Founded in 1965, Grupo Coviñas brought together ten cooperatives from what is now DO Utiel-Requena under the umbrella of a single entity. Having started as a response to the need for shared resources and infrastructures, the project soon evolved to become one of Spain’s – and Europe’s – most respected cooperative wineries.
A pioneering, encompassing approach
This respect and recognition have been driven by the quality of the wines produced but also by the pioneering operational approach Coviñas has championed since its founding. Sustainability has been at the core of the cooperative’s ethos from the very beginning, even when the concept had not yet become one of the wine sector’s catchphrases. While bringing together 3,000 families – farming a total of 10,000ha of vines – and validating their efforts to preserve an invaluable viticultural heritage, Coviñas pioneered a holistic understanding of sustainability in which environmental, social and economic criteria are considered in tandem.
Almost six decades on, against the backdrop of climate change, socio-economic turmoil and geopolitical volatility, this approach is ever more relevant and inspiring. With the wine industry, and small growers especially, under enormous pressure, the mobilisation of collective resources to support individuals, sustain local economies and value natural resources – such as Coviñas has done in Utiel-Requena – is a blueprint for sustainable development.
The cooperative’s 3,000 members remain Coviñas’ motor and raison d’être. They are, in turn, the custodians of a significant part of DO Utiel-Requena’s vines (producing 38% of the appellation’s wines in 2023/24)
