Oloroso Medium Dry Long Life 19.5%, Garvey

Appearance
Deep amber, light old mahogany with bright orange glints and a trace of green at the rim.
Nose

Beautiful fragrant old Oloroso starting with traces of oak and more exotic woods like cedar used in cigar boxes, a leather tobacco pouch, and faint traces of cinnamon and marmalade. While fine Oloroso predominates, in the background there is a gentle hint of PX as if only the bare minimum was used to make the wine just about medium so it didn´t spoil the quality of the Oloroso.

Palate

Rich and fairly full bodied with a trace of caramel. The PX is slightly more apparent now and gives the wine a gentle raisiny fruitiness but it is definitely more medium-dry than medium, and the lovely Oloroso flavour, beautifully honed by bottle age, dominates with the finish being fairly dry - and very long. It has a very attractive warm open texture and for all the aromas of wood there is no tannin, in fact it is very smooth.Delicious.

Comments

At Christmas time back in the 1960s my grandfather in Spain used to send us a present of two wooden wine boxes, one containing all sorts of Spanish delicacies like tins of partridge in Rioja wine sauce and various seasonal sweetmeats like turrón, polvorones and pasteles de gloria. The other box contained 12 bottles of Garvey Long Life Sherry. You can imagine the pleasure in receiving a bit of Spain at Christmas, and how thrilled I was to find this bottle which took me straight back to those happy days. Armando reckons this bottle dates from the 1980s, but it could be from the 1970s, in which case it just could be pre-Rumasa which bought Garvey in 1978. The bottle contains 70 cl. which is fairly typical for the pre - EU 1970s - 1980s and on its base appears the number 81 which might be the date. It also has nicks in the upper label edge which would accurately date it if one only had the card. Anyway it is a Sherry of real quality, produced mainly for the export market, but not for many years now unfortunately.

Price
30 euros, Er Guerrita

Brandy Renacimiento Solera Gran Reserva 40%, Garvey

Appearance
Quite deep polished mahogany with copper highlights and a faint trace of green at the rim.
Nose

Crisp and full with notes of long years in oak, Oloroso, toffee, walnut, date and traces of vanilla and orange peel. There is a slight hint of sweetness, but not enough to hide the spirit itself, and overall it smells reasonably old and those crisp oak notes really give it punch.

Palate

That hint of sweetness balances the old oak and a little tannin rendering it less aggressive, but there is a certain grip which gives a dry edge. Brown sugar, dates, Oloroso give it enormous flavour and the 40% alcohol helps too. This is a big, quite powerful brandy with no shortage of character.

Comments

Garvey is a shadow of its former self. Established in 1780 and once one of the leading bodegas, it was all but ruined by Rumasa and later Nueva Rumasa and the 5 years it took to sell the firm. Large amounts of stock were sold off by the receivers just to pay the bills and keep it limping along, but in 2017 Andrew Tan, who is a brandy magnate, bought it, so we´ll see. Garvey has been involved in brandy since the early XIX century and their Esplendido brand was once a best seller. Renacimiento means "rebirth" in English, somewhat ironically, and was their  upmarket brand, but now it is the 60 year old Conde de Garvey. Nonetheless, Renacimiento has a pretty decent average age of around 25 years, and comes from a XIX century solera, though not much is bottled these days.

Price
40 euros, Licores Corredera

Cream Flor de Jerez 19%, Garvey

Appearance

Very deep black-brown with ruby highlights fading through mahogany to amber at the rim.
Nose
Full and slightly tight with hints of oak and pronounced date, fig and raisin and hints of toffee and walnut. It doesn't smell particularly sweet but you know it will be from the dried fruit notes, yet there are also some drier toasted notes like a faint trace of coffee giving some complexity.

Palate

Quite a serious wine, rich and full bodied, and while the PX is the standout flavour, dominating the Oloroso, it is not excessively sweet, and there is a light fruity texture, all nicely balanced by a decent acidity. It has lots of walnut, dried fruit and a full backbone along with very good length.
Comments

After years under the yoke of Rumasa this historic old bodega was close to being lost. The oenologist, Luis Arroyo Felices, left to start Bodegas Arfe and large quantities of wine were sold off by the administrators to cover costs, but the recent acquisition by Fundador offers hope (though if the new website is anything to go by, it will take a while). At least they appointed the very able Salvador Real (ex Delgado Zuleta) as oenologist, and hopefully with sufficient funding he can restore the wines' reputation. 

