| In Reus, on October 26th, 1942, at a grand event held at the emblematic ‘Art Nouveau’ Fortuny theatre, the “Unión de Cooperativas del Campo de la Provincia de Tarragona”, known as UTECO was constituted and promoted by Franco’s new regime, in order to undo the agrarian reforms approved by the Republic in Spain before the civil war. The “Unión de Cooperativas del Campo de la Provincia de Tarragona” was the only firm in the whole of Spain not to establish its head office in the capital of the province. Augusto Mercadé Ramón, the first president, managed to convince the authorities at the time that the best location was Reus, arguing that it was much better for movement and interchange between the towns. However, Augusto Mercadé’s real reason was to get as far away as possible from the bureaucratization and intervention of the state. In 1945 the “Unión de Cooperativas del Campo de la Provincia de Tarragona” acquired its first premises, where it located its offices and installed the first wine vats. In 1961 in La Roureda, construction was started on the first wine bottling plant, which was completed in 1963. In 1963 Cellers Unió disassociated itself from UTECO, which disappeared. In spite of strong reticence and impediments from the authorities, Cellers Unió managed to break away from the bureaucratic system of the State and its restrictions and transformed itself into a second-tier cooperative. With its new independence, Cellers Unió started to approach cooperatives and land workers with the aim of working in collaboration with them in order to improve the wine producing processes by modernizing and making them more professional. In 1997 Cellers Unió opened new facilities in Vilallonga del Camp, a small town located 10 km from Reus. In 2002 the facilities in Vilallonga del Camp were expanded, becoming one of the most emblematic wineries of Catalonia. Today, Cellers Unió is an exponent of wine production in Catalonia. It is also an exponent of support for rural life, becoming significantly involved in the improvement of living conditions for workers on the land and also the modernization and professionalization of the Catalan agrarian sector. |
