Now that the Church has a new Pope, it might be fitting to
discuss the Pope of Sherry. His name was Manuel Maria Gonzalez Gordon. Any
Sherry aficionado should be familiar with his name, as he wrote one of the
greatest books on the subject:
Jerez-Xeres-Scheris (In Spanish) or Sherry the Noble Wine (in English
translation).
He was born in Jerez in 1886 to Pedro Nolasco Gonzalez de
Soto, 1st Marques de Torresoto, and Maria Nicolasa Gordon de
Wardhouse, both with Sherry bloodlines. As an infant he was poorly and the
doctors only gave him a short time to live, but his mother gave him a daily
spoonful of Sherry and the illness passed. Sherry had saved his life. He repaid
the debt by publishing the book.
He attended the same school as the children of the bodega’s
employees, paid for by the bodega, and then went to Mannheim in Germany to
train as an industrial engineer. Once qualified, he went to work in Scotland
with Beardmore in Dalmuir, Glasgow. He later worked for Norton Griffithe &
Co. on a 640 km stretch of the Ferrocarril Longitudinal (North-South railway)
in Chile.
On his return to Jerez he continued work as an engineer, but
soon decided to work in the family business. He married Emilia Diez Gutierrez
(another very Jerezano name) and they had four children: Maria Dacia, Mauricio,
Luisa and Jaime. As the years passed, his passion for the wine grew and he worked
at Wisdom & Warter before ending up on the board of the family company,
Gonzalez Byass.
He was much loved and respected for his charm, education and
intelligence. He would talk with anyone, treating the workforce with equal
respect as an important patron. He began to be affectionately nicknamed Tio
(uncle) Manolo. His younger son Jaime took posts at Wisdom & Warter (a
subsidiary of GB), but his passion was devoted to Nature, common in the
Gonzalez family, the most “British” of the Sherry dynasties, who speak the best
English and are extremely well educated and refined.
According to Jaime, with Tio Manolo there was never a
problem. “He was like Vaseline”. A problem would come up, and he would solve
it. On one occasion he was with the local agent in Extremadura and asked him to
take him to all the bars which did not sell their products. They arrived at
one, and Manolo got out of the car and stood waiting all morning at the door.
The owner gave in: he came out of the door and said “You are the most stubborn
man I’ve ever come across in my life. Send me three cases!”
His elder son, Mauricio, who needs no introduction, pointed
out his father’s humanity, something that proved useful in business
negotiations. He knew how to convince people, and he did it. On the highways,
he would constantly stop at ventas (roadside inns). On one occasion he stopped
forty times between Jerez and Madrid. He didn’t want to drive past without
stopping and saying hello. He didn’t normally drive himself, but gave constant
instructions: “Wait… stop..STOP! Out you get, we’re going to see the man in
charge here.” He would arrive and say “Antonio! Good morning! Did your son pass or
not?” He knew the man was called Antonio because days earlier the man had told
him he was worried that his son might fail. “He passed!” “Great, well let’s
have a copita!” But the new motorways did away with most of the old ventas.
When Manolo reached 87 years old, he was still firing on all
cylinders except for his sight. He was once asked what advice he would give for
living to 87 years and a hundred more. He replied that drinking Sherry in
moderation certainly wouldn’t do any harm. He died in 1980 aged 93 (his father
was 97). Mauricio is already 90, his cousin was 97, and his wife 94. Mauricio
and his wife share a bottle of Tio Pepe every day, half each.
Every year Manolo would go to the Feria with three other GB
executives. They would visit four or five casetas and always have a half bottle
of Sherry, which conveniently gave four glasses. In each caseta Manolo would
greet people, the owner, the waiter, see how things were going, and always
leave a tip before moving on to the next caseta.
He was a deeply religious man, he was always there for, and
honest with, the employees. He always used to visit employees on their
deathbeds, and some superstitious ones would ask him not to visit. When he himself died, it was a quiet affair, safe in the
knowledge that the business would remain in family hands, the family united.
Especially in times of war. Once Don Guido (Williams) advised Manolo that he
should send his young children Maria Dacia and Mauricio to London, where they
had been born, for fear of reprisals during the Civil War. Manolo responded
that he wanted all his children together, and their English tutor said “Well if
they are going to stay, so will I!”
In a long life, Manuel Maria Gonzalez Gordon, Marques de
Bonanza, achieved many things. He managed to get the monks to return to the
Cartuja; he helped with the foundation of the religious brotherhood of el
Rocio; getting the Consejo Regulador off the ground; protecting the Coto Donana
-by buying 17,000 hectares of it; Grand Cross of Benificence; Knight of the
British Empire (KBE); Hijo Predilecto de Jerez (Honoured Son); President of the
Jerez Red Cross, etc.
And at the root of it was the wine, which he venerated and
respected. One day he left the bodega and said “I’m finished with leaving the
bodega with one fewer glass. I feel well, very well, and enjoying the euphoria
which Sherry wines offer.”
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