Price 
8.50 euros, La Casa del Jerez

Oloroso Puerta Real 20% Bodegas Garvey

Appearance

Deep transparent patinated mahogany of old furniture with coppery glints and the slightest trace of green at the amber rim, legs.

Nose

Pure, fragrant and  beautifully harmonious Oloroso with gentle hints of cinnamon, nuts, american oak and an ever so slightly bitter, walnut edge with a hint of toast nicely balanced by traces of caramel and dried fruit. It shows the complexity and integration only age can bestow and has real charm.

Palate

Mid to full bodied with an attractive walnutty bite leading to a gentler more glyceric feel with those dried fruit and caramel notes, but that is balanced by a little volatile acidity giving zest to an old wine. It is good and dry with slight autumn leaves notes and an elegant, proud, long and assertive finish.

Comments

This excellent wine was made from Macharnudo grapes. It is one of the Sacristía de Garvey range of six old wines between at least 15 and over 20 years old, and is from a solera laid down by the founder's son, Patricio Garvey Gómez, in 1826. It is somewhere approaching 20 years of average age. No doubt these wines have aged a bit more as a result of the parlous situation Garvey has been in, and that is no bad thing in the short term, but let us hope that the Emperador purchase of the bodega will guarantee their continuity and proper maintenance.

Price

26.40 euros from Licores Corredera

8.7.16 Emperador Will Retain Most of Garvey Workforce; Mexico Mega-Tasting

The 60 Garvey employees are breathing a little easier now that the Emperador deal has been done and the bodegas will not close. The deal contemplates retaining over 40 of them, and according to Emperador the staffing level has still not been finalised but they will retain as many as possible. On Thursday the union representative at Complejo Bellavista received official notification of the Emperador deal from the administrators who will call a meeting with the workforce on Monday to give them the details of the deal.

The bottling plant at Complejo Bellavista

Final judicial approval will take up to three months because of the August holidays. Meanwhile the bodegas are running normally and are in pretty good shape if not quite what they once were. The Emperador deal will guarantee more jobs than that of the Asian Alcohol Corporation but there are inevitably still worries among the staff that some will be laid off.

International Sherry Week will take place between the 7^th and 13^th of November and Raul Vega is planning a record-breaking tasting in México. The idea is to win a Guinness record by having the largest number of people tasting Sherry at the same time in the same place.There will be eight wines: Finos from Jerez and El Puerto, Fino en Rama, Manzanilla, Oloroso, Cream, Amontillado VORS and Palo Cortado VORS. Photos and videos will be sent to Guinness for approval.

Palo Cortado Jauna 20%, Bodegas Garvey

Appearance

Bright transparent coppery mahogany to amber at the rim with an almost imperceptible trace of green. legs.

Nose

Delightful, open and clean with some forthcoming wood notes: old oak butts with traces of old furniture and astringency followed by almond and walnut with a little volatile acidity then a hint of turrón and a trace of glycerol doing their best to balance things. Serious and old yet charming.

Palate

Some Palos Cortados lean towards the Amontillado and others towards the Oloroso. This is one of the former. It is elegant and polished with the wood and nut notes roughly balanced, and it is dry, with only just enough glycerine to cover the bones, but what classic bones; not over tannic, it has terrific length and leaves a feeeling of great satisfaction.

Comments

This lovely old wine comes from a solera established by the firm's founder William Garvey Power in 1817 and is one of the wines in the firm's Sacristia range. There is no question that it is very old  but there is no VOS or VORS label on the bottle. Given the parlous state Garvey is in, it is probably simply not worth their while to pursue the qualification. But it is worth our while to seek out these excellent wines. Do be careful though; there are some much higher prices online.

