There are 73 founding members of S.C.A.C. Società Cooperativa Agricola Castignanese who, on 23 February 1960, sign the company’s deed of incorporation before Notary Mauro Bracciolani. It is a courageous choice for such a small group, driven by the need to withstand the shock of the economic changes society was undergoing at the time. Cooperation is the path chosen to make smallholdings viable and, despite highly fragmented plots, to buy machinery, secure highly skilled agronomic staff and place products directly on the market. The goal is to overcome technical backwardness by modernising local agriculture without upsetting its traditional structure.

This is how the first cooperative winery in Piceno was born 

To better meet market needs, a new building is constructed on the north side of the existing structure for winemaking and wine storage. New machinery is installed there, including ten new Garolla fermenters of 750 quintals each and two of 300 quintals (tested for the first time in Italy at the S.C.A.C. plant). Improvements to the electrical system and the glass-lining of the concrete tanks are also planned.

With the aim of offering members a more efficient service and reducing commercial speculation, the Cooperative begins to consider broader diversification of its agricultural sectors: the idea of creating a new space for cereal storage is born. To that end, adjoining land is purchased to build grain silos and related equipment with a total capacity of 50,000 quintals; just three years later the facility needs a further 30,000-quintal expansion to take in all members’ cereal products.

After discussion at the Assembly of 19 December 1993, it is decided to build an olive mill within the plant. The reasons are the same ones that gave rise to the cooperative itself: the 640 members need to improve the quality of their olive milling and secure good marketing. A continuous mill is built with Rapanelli equipment, later joined by a bottling line for tins and bottles. 

In the early 1990s, with the market crisis and vineyard grubbing-up grants, S.C.A.C. sees grape cultivation fall by about 250 hectares. It is a critical moment, yet it strengthens the existing idea of focusing on quality wine production and marketing. Until then, volume had been the cornerstone of production, and bottling required sending the wine to an external company. At the end of the year, Pierluigi Lorenzetti is appointed as external consulting winemaker. Meanwhile the Board also decides to modernise the cellar equipment, purchase a suitable bottling line, improve the wine packaging building, renovate the old cellar and move the shop from inside the plant to the outside, making it more visible and accessible to customers.

With the start of the new millennium comes the need to make the packaged-goods sector more efficient: new bottles from native grape varieties are launched, the commercial range expands, new direct retail outlets open beyond neighbouring provinces, and a solid sales network now covers the whole Marche region. The supply of technical inputs to members (fertilisers, seeds, plant protection products, etc.) is also strengthened, supported by appropriate advice.

A major step forward for S.C.A.C. is the purchase of autoclaves to create a proper sparkling-wine plant inside the cooperative. The choice comes from the wish to offer customers a Terre di Offida Passerina Spumante DOC, for which the production rules require sparkling-wine making within the production area. It is an important investment through which S.C.A.C. once again shows its strong capacity for innovation and its commitment to continually improving the quality of packaged products, while following the entire production process in-house.

Year after year, S.C.A.C. proves itself an ever stronger, more stable company, able to support and advise its grower members. To strengthen those capabilities and expand production, the Board decides to lease land near the plant for a new vineyard. The company itself organises the planting and future management. It chooses to grow varieties especially important for production — Pecorino, Passerina, Trebbiano and Lacrima — and to use Guyot training across all six hectares. From an innovation standpoint, the new vineyard also lends itself to trials, an important knowledge base for advising members on vineyard management.

S.C.A.C. turns sixty — an important milestone that also marks the start of a new chapter. Work continues on the continuous improvement of facilities and product marketing. The warehouse expansion and cellar renovation look squarely to those goals. The ability to meet market changes with the right technological innovations has always been one of the company’s strengths; today it considers it essential to expand bottle ageing capacity, a decisive stage for defining a wine’s aromas and character. The first old 5,300-hectolitre tanks thus make way for a large, modern space dedicated to the company’s finest wines.

Alongside these technical and structural improvements comes particular attention to the continuous development of the sales network, which no longer looks only to the surrounding area but to the whole world. The Board’s focus and efforts are directed toward winning new markets through a renewed process of internationalisation, with the fixed goal of ensuring members a fair and proper return today and in the future.

Twenty-seven years after its inauguration, given members’ growing demand for olive milling and the need to keep pace with the times, the cooperative mill is renewed with innovative machinery that will ensure greater efficiency and higher finished-product quality, while continuing the Classic line and expanding the Organic line.