The Story behind the Brand: Tio Pepe

Tio Pepe (Uncle Joe) whose real name was Jose Maria Angel y Vargas was the maternal uncle of Manuel Maria Gonzalez Angel , a Sanluqueno, who founded the bodega in 1835. As a commercial clerk in Cadiz, Manuel Maria saw from the office windows large amounts of wine being exported from the quayside and thought to himself that this was the business to be in.

The rapid success of the bodega, founded by one who knew little or nothing of wine had to have a reason, and that was that Manuel Maria took on two partners (one called Dubosq) and was also helped by his uncle and one Francisco Gutierrez de Aguera, whose specialist advice was invaluable.  These two fostered an interest in the Fino wines in Manuel Maria, as also being from Sanlucar, this was what they enjoyed at a time when Jerez was exporting more of the Amontillado and sweetened Oloroso styles.

Uncle Joe drank Manzanilla, the Sanlucar Fino wine, and had little time for the heavier styles. Despite the prevailing preference for these, he set about obtaining and selecting carefully Fino wines in small parcels from almacenistas. In 1837 he acquired 102 arrobas (@ 1700 litres, or @ 3 butts) from Gregorio Ruiz –Bustamante at 65 Reales the arroba. With a few more parcels, by 1844 he had amassed 49 butts of selected Fino. Manuel Maria let his uncle have a bodega to do his blending work on the wine, and in 1849 – the 13^th of March to be precise – the Tio Pepe bodega had a solera and 3 criaderas. One butt of this Fino wine had already been exported to England in 1844 to the company’s agent, one Robert Blake Byass, who didn’t like the look of this pallid wine at all.

This was the first time such a wine had appeared in England, a style that was virtually unknown until then. A butt was also sent to America, where in contrast to the English attitude, the firm’s agent promptly asked for more. By the 1860’s Tio Pepe was being drunk in various European countries including Spain, where Queen Isabel II, having visited the bodegas, became accustomed to drinking it as her daily aperitif. The palace got through about 600 bottles a year. The royal household, whose wines were ordered by Don Rafael Ortiz de Zuniga (a magistrate of the Supreme Tribunal and a personal friend of Manuel Maria) were sent in bottles, but the Fino was ordered every six months in barrels to conserve it better.  The first bottled Tio Pepe is thought to be that sent as a Christmas gift to Lord Brownlow Cecil, Governor of Gibraltar in 1856.

The criaderas – which had by now grown to six – and the solera was moved to the Bodega del Jardin, and while the brand was respected by other exporters it was only registered in 1888. All the while, Uncle Joe worked away in the bodega, entertaining friends and opening and closing when he felt like it. The prestige of Tio Pepe grew and grew, especially in the inter-war years thanks to Luis Perez Solero, the bodega’s marketing chief, who designed the now famous bottle wearing a red bolero jacket and sombrero. The brand is now the world’s most recognised Fino - indeed Sherry.

(From Diario de Jerez who were able to see some of the company files).