The first bottled wine co-op in Spain’s Rioja region is to demutualise and become a limited company managed by shareholders following a member vote.
Foundation in 1961, Bodegas Sonsierra is the second biggest co-op in the region, and was named co-op of the year in the 2021 Tim Atkin Master of Wine Report, but is abandoning the business model to “compete across more demanding global markets”.
The move was backed 87% of members approved the decision – which, said general manager Luis Del Águila Rodríguez, “stems from the need to be more agile in decision-making and attract investment”.
The co-op’s board of directors is to be dissolved, with members becoming shareholders in the company.
“The winery will continue to be owned by the vine growers, but the new structure will give us access to tools adapted to the times,” added Rodríguez. “The transformation will allow us to compete across more demanding global markets with a focus on quality, adapt to the reduced volume of sales across traditional markets, and consolidate a stable and sustainable long-term project.”
He told the Drinks Business the decision is not expected to result in a “huge change in the day-to-day running” of the business, but becoming a limited company will offer a number of advantages to operations.
“Bodegas Sonsierra was already an unusual co-op as the members gave the management team a certain amount of freedom in terms of commercial decisions,” he added. “But co-operatives are obliged to hold a plenary meeting at least every two months in which all members are given the opportunity to vote on key decisions.
“As a limited company, we will not have to do this, although we will still act in a way that benefits all our stakeholders, and give the growers, as shareholders, a say on major investments and new staff hires.”
Rodríguez said the move will also release business from its current obligation of returning a share of capital to members as they leave – something becoming more common, with younger generations less keen to take over their parents’ vineyards.
Sonsierra was notable for being one of the first wineries in Spain to try to incentivise growers to keep old vines in the ground due to their quality. It did so by paying a double rate for grapes from old vines despite reduced yields.
