The history of this interesting old bodega goes back to 1758
when the well-known Barcelona businessman Joseph Colom Darbo established himself in Sanlucar and rented some
buildings in the Callejon del Truco from the Mercedarios Descalzos monks, where
he started up in business. A few years
later in 1771, along with his son Francisco de Paula Colom Borrego, he founded
Colom y Compañia, under which banner they conducted all their various business.
Ten years later they expanded, renting another property, this time from the
Convent of Madre de Dios, consisting of a dilapidated house and three
contiguous sites at the little square of the convent, converting them into a fairly primitive bodega.
Don Joseph died in 1791 and the two business premises were
passed to his five sons who continued expanding the wine business by renting from
the Convent of Santo Domingo de Guzman in 1798 another house in the Calle Truco,
called, oddly, the “Ammunition Oven”. Then in 1802 they bought some bodegas
from D. Jose Helvant, with an entrance in the Calle Torno de Madre de Dios. By
1842 the houses and bodegas were all property of the family firm Colom y
Compañia, and soon Rafael Colom y Palma bought out the other inheritors from
the wine business. He later died leaving no direct heirs, and his estate was left
to different members of the family, although the bodega we see now was bought in
1891 by Manuel Hidalgo Colom, one of those inheritors, and paternal great
grandfather of the Hidalgo Garcia de Velasco brothers who run the firm today.
It was he who continued expansion of the business and who launched the flagship
brand, Manzanilla La Cigarrera.
On the death of D Manuel, his daughter Emilia inherited the
bodega in Calle Truco and her brother Manuel Jose, the house, and on his death,
his son Rafael Hidalgo Otaolarruchi unified the house and the bodega creating
the bodega as it is now, in the Plaza Madre de Dios in the Barrio Bajo (the lower
part of the town closer to the river), and dedicating the firm to wine only. In
1990 his widow Maria del Pilar Garcia de Velasco Perez inherited the business,
and is the current owner, but it is run by her two sons, who form the ninth
generation of this family business.
For many years the firm owned vineyards, but nowadays it
buys fermented and racked musts from local growers and cooperatives. They were almacenistas
until very recently –1998 - when changes to the Denominacion de Origen regulations
allowed the brothers to bottle and market their wines. While 90% of production (or
@ 11,000 cases) is Manzanilla La Cigarrera, (named after the girls who once
sold cigarettes in the streets) the firm also produces a range of other
Sherries. The bodega has three”naves”of butts, Colom, Cabral and Sarnilla which
surround a pretty Andalusian style central patio. There is a bar/restaurant
within the bodega and which extends into the patio, decorated with Sherry and
bullfighting paraphernalia, and a shop where one can buy the wines.
The wines:
Manzanilla Fina La Cigarrera (4-5 years old depending on
sales, seven criaderas and a solera)
Manzanilla Pasada La Cigarrera (since 2011, nearly 20 years
old, from only 4 butts)
Amontillado La Cigarrera
Amontillado VOS (officially a minimum of 20 years old, but
much older, from a single butt owned by the brothers’ great great grandmother)
Oloroso La Cigarrera
Moscatel La Cigarrera (sun-dried grapes)
PX La Cigarrera
Visits? Yes. Visits in Spanish and English lasting
around 25 minutes ending up with a tasting in the XVIII century patio. Visits
are every 30 minutes including Saturdays, between 10.00 and 14.30.
Contact:
Address: Plaza Madre de Dios, S/N, 11540 Sanlucar de
Barrameda, Cadiz
Tel: (+34) 956 381 285
Web: www.bodegaslacigarrera.com
