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Founded in 1917, the Cooperative of El Masroig is one of the largest
in the area. The surviving buildings of one of the two earlier cooperatives
which El Masroig incorporates, gives evidence of the thrift with
which the emblematic product of the harsh terrain -its vines- was
exploited: remains of an old distillation tower used to produce
grape spirits from the pomace left after pressing the grapes for
wine.
In the early years of the long history of the Cooperative, its
focus was on producing wines with high alcohol content and very
deep color sold to domestic buyers and often used to "improve"
other wines. There followed a period in which the major products
were mistelas, cordials made from red wine and grape spirit, and
marketed by the house of Violets mainly in France. More recently,
the primary focus has been the production of blending wines for
large Penedes wineries. Throughout almost 8 decades, the local wines
have been sold in bulk to large domestic and foreign negociants.
Today,
the Cooperative's members are proprietors of almost 500 hectares
of vineyards located in the new Montsant
appellation itself administratively part of Priorat.
Despite its 80 year heritage, the Cooperative of Masroig today,
more than ever, looks to the future with the goal of continually
improving methods of production. It seeks to make quality a watchword
for its wines while, at the same time, maintaining and enhancing
their traditional identity and to reaffirm, in the next century,
the faith of its clients from the past one.
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