Text João Barbosa | Translation Jani Dunne

The word cooperative gives many people the shivers. And rightly so in part, but not absolutely. When wine cooperatives started to emerge in Portugal a few decades back, the result was clearly positive on many levels.

Farmers gained commercial power thanks to the joint strengths, they achieved better prices than if they were selling for private companies, and achieved stability in production flow. On the technical side, cooperatives were able to collect the best of the best equipment available at the time. That means that wine improved in quality.

Afterwards, they “rested”, but the world and the country had changed. In the 80s, Alentejo cooperatives took the lead and hired competent and “up-to-date” technicians, such as the case of João Portugal Ramos; they contributed, and not in small ways, to confirming that Alentejo was a successful wine-growing place.

However, support from the European Union and the political stabilisation (in the case of Alentejo, there was talk of agrarian reform, of a Marxist nature) helped producers feel more confident that they could open up independent businesses.

Some cooperatives died, some wilted and others survived and were very successful. The world keeps turning, and there is no reason why what nowadays is made in cooperatives should be taken for inept. Adega Cooperativa da Vidigueira has met its dog days, and is now reborn. Fortunately, many others are also making a comeback.

Vidigueira was famous for its whites, especially the Antão Vaz variety… the one I don’t appreciate. If producing a variety of wines is successful for the market and is encouraged all over the region, all the more reason it should also pick up very well here.

To do things properly and succeed is a reason to feel proud. In the end, it’s interesting how almost all the information supplied by Adega Cooperativa da Vidigueira is of an economical-financial nature, and very focused on investments. There is nothing wrong with that, and it says a lot.

A cold portrait: more than 300 associates, 3700 acres of vines, more than 2.2 millions of red wine sold last year and over 2.1 of white. Altogether seven brands of wine of many varieties, and a brandy. Therefore, I will focus on a specific nectar considered iconic by the company, the associates and the region.

Some say that when you get two Brazilians together, they start dancing samba straight away. Some say that when you get two people from Alentejo together, they start singing straight away. Cante (a new term for me; I always knew it as “canto” [n, singing] or “cantar” [v, to sing][1]) is polyphonic and at first was only performed by men. They sing sorrowful songs, sometimes throwing chills down your back… Women only used to sing in the fields while they worked, but some choirs already accept them.

Homenagem ao Cante white – Photo Provided by Adega Cooperativa da Vidigueira | All Rights Reserved

Homenagem ao Cante red – Photo Provided by Adega Cooperativa da Vidigueira | All Rights Reserved

Cante was made Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2014. Hence the motivation for creating two celebrative nectars – white and red from last year’s harvest. I will not comment on tribute wines; I have no right to. Those creations were born for toasting, whether in happy or in sad moments. I only say this: very Alentejo-like.

Contacts
Bairro Indústrial
7960-305 Vidigueira
Tel: (+351) 284 437 240
Fax: (+351) 284 437 249
E-mail: geral@adegavidigueira.pt
Website: www.adegavidigueira.com.pt

[1] The original Portuguese word is spelled with an o, canto; cante with an e enhances the Alentejo accent.