Price

A very reasonable 26.40 euros from Licores Corredera

Amontillado Oñana 19.5%, Garvey

Appearance
Beautiful mahogany to chestnut colour with copper highlights fading through yellow to a trace of green at the rim, legs.
Nose
Forthcoming, pronounced and charming, ethereal, sweet and nutty - toasted hazelnuts and almonds in caramel with the slightest hint of oak and even slight orange and cinnamon notes. This is  archetypal Amontillado on the nose, a wine matured to perfection.
Palate
Starts off full bodied and the alcohol is noticeable but calms down and evolves into that ethereal character of the nose. The nuttiness and wood come through with hardly any tannin and are gently smoothed off by the glycerine. Fantastic length: it just goes on and on leaving nutty, slightly bitter flavours which I would swear derive from flor.
Comments
This delightful and classic Amontillado is a member of Garvey's Sacristia de Garvey Range all aged from over 15 years and which are limited editions with numbered bottles (this is no. 14523). The solera was established by Patricio Garvey Gómez, son of the founder William Garvey, in 1834 from carefully selected butts of San Patricio and the wine is close to 20 years old. Age of the wine is one thing, the age of the solera is another and this shows the complexity offered by an old solera. Peñín gives it a deserved 93 points.

Price
26.40 Euros from Licores Corredera in Jerez. I have seen it around at more than double that price so take care if you're buying it - which I suggest you do.

A Royal Visit to Jerez and its Bodegas

From an interesting article by Antonio Mariscal Trujillo in Diario de Jerez

Queen Isabel  II with her husband Francisco de Asis de Borbón and their children, Isabel, María de la Paz,  Eulalia and Alfonso undertook a state visit to the provinces of Andalucía in the autumn of 1862. At midday on the 3^rd of October the royal train from Cádiz pulled into the station at Jerez greeted by the bell of the Madre de Dios convent which was soon followed by all the others. Amid cheers and marching bands their majesties were received by civil, military and ecclesiastical dignitaries as well as the most prominent citizens who awaited them at the end of the platform. After a few brief words of welcome from the mayor, José María Izquierdo, the tightly scheduled programme began.

Isabel II (foto:slideplayer.es)

Before a huge cheering crowd which surrounded the station the royal party boarded a coach drawn by six handsome horses in richly adorned harness and set off for the Collegiate Church. They were followed by a cortège of no fewer than sixty coaches all beautifully adorned, and it was said that the scene of streets, public buildings and church towers bedecked with coats of arms, flags and other decorations was almost too impressive to describe.

The Queen entered the city by way of the Calle Porvenir, at the start of which had been erected an arabesque archway. Hundreds of flowers and sheets of paper bearing poetic compositions rained down on the royal coach, while thousands of doves with coloured bows flew above the procession. On arrival at the Collegiate Church the royals could hardly get through the crowd and the noise of all the bells, bands and cheers of “¡Viva la Reina!” was deafening. They were greeted by the abbot and the collegiate chapter who ushered them to the main altar where they gave prayers of thanks.

Next the royal party headed for the Alcázar and after greeting the multitude from a window of the Ponce de León tower, they proceeded to the dining room luxuriously appointed with fine paintings. Her majesty was joined for lunch by various dignitaries at a table laid with the finest lace cloth, candelabra and silver cutlery, and the most exquisite meal was served from the finest china and glassware. With dessert the Queen was given commemorative medals in gold, silver and bronze, struck for the occasion. Four thousand more – presumably bronze ones - were thrown from a window to the crowd along with poems printed on silk.

Commemorative medal (foto:todocoleccion)

After lunch her majesty went to the throne room of the beautifully adorned Palacio de Villavicencio where the great and the good could pay homage. She granted the mayor an audience where he begged her to become a patron of the company formed to bring a water supply to the city from the Tempul springs which she granted, instructing the minister of development to do everything necessary to this end. After greeting the cheering crowds at a window the royal party set off for González Byass (González Dubosq as it was known then).

At the entrance to the bodegas the firm had built a triumphal arch in stone, which still stands there to this day. The royals entered through it and were welcomed by Manuel María González Ángel, the founder and director of the bodega, who invited them to watch the treading of the grapes. Luckily he knew of the royal desire to see this beforehand as the harvest was long finished, so he had sent people out to buy as many grapes kept back by people for pasas as they could obtain. They obtained no fewer than 23,000 kilos!

