Manuel Misa y Bertemati was born in 1815 in Bayona in
Galicia to a seafaring family of partly Italian descent. In 1840 he gained a
doctorate in Law at Santiago de Compostela University, and promptly decided to
join his brother Buenaventura (1802-85) in Jerez where the Sherry business was
flourishing, and help him to open up the British market. In 1844 he joined with
Buenaventura, who already had vineyards and a bodega established in 1840, and
in a very short time, they enjoyed considerable success.
After fairly extensive
travel in Europe and America, he then decided to move to London, to assess the
British market and make contacts, and in 1867 he married Helena Busheroy Blake.
There they had a son and a daughter. During his time in London, apart from selling Sherry, he
financed the establishment of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce there, becoming
its first president. He also contributed to the construction of the catholic
Westminster Cathedral, and he donated his Belgrave Square house, which was used
as the Spanish Embassy, to the Spanish State.
In October 1873 – at the height of Sherry’s golden age –
Misa exported 1,400 butts, and that is a record to this day. King Alfonso XII
paid a visit, in 1882, accompanied by Queen Maria Cristina, their children and
various high-ranking courtiers. This was a great honour, but then Misa was a
massive enterprise. In recognition of
all he had done for Spain, the Spanish Crown honoured him in 1875 with the
title Conde de Bayona, and in 1889 Marques de Misa with full grandee status.
Jerez Town Council named a street after him and awarded him Hijo Predilecto
(Favourite Son) status. He died 1904, and is buried in London.
The bodega business grew to equal the scale of Gonzalez Byass
and Domecq. The huge bodegas, not far from the railway station, were mightily
impressive. It was said that they occupied a whole neighbourhood whose streets
and buildings totalled 50,000 square metres and were surrounded by a wall. Inside
were 17 bodegas containing over 18,000 butts – some 13 million litres of wine –
of 76 different types. There was a cooperage capable of producing 10,000 new butts
a year and equipped with a steam engine, there was a still, there were patios. A
railway connected to the main line and there were endless ancillary buildings:
offices, counting house, private rooms and a sample room with 11,000 samples.
it was an industrial village employing an army of workers. And as if that were
not enough, the riches they contained were priceless: Solera Non Plus Ultra (Oloroso,
1815), Solera Royal (Dos Palmas, 1853) for example. The various bodegas had
names such as: Lara, Badel, Fontan, and Bodega Nueva (2nd biggest in
Jerez). The firm continued successfully.
 |
| (Jose Luis Jimenez) |
Then in the 1970’s it was bought by Rumasa, but was able to continue
with its own brands, albeit now at the new BISA (Bodegas Internacionales) - the
vast purpose built bodega complex which is now home to Williams & Humbert -
to which its soleras had been transferred. In 1979, however, Rumasa sold the bodega
buildings – but not the name or the wine – to Harveys. In 1984 the Government merged Misa with 5
other bodegas (Otaolaurruchi, Pemartin, Bertola, Varela, Diestro) for sale
after the Rumasa collapse.
Misa is now a memory, another bodega ruined by Rumasa, and the only surviving product is the Marques
de Misa brandy, which is now produced by Williams & Humbert. {The other 5 are memories too, with the exception of Bertola, which belongs now to Marcos Eguizabal, and is still in business}.
The important Misa brands were:
Amontillado Abolengo; Fino Chiquilla; Oloroso La Novia; Gran Solera 1815; Reanejo; Waterloo; Royal Brandy
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