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.

2.12.15 Emperador: “A New Era”

Philippine magnate Andrew Tan, whose Emperador empire bought Harveys, Terry and Fundador on Saturday, arrived to have a look round the bodegas in Jerez on Monday where he signed a butt with the words “A new era begins.” He was impressed by the brandy bodega La Mezquita and met the workforce of 160 at the various production centres in the city to whom he expressed enthusiasm. The distillery in Tomelloso (La Mancha) has a further workforce of 15.

Mr Tan assured them that Emperador will do all it can to expand the brandy and Sherry markets in different parts of Asia. The magnate, of Chinese origin, explained: “I came to Jerez 33 years ago to learn how to make brandy and since then it has been very close to my heart. 42 years ago my father was so pleased when I graduated from university that he and his best friends opened – and drank – three bottles of Fundador, so I have fond memories of it and it has always been a part of our celebrations.” His passion for brandy goes farther than that, however, and he expressed his satisfaction in the purchase also of Tres Cepas and Centenario.

Andrew Tan in Jerez (foto:diariodejerez)

After successive changes of ownership, what used to be Domecq lost emblematic Sherry brands like the La Ina range (now Lustau), the VORS wines and the brandies Carlos I and Carlos III (now Osborne), but Beam Suntory kept the Terry and Harveys Sherries. Harveys Bristol Cream is the leading brand in Britain, one of Emperador’s strategic markets where just last year they bought Whyte & Mackay, the 5^th largest Scotch whisky distiller in an ambitious expansion project.

Generally speaking the wine and spirit trade in Jerez is happy with the arrival of Emperador as this investment could develop sales of Jerez brandy in the Philippines market, its biggest export market with over 4 million litres, and that might restore some prestige to the brandy of Jerez.

30.11.15 Harveys, Terry, Fundador Sold

Beam Suntory has confirmed the sale of its entire Spanish operation which consists of Sherry brands Harveys and Terry and the brandies Fundador, Centenario and Tres Cepas. The deal includes the brands and the production facilities in Jerez and Tomelloso. The purchaser is Emperador, a spirits company based in the Philippines and the purchase price is €275 million.

A Harveys bodega (foto:coboscatering)

While it is not a surprise that a spirits company is off-loading a wine company, it is a surprise that another spirits company is buying it. As brandy specialists the obvious attraction to Emperador was the brandy, but we will see how long they keep the Sherry, in this corporate age firms buy what they really want and soon get rid of any inconveniences.

13.2.14 Toast to City of Wine; GB Deal; Ruiz Mateos; US Navy in Rota; Weather

Festivities begin on the 21^st with an official gala and a host of events with Sherry at the centre. Jerez city council’s tourism councillor, Antonio Real, and Beltran Domecq, president of the Consejo, yesterday presented the programme of events after a meeting of the organisation committee. Real remarked that the gala coincides with the I Ibero-American Wine Forum and the start of the Jerez Festival. There will be many events open to the public, such as the toast to Jerez City of Wine 2014, which takes place on Saturday at 1.30 in the Calle Larga, to which he invited locals and tourists alike to join in with a copita of Sherry.

The official programme begins with the signing, at the Atalaya, of the protocol of adhesion to the European programme “Wine in Moderation”, and those present will be the Jerez Council, the Ruta del Vino y Brandy de Jerez, representatives of RECEVIN (the European City of Wine people), The Spanish Wine Federation and the Foundation for Research into Wine and Nutrition.

On Friday afternoon, the Consejo is holding an event at their premises, and a visit and dinner at Gonzalez Byass can be enjoyed too, as well as the first spectacle of the Festival of Jerez: a Flamenco ballet at the Villamarta theatre. On Saturday at 10.30, the RECEVIN president, Pietro Ladanza, and the mayoress of Marsala (last year’s City of Wine) will deliver the City of Wine flag to the Council. Members of the European Cities of Wine Network will then have lunch at Bodegas Lustau. In the afternoon, they can see a horse show at the famous Real Escuela, and go to the Atalaya in the evening for dinner and a show.

Many bodegas are holding doors open days; there are guided city and vineyard tours, tastings in tabancos, while the Alcazar, the Archaeological Museum and the Cloisters of Santo Domingo have programmed events connected with wine, some aimed at educating children. There will also be an exhibition of old Sherry labels at Bodegas El Maestro Sierra, as well as an exhibition of the paintings of Jose Bastos at his studio in the Plaza Domecq.

This is only some of the programme planned for the year, and the full programme can be obtained from the websites of the town Council (Ayuntamiento), the Consejo Regulador and Turismo Andaluz. This is really a year to visit the Jerez area, and I urge you to go!

Gonzalez Byass has signed a 60 million euro joint venture deal with Philippines drinks giant Emperador for the production of brandy in Spain. Emperador will buy 50% of GB spirit production subsidiary Las Copas, which owns 275 hectares of vineyard near Toledo, a distillery in Tomelloso and brandy production facilities in Jerez, for 60 million.

Emperador Brandy is the second largest selling in the world with sales of 270 million litres, and could now get involved with Jerez Brandy production, as it only has to be aged in Jerez.

Jose Maria Ruiz Mateos (Nueva Rumasa) is to appear in court, yet again. He and his sons, Zoilo, Javier and Pablo – who have already appeared, are accused of paying large sums of cash under the table to a man to obtain them EREs (Expedientes de Regulacion de Empleo – a legal way of getting rid of workers when a company is in trouble). Nueva Rumasa collapsed and was sold off long ago, but its ramifications persist.

American naval ships are arriving at Rota as part of the Anti-Missile Shield. The first of four destroyers has already arrived, and these ships will be based at Rota, a joint US and Spanish naval base for the last 60 years, where, it is hoped, their crews and families will give a boost to the local economy – as well as protect it. Another recent arrival is an American ship loaded with Syrian chemical weapons, which it will destroy out at sea.

High winds and heavy rain have caused all sorts of problems in the Jerez area, especially towards the coast. One bridge is down, football matches have been postponed, trees down everywhere.....At least it should avert a drought such as that experienced in 2012.