India's First Wine, Food and Hospitality Website, INDIAN WINE ACADEMY, Specialists in Food & Wine Programmes. Food Importers in Ten Cities Across India. Publishers of delWine, India’s First Wine.
 
 
Skip Navigation Links
Home
About Us
Indian Market
Wine & Health
Wine Events
Hotels
Retail News
Blog
Contact Us
Skip Navigation Links
Wine Tourism
Book Review
Launch
Winery
TechTalk
Photo Gallery
Readers' Comments
Editorial
Media
Video Wall
Media Partners
Ask Wineguyindia
Wine & Food
Wine Guru
Perspectives
Gerry Dawes
Harvest Reports
Mumbai Reports
Advertise With Us
Classifieds
US Report on Indian Market Released
Top Ten Importers List 2015-16
On Facebook
 
On Twitter
Delhi Wine Club
 

Posted: Friday, May 09 2008. 17:59

Wine Feature : Co-operative Power of Italy

Pimpane, The first wine co-operative venture in Nashik, India might have failed but co-operatives are formidable in countries like France, Australia, South Africa, Germany and especially Italy where they control a sizeable slice of the market, says Subhash Arora, on the eve of a visit by five wine co-operatives and ten food co-ops under the umbrella of Opera Consortium .

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.

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



       

Want to Comment ?
Name  
Email   
Please enter your comments in the space provided below. If there is a problem, please write directly to arora@delwine.com. Thank you.


Captcha
Generate a new image

Type letters from the image:


Please note that it may take some time to get your comment published...Editor

Wine In India, Indian Wine, International Wine, Asian Wine Academy, Beer, Champagne, World Wine Academy, World Wine, World Wines, Retail, Hotel

     
 

 
 
Copyright©indianwineacademy, 2003-2020 |All Rights Reserved
Developed & Designed by Sadilak SoftNet