Bodegas: Agustin Blázquez

Agustin Blazquez y Blazquez was born in Antequera (Malaga) in 1826 moving to Cadiz in the early 1850s where he worked as a merchant. He married Servanda de Paul y Picardo, from a prominent local family in 1857, and they had eight children. Agustin achieved great success in business, due in no small part to his wife's social and business connections. Thanks to diligence and a reputation for quality the family was soon able to build a substantial and palatial house in the Calle de la Novena.

Regarding the Sherry business, there is some doubt as to when it was founded. It could have been in 1795 by the Paul family, of possible Scottish origins but more likely from northern Spain, or it could have been in the 1820s. It was certainly the Paul family (See Bodegas Paul & Dastis) who built up the business throughout the XIX century, steadily acquiring more vineyards and bodegas. During the 1850s it was run by Manuel Francisco de Paul, whose sister Servanda, married Agustin Blázquez. Servanda died from a fever in 1881 aged only 44 and Agustin inherited much of the business. He died in 1886 leaving a large fortune. The bodega business was taken over by their son Manuel who re-named it Hijos de Agustin Blázquez SA, and it continued in family hands till 1972 when it was bought for 500 million pesetas by Pedro Domecq, Osborne and González Byass in a joint purchase to keep it - and them - safely out of the hands of Rumasa. It was later absorbed by Domecq.

The evolution of Carta Blanca from single pago Amontillado Fino (L) to inexpensive Fino

The bodegas occupied an entire block in central Jerez bounded by the streets Sevilla, Paul, Santo Domingo and Eguilez. The firm was known for producing wines from particular vineyards (or vinos de pago), for example the Fino Agustinito came from the Balbaina and their Capuchino Palo Cortado and Carta Blanca from the Macharnudo. They were also famous for Felipe II and Anticuario brandies.

Domecq continued to operate Blázquez independently if rather briefly. With the arrival of democracy in Spain, town councils had to reorganise, and the old bodegas, part of which originated in the XVIII C, were pulled down to make room for housing except for one bit which is now a municipal exhibition centre, and is known locally as the Callejon de los Bolos. Domecq itself  (QV) was in turn split up by successive takeovers.

The old Blazquez bodegas (R) and what is now the Consejo Regulador (L)

The main brands sold by Blázquez were the “Carta” range:

Carta Blanca Fino; Carta Blanca Amontillado-Fino, Carta Roja Oloroso; Carta Azul PX; Carta Plata Amontillado, Manzanilla La Flor, Manzanilla Pasada Gloria and the above mentioned Agustinito and Capuchino Palo Cortado Superior. There were some other legendary wines such as the Oloroso Manila 1833 and the Anada 1840. 

So what if anything is left? Only Capuchino really. After being bottled under Domecq labels for a few years as a (well over) 30 year old VORS, it is now owned and bottled by Osborne (QV), as is the brandy. Some Blázquez soleras were bought by Joaquin Rivero Valcarce to establish his Bodegas Tradicion in the late 1990s.

While so many bodegas have disappeared over the years, the soleras generally have not. They may change hands and get new brand names, but old soleras are gold dust in Jerez. You can’t just start up a new bodega, it would take decades to build any sort of complexity into a new solera. All you can do is buy existing soleras if available, like Tradicion. Jerezanos have long memories and a deep sense of nostalgia, and great old names are still remembered - and often the wines are still drunk, though no longer produced by the original company. Quite a thought.