Co-Operatives: France

France’s caves coopératives (often referred to locally simply as la cave) are declining in number and influence, but in 2013 the national total of 690 were still responsible for half of all wine produced in France. The average number of members, or adhérents, of each co-operative is also declining (down from 240 in the 1960s to 122 in 2013) as holdings are amalgamated and members have been encouraged to grub up less suitable vineyards by the EU vine pull scheme. Co-operatives are a particularly strong force in the languedoc and roussillon, the greater rhône Valley, provence, and corsica, where la cave can dominate local economic life. As subsidies and compulsory distillation have declined, co-operatives are being restructured and amalgamated into much bigger groupings. Co-ops’ speciality is igp wine—they produce more than 70% of the French total—but those which have established a reputation for particularly sound aoc wines sold outside their own region include Union champagne, La Chablisienne of chablis, the co-operative at Tain l’hermitage, the Plaimont co-operative organization in gascony, and a number of alsace co-operatives, notably that of Turckheim. The average quality of wine made in French co-ops has improved since the early 1990s but their sales and marketing expertise has not in general, a major factor in France’s crise viticole.