The creation of the Itata Premium Wine Cooperative, Coovipre, was celebrated in Coelemu, an event in which members, family members and authorities participated.
This cooperative brings together eight small producers from Coelemu, Trehuaco and Ránquil, who have joined forces to improve their conditions and competitiveness in the wine market. With their work, they hope to have a joint production capacity of approximately 10,000 to 20,000 litres, in the first instance.
The members of this cooperative were optimistic and stated that their objectives include the production, quality and internationalisation of their wines.
Andrés Viveros, president of the Itata Premium Wine Cooperative, said that, “First of all, I want to thank the members for their trust, because we all have a fundamental problem here: we are small winegrowers and we have small productions, which is why, in order to compete in more important markets, with higher quality, we have to join forces. This is the conviction that exists in all the members of this cooperative.”
The director added that “the other thing is to go for quality, rather than taking refuge in the Itata Valley sector, which is obviously important and has it, but we believe that, at an international level, which is our aim, it is not enough to conquer the markets that interest us. After reaching quality, we will add the attributes of heritage vineyards, ancestry and traditional cultivation.”
For her part, Lucía Rodríguez, vice president of the cooperative and owner of Viña Candelaria, in the commune of Trehuaco, reaffirmed the interest in quality, assuring that the aim of the associates “is to be able to produce a good product, because we already have the raw material. We want to move forward to have more sales and enter other markets. Our products are good and we have a good group.”
Authorities
The regional minister for the Economy of Ñuble, Erick Solo de Zaldívar, said that “we are happy to celebrate this new cooperative that brings together eight vineyards from three communes of the Province of Itata: Coelemu, Trehuaco and Ránquil. Since the administration of President Boric, we have firmly supported cooperatives, as they boost the profitability and productivity of small producers. An example of our commitment is the creation of the National Institute of Cooperatives, which will support these entities in the region.”
For his part, the regional minister for Agriculture, Antonio Arriagada, mentioned that “this is very good news for the Itata Valley. It is a cooperative that will be dedicated to the wine industry and it is part of what we are trying to do from this portfolio, which is to continue organizing farmers to take on two challenges: the first of them is quality and the second, export. In this sense, we are very happy to have participated in this inauguration in accordance with what the Ministry of Economy is doing, because we believe that the association between them and the farmers is of vital importance to move the Itata Valley forward.”
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