The arch at Gonzalez Byass (foto:elperiodico)

Treading over, their majesties were shown round the bodegas where the finest soleras were kept and here a young venenciador filled two crystal glasses with very old PX from a silver venencia so they could taste the nectar of Jerez. On taking their leave the royal party thanked Manuel María for a wonderful visit and stressed how important the Sherry industry was. Poor Manuel María, however, was out of pocket to the tune of 30,000 duros. He was offered a dukedom by the Queen but he politely refused. The wine produced by such unusual means turned out to be excellent and he commissioned a massive barrel to contain the 33 butts worth of it. As Christ died at the age of 33 the barrel was christened “El Cristo” and still sits in the bodega alongside twelve others named the Apostles. Judas is kept in the vinegar store. Manuel Maria dedicated the bodega La Concha, built in 1869, to her majesty in honour of her visit.

The triumphal arch at C/Lenceria (foto:jerezintramuros)

The Queen and her party now set off to visit Garvey’s bodega in Calle Guadalete via the Calle Lancería where a triumphal arch had been constructed in the Doric style. Having passed by more cheering crowds they arrived to the sound of the royal march and were greeted by Patricio Garvey, son of William the founder, and his two elder sons. Here the royals tasted their wines which would include their famously fine Amontillados and probably their Fino San Patricio which was  quite new to the  market. They went on to enjoy a tour of the bodega San Patricio which was the largest single bodega in Jerez, before setting off again to Visit the hospital.

At the Hospital de la Merced, which was renamed Santa Isabel de Hungría in the Queen’s honour they met the senior doctor and the nuns while visiting the wards and chatting with patients. Then it was back through the cheering crowds to the station where the Queen thanked the mayor in words of real affection and satisfaction for the wonderful reception she had received from this “Most Noble and Most Loyal City of Jerez”. At five o’clock the train pulled away from the cheering crowds in the direction of Sevilla. For many days afterwards the royal visit was the only thing people talked about, after all it had been 66 years since the last royal visit, that of Carlo IV in 1796.

2.4.15 Probable New Owner of Garvey: Promontoria

The future of Garvey is still uncertain, but what seems apparent is that the investment company Promontoria BBE is interested in the brands and assets of the bodega. The latter has been a problem, however as ownership is scattered, and potential buyers would have to negotiate with all the individual owners to buy machinery, equipment, stocks (owned by the receivers) and the brands. Promontoria already have a mortgage on the buildings and land.

Negotiations are at an advanced stage, and the plan is to reassemble all the parts of Garvey under one owner and re-float it for its later sale as a going concern. If all goes well, this could be in about a month’s time.

The receivers also wish to sell off Zoilo Ruiz Mateos, another ex Rumasa bodega which is in receivership and which has the winemaking and bottling contract for the Sandeman brand. ZRM owns the Sandeman bodegas and vineyards.

The Complejo Bellavista, Jerez (foto:diariodejerez)

The whole affair is very complex and there are many questions in the air which are causing worry in the Sherry trade. People wonder what the Ruiz Mateos family might have gained from the sale of the brand names; why did Promontoria not negotiate directly with the brand owners and instead resort to an intermediary?

The Court embargo on the brand names prevented their use by anyone other than Bellavista (Garvey), thus tying the hands of the Ruiz Mateos so that sooner or later the brands would have become part of the receivership and the amount paid for them would go to the creditors. The Garvey executive who managed to secure the brands will be able to use them as a lever to keep his job with the new company.

Promontoria – which has some link to Banco Santander – could not really have negotiated directly with the Belize company about the brands because of the latter’s poor relations with the Santander who cut off funding, bringing about the receivership.

Bodegas: Garvey

William Garvey Power was an Irish aristocrat born in 1756 at New Ross, County Waterford to Patrick Garvey Shortall and Mary Power. He came to Cadiz in 1776 in search of merino rams to mate with his father’s ewes. According to legend, his ship was wrecked in a dreadful storm in the bay of Cadiz, but he was rescued by a Spanish naval captain, Rafael Gomez, whose daughter nursed him back to health at their home in Puerto Real. Garvey fell for Sebastiana Gomez Jimenez and later married her in 1794. They had two children, Patrick (1796-1872) and Maria Antonia.

