The return of the wine co-op

Cave co-operatives fell out of favour at dizzying speed, but now they’re flourishing again across France

The Cave co-op in Chablis produces some of the best wine in France

In the world of wine, for millennia a family farm was seen as a way to live for successive generations.

Under late post-industrial capitalism, with its emphasis on the individual, family farms and ancient vineyards were suddenly seen as a route to market, a source of a business potential to be maximised and of course sold or cashed out of as soon as possible.

One vast, seemingly trapped source of such vineyards was ...