Glossary entries

A winegrowers’ cooperative. By the last half of the 19th century, many winegrowers were in dire straits due to the political and socioeconomic changes of the times, cheap wine imports, and poor harvests. These conditions led to the cooperative movement, whereby growers formed associations in order to improve the quality of their wine and their income. The oldest legally recognized German cooperative was founded in Mayschoss (Ahr) in 1868. As of 2010, some 50,000 wine-growing members of about 200 cooperatives produce about one third of an average annual harvest and collectively own ca. 31,000 ha of vineyards. Often abbreviated: WG.