It seems that he never went back to Ireland - although apparently he did send the sheep -  moving soon to Sanlucar as a general merchant, but his real interest was wine.  Dated 1780, the oldest document in the well-stocked Garvey Archive is a receipt for wine purchased from one Juan O’Connery. The earliest accounts book, dating from 1798, shows that he bought most of his wine from Gordon & Co, but also from fellow Irishman, Richard Shiel who worked in Spain for Devereux Shiel & Co of London. Garvey began by shipping small quantities to England and Ireland.

In 1793 Garvey moved to Jerez; at the age of 38 he was already quite wealthy, and decided to build a huge bodega next door to his house. He was considering the marketing of Fino, and was probably the first in Jerez to do so. The bodega was built in the Calle Divina Pastora and was the largest in all Jerez, 170 metres by 38 metres. It was christened Bodega San Patricio, after Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland, and later its Fino and indeed William’s son were also given that name. The bodega was full of wine – 8,000 butts of it. A thousand butts of Amontillado alone were kept ready for almost immediate shipment.

Outside, under the colonnades of the bodega, was stored a huge number of butts of more common wine (rayas, most likely) which would be used in blending. The Price of Wales (later Edward VII) once visited Garvey, and was impressed particularly with an old brown Sherry, the solera of which had been laid down by William Garvey. According to Vizetelly, the bodega also held stocks of Montilla wine, and even had an establishment there (at Lucena) where 1,500 butts were produced annually from bought-in grapes. This was not uncommon in those days. Then there was the stud - like so many in the Sherry business, horses were hugely important to the Garveys.

The modern bodega, Complejo bellavista

The bodega San Patricio remained the largest of all until the 1970’s when Rumasa built Bodegas Internacionales, now Williams & Humbert. The lovely old Garvey bodega was demolished in 1997, and replaced by a supermarket. Sic transit Gloria.

William and Patrick Garvey believed in Fino and, of course its descendant, Amontillado, and were among the earliest and most successful in shipping these styles from Jerez. Up till then, it was mostly Oloroso, usually blended with PX. What we now know and love as Fino was regarded then as a “sick” or “straw” (pajizo) wine, covered in yeasty scum, and was used for vinegar production. Garvey had other ideas as to its quality, possibly influenced by his stay in Sanlucar and his experience of Manzanilla, but he died before he could do a great deal with it, leaving its development to Patrick.

For a short while in the early XIX century William Garvey was a member of a partnership with Juan Carlos Haurie, his nephew Juan Haurie and James Wilson. This was organised by JC Haurie who was an unscrupulous operator and claimed to be the biggest shipper in Jerez, but in fact most of the wine had been shipped by Garvey and Wilson. On William Garvey’s death in 1824 this partnership was soon terminated by his son and heir Patrick Garvey Gomez.

Patrick Garvey married in 1826 Maria de los Angeles Capdepon y Lacoste (1806-1870), a girl of French descent and of a wealthy family. They had 11 children of whom three boys and four girls survived. Two sons, Guillermo and Jose, remained bachelors but the other, Patrick, married Consolacion de la Mota y Velazquez –Gaztelu.

The vinification plant shared with Zoilo Ruiz Mateos

Patrick senior ran the business extremely ably, making it the biggest shipper in Jerez in the 1840’s and 50’s. In 1850 the Palacio Garvey was built for the Garvey family in the Plaza Rafael Rivero in the historic centre of Jerez and was highly luxurious. It is now a 16 room boutique hotel. In 1853 Garvey exported over 3,000 butts, more than any other shipper. By now Patrick had the resources to pursue his and his father’s dream: the Fino. He bought stocks of Fino and these were delivered when it was dark to avoid the disdain of neighbouring bodegueros. Fino San Patricio was launched in the 1850’s in Ireland with immediate success through the Dublin agent James McCullach.

