Brothers Jose and Carlos Argüelles are the fourth generation of master coopers and the last ones in Spain.
LA SIDRA.- In Breceña, Villaviciosa, we find the workshop and family house of the only master coopers remaining in Spain and the last four in Europe.
Hermanos Argüelles, their business name, make all type of casks, any shape and capacity, in chestnut and oak wood.
Both claim an endangered trade in a booming market. In their own words, the old trades are becaming extinct and that of coopers has no generational replacement.
Time ago they offered the possibility of opening a school in Villaviciosa so that the young people could learn the trade and bring the world of cidermills and cider closer to visitors, but it did not succeed.
Jose and Carlos miss institucional campaigns supporting the old traditional trades and crafts and fear their eventual disappearance. And, with them, a good deal of the Asturian culture.