Proof that co-ops can make excellent wine. Wines from L’Estabel in Cabrières (seen above) and Santadi in southern Sardinia, with the remarkable story of the latter. See also A tale of two co-ops.
Our village in the Languedoc is surrounded by vines, typically grown by smallholders who are mostly concerned to deliver as many grapes as possible to the local co-op. Although several of the smaller co-ops have amalgamated, practically every village within striking distance has a wine co-op and most of them look pretty unchanged since they were built, many of them in the 1930s. They process the...