The XVII Festival de
Jerez got underway last night with various flamenco acts with dancing,
singing and music at the Villamarta Theatre. The Gala Inaugural was criticised
for its length, partly for unnecessary extras, but was nonetheless a success,
and a great start to the festival.
Garvey is selling its
last two bodegas. The Complejo Bellavista and bodega Zoilo Ruiz Mateos will
be sold together in the summer, although a price has not yet been fixed. In
April it will be two years since the administration proceedings began, and a
meeting will be held soon with management.
The actual owner of the bodegas, Angel de Cabo, through his
company Back in Business, is in custody for suspected fraud concerning a travel
agency business, and the possibility of him running Garvey and ZRM has been
ruled out. The workforce, which has been much reduced over the last few years
as the company’s debt spiralled to 250 million euros, along with the
management, would like the business to be sold to someone who would continue it
as it is.
According to accounts supplied by Back in Business, the
value of the business minus its debt stands at a negative figure of 18 million
euros if the distribution company Union de Grandes Bodegas is taken into
account.
Meanwhile the Ruiz
Mateos family, once owners of the bodegas as Nueva Rumasa, are being
pursued through the courts. The labyrinthine nature of their affairs, however,
will make it very difficult to secure convictions. In the family itself,
everyone is falling out with each other and blaming each other while their
creditors and investors will likely get nothing.
 |
| Ruiz Mateos and his six sons |
Lustau recently
gave a tutored tasting of a range of its wines to students of the prestigious Oxford
University Wine Society at Exeter College, founded in 1314. Around 50 students
were given a talk about the bodega followed by a tasting of the wines by
Federico Sanchez Pece, brand ambassador.
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