Wine a Day

I visited a cooperative wine producer recently. I have been to a few before in France and here in Portugal. It is an interesting idea born out of harder times for farmers. Well I am not sure when esay times for farmers ever existed really… But in the 50’s many cooperatives popped up in Southern Europe. Not just for wine making, vegetables, grains and dairy products, all have been cooped. The principle, whatever the produce, is pretty much the same. The cooperative collects the produce and offers it to buyers at a better price than the famers could do on their own. Then the profits the cooperative makes are shared with the farmers based on the volume and quality of the produce they have brought in.

The reason a wine producing cooperative is so effective, is because rather than selling on the product they receive, they turn the grapes they receive into wine for resale. The farmers would not be able to produce wine in enough volume or quality to be profitable by themselves, but combining a lot of small growers gives the cooperative the chance to make the volume and quality of wine for their grapes to be profitable.

So this week’s Wine Experience of the Week is the 2004 Cinquentenario from Adega Cooperative de Palmela. This is the top type of still wine they produce from the best of the grapes brought to them from over 350 farms around the region. The grapes that go into it are Castelão, Cabernet Sauvignon and Touriga Nacional. This wine is not produced every year. In good years they are able to select the best grapes to make this wine. It is quite dark in the glass and has a stewed berry and toasty aroma. To drink it has lots of fruit, but is lighter than the nose suggests with some spiciness to finish. It goes very well with a light meat dish, or pasta.

I was taken through the process at the winery. Most of the process is pretty much the same as you would find anywhere. The interesting part, along with most cooperatives, is the receiving process. You can imagine how busy it is when over 350 different trucks and tractors turn up all wanting to off-load their grapes at harvest time. Each of the deliveries need to be weighed and checked for quality. The best quality grapes go into the production of the best wines, lower quality grapes, depending on the quality of the harvest, will go into lower quality table wine production. They will never turn away grapes, however they farmer does get less money if they grapes are not in top quality when they arrive, but the vast majority are in good condition. A receipt giving to the driver to confirm what they will get for payment and then it is on to the next receptacle full of grapes. The cooperative then goes about making their different still and fortified wines.

In the case of the Cinquentenario, which is aged for 2 to 3 years in oak and bottle before it goes on sale, the cooperative only covers its costs long after they have paid for the grapes. The cooperative does not exist to make a profit, it is there for the local farmers, so the money you pay for the wine as a consumer goes back to the community, which is a nice feeling. And the €15 you part with for this wine is fantastic value for the quality – and long may that continue!