Winemaking cooperative

Cooperatives tend to be more important in regions where the wine’s selling price is relatively low and average size of vineyard holdings is small.

There are also other financial advantages, including certain European Union subsidies for cooperatives located in EU countries.

The French term corresponding to this is mis(e) en bouteille à la propriété, while the German is Erzeugerabfüllung.

In France, winemaking cooperatives are typically called caves coopératives, and produce more than half the total amount of French wine.

The caves have their greatest strength on the Vin de pays level, where they are responsible for about three-quarter of the production.

The earliest German winemaking cooperatives date back to the time before the later association laws were established.

A union of winemakers in Neckarsulm in Württemberg pressed grapes and sold the resulting must, and to some extent also wine, cooperatively as early as 1834.

[1] In South Africa, KWV (Koöperatieve Wijnbouwers Vereniging van Zuid-Afrika) was originally formed as a winemaking cooperative which also had certain regulatory privileges akin to those of a government agency.