and Pinot Nero. The remaining 10% of grapes produced are white,
dominated by the Chardonnay variety, with small quantities of Sauvignon
and Pinot Bianco.
The winery produces 5 million bottles. Over the last
3 years, it has merged with two large historic cellars, the Cantina Cooperativa
Riforma Fondiaria, established in 1955 in Cellino San Marco and Cantina
Sociale Angelini located in San Pietro Vernotico, making it one of the
largest in the South of Italy.
www.chiantigeografico.it
Chianti Geografico is a relatively small co-operative
that came into existence in 1961 when 17 growers joined hands together
and eventually developed into an enterprise which could met the quality
standards required by the industry, especially from Tuscany. They have
grown to over 200 member growers with production at the top of the quality
pyramid.
The quality aspect of this co-operative can also be
gauged by the fact that out of a total owned area of 1200 acres, 930 are
within DOCG appellation.
Chianti Classico zone, including Castellina in Chianti,
Gaiole in Chianti, Radda in Chianti and Castelnuovo Berardenga, has 380
acres of vineyards. Grower members own about 400 acres of vineyard within
the Chianti Colli Senesi appellations (one of the 5 Chianti classfications)
in the province of Siena. Limited production is also available as Brunello
di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.
The white wines are produced in the DOCG region of Vernaccia
di San Gimignano area with 145 acres of land. They own 28 acres in Maremma,
where they produce Morellino di Scansano.
WINE TASTING WORKSHOPS
Wines from these co-operatives will be showcased at the professional
tastings at Hotel Taj Mahal in Delhi on May 12 and May 16 in Mumbai. 15
wines will be presented at the 4 workshopS to be conducted by Subhash
Arora, President of Indian Wine Academy and author of the Italian Wine
Guide 2006. For details and registrations Click
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