Aecovi-Jerez

A stroll through the history of Aecovi

The establishment of the Sherry Triangle co-operatives began during the 1960s. For years, their main function was to create annual wines - in Jerez known as mosto or must in English - which it sold to wineries. All in all, they were suppliers of pre-elaborated raw material for the final traders.

In 1989, Aecovi was established to defend the best interests of the co-operatives and their thousands of partners. Today, Aecovi is made up of four co-operatives located in many other cities of the Triangle: Nuestra Señora de las Angustias (Jerez), Católico-Agrícola (Chipiona), Unión de Viticultores Chiclaneros (Chiclana) and Covisán, of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. In numbers, Aecovi brings together 1,200 small grape-growers, which means close to 20 percent of all vineyards in the Sherry Triangle.

But in 2008, as we already mentioned, a true revolution occurred in Aecovi, with its decision to develop its own brands and enter the trade market directly with wines that it usually selects and acquires from its co-operative partners. Moreover, Aecovi has successfully developed different projects of its own, such as the elaboration of Pedro Ximénez sherry wines, vinegars or the innovative grape syrup -the 'recovery' of a thousand-year-old condiment from cooked grapes before fermentation. Alejandro and Mira La Mar for wines and Arvum and Ferianes for vinegars and grape syrup are the names given to the two main Aecovi product lines.

Aecovi also has different procedural lines that work parallel to the elaboration and commercialization of wines. It has a permanent R+D+I Project Department for grape-growing diversification. Furthermore, it provides technical consulting to other firms for new cultural practices in the vineyard or based on diversifying products being launched.