The three sons, but mainly Guillermo and Jose, continued with the business after the death of their father in 1872, but after Jose’s death, the firm was divided up to family members and became a limited company, though remaining in family hands. In 1923 Patrick Garvey y Gonzalez de la Mota Capdepon y Velazquez, great grandson of the founder was awarded the hereditary title Conde de Garvey by King Alfonso XIII.

After the Civil War, the firm invested in more vineyards and in 1970 the new Bellavista bodega complex was completed by architect Miguel Fisac. This was another giant bodega, and the idea was to have all aspects of production in one place. Here, vinification, stabilisation, ageing and bottling (38,000 bottles could be filled every hour) all took place, and here too were the offices. Provision had been made for future storage capacity of 25,000 butts. At the bodega there is a fascinating museum of 15,000 old Sherry labels from 1854 to 1954 collected by Jose Saldaña Trigo, who bequeathed it to the bodega. There is also a collection of old XIX century hand-painted bottles.

In 1978 Garvey was taken over by Rumasa, who continued with the modernisation programme and ramped up sales at home and abroad in this, one of the last of the boom years. They also restored the old Palacio Garvey. By now Garvey owned 600 hectares of vineyard including the Cerro Viejo, Hacienda San Patricio and Myriam de Montegil, all in Jerez Superior albariza.

Rumasa was expropriated in 1983 by the Spanish Government, and all its component companies sold off. Garvey was sold to a German cooperative, but in 1997 it was bought by Nueva Rumasa, and was merged with another of Nueva Rumasa’s acquisitions, Vinicola Soto in 1998, becoming Grupo Garvey in 2000, along with Bodegas Valdivia and Zoilo Ruiz Mateos.

For a while things looked good, with a revamp of the range in new, dumpier bottles, and the addition of Soto’s Manzanilla Juncal to the Garvey range (for some reason). But Sherry sales were steadily falling, and Garvey was not immune, particularly with their large stocks. They have been plugging away, however, and even participated in the first World Sherry Day.

When Nueva Rumasa imploded, many of its companies were sold to Angel de Cabo, who ran a firm called Back in Business which (theoretically) got firms back on their feet, but he is now in jail, and the whole situation was a disaster. Work at the bodega had all but ground to a halt, and huge quantities of wine were sold off to pay for the receivers and the remaining workforce, which had already been dramatically reduced. Things had looked bleak to say the least for five years until Andrew Tan, the Phillipino brandy magnate who had already bought what remained of the old Domecq business, bought Garvey and Zoilo Ruiz Mateos along with brands and stocks and the supply contract for Sandeman in 2017 for 35 million euros. This includes the liqueurs Calisay and Ponche Soto. Hopefully he will be able to reverse the fortunes of this once great firm.

Wines:

Standard: Fino San Patricio (6 criaderas, around 6 years old); Oloroso Ochavico; Amontillado Tio Guillermo; Cream Flor de Jerez; PX; Manzanilla Juncal

No longer seen: Long Life Oloroso Medium; Manzanilla la Lidia

Sacristia: Amo Oñana (solera 1834); Palo Cortado Jauna (solera 1817); PX Gran Orden VORS (solera 1860); Oloroso Puerta Real VORS (solera 1826); Asalto Amoroso (solera 1858); Oloroso Dulce Flor de Museo (solera 1860)

1780: VORS Amontillado, Oloroso, PX

Vinegar: Garvey, Soto, Reserva Garvey PX

Brandy: Esplendido; Renacimiento; Solera Reserva; Sacristia and:

Conde de Garvey : 200 years old solera of just 5 butts, 100% holandas distilled in the bodega in an old Cognac pot still bought in France. This was the Garvey private brandy till Ruiz Mateos discovered it and decided to release it under Conde de Garvey brand. The first filling of only 3,000 bottles was drawn on Saint Patrick’s Day, and Lourdes Davila Ybarra, the current Condesa de Garvey presided over the occasion. The brandy retails for around 750 euros per bottle.

Address:  Ctra Circunvalacion s/n, 11407 Jerez de la Frontera, Cadiz 

Tel: (+34) 956 319 650

Web: www.grupogarvey.com

Visits: Probably, but best to check on visitas@grupogarvey.com