Lost Bodegas: Croft

Unlike the history of many Sherry bodegas, that of Croft lasted only 32 years, but in that short time, a whole new style of Sherry came about. Croft was – and is – an important Port house, and one of the oldest, being established in Vila Nova de Gaia in 1678 (although established in York in 1588). The firm began in Portugal as Phayre & Bradley, two expatriate Irishmen, but as was the case in those days, the name changed fairly frequently as partners came and went. In the XVIII century it was called Tilden &Thompson when John Croft, from York, married Frances, Thompson’s granddaughter, and joined the firm in 1736. The first ever Vintage Port was produced by the firm in 1781. By 1827, the firm, now known as Croft & Co. was the 4^th largest Port shipper, continuing to grow with the acquisition in 1889 of the Quinta da Roeda estate, which is still central to the firm.

Meanwhile, the Gilbey brothers, Walter and Alfred had come home from the Crimean War in 1857 and joined with their older brother Henry, a wine merchant in London. Together, they were extremely successful, shipping wines from South Africa, and expanding into many other styles of wine, including Bordeaux (where they bought Chateau Loudenne), Madeira, Port and Sherry. They were soon distillers as well, producing Gilbeys Gin and later acquiring two Scotch Whisky distilleries. In Jerez, they kept extensive stocks of Sherry, looked after for them by Gonzalez Byass. The connection between the two families was close, and various Gilbeys intermarried with the Gonzalez family.

Gilbeys had enjoyed great success with their Invalid Port brand, and later Triple Crown, which were supplied by Croft, and in order to guarantee future supplies, Gilbeys bought half the shares in Croft in 1892, and bought the rest in 1911 on the death of John Frederick Croft. As for Sherry, they marketed brands such as Gilbeys Listan Pale Dry Amontillado, and Bonita Medium-dry. They went on to merge with United Wine Traders in 1962, forming International Distillers and Vintners (IDV). Soon, they bought another old Port firm, Delaforce. The IDV brands are world famous: J&B Whisky, Smirnoff Vodka and Baileys’ Irish Cream Liqueur are amongst the best known. In 1972 the brewers Watney Mann bought IDV, and the combine was bought by Grand Metropolitan Hotels shortly afterwards. Then in 1997, Guinness, who had already bought the Distillers Company (DCL) merged with Grand Metropolitan to form what is now known as Diageo, the world’s largest drinks company.

During the IDV days, the firm was based at Harlow in Essex, where they had an office which spent its time thinking up new brands. In the late 1960’s, when Sherry was still selling like hot cakes, they had observed that Sherry drinkers erroneously assumed that dark Sherry was sweet and pale Sherry was dry. They also noticed that it was regarded as more up-market to be seen drinking dry Sherry. Following the notion that one should find out what the consumer wants and then make it, they therefore set about creating a pale sweet Sherry. This would become Croft Original Pale Cream. In order to do this, they needed to re-organise their Sherry interests and it was decided to use an existing well-known brand name, and so Croft Jerez SA was constituted on 25th May 1970.

Part of the Rancho Croft bodega complex

At first the firm rented bodegas near the bullring, close to Williams and Humbert in Calle Circo, until a top architect, Vicente Massaveu, was commissioned to design a new bodega complex, which was completed in 1979 just outside Jerez on a 300,000 square metre site on the Carretera de Circunvalacion. It was impressive, with all modern conveniences inside, while keeping a traditional appearance on the outside, and was christened Rancho Croft. It had two of the latest continuous presses, refrigeration and filtration equipment, as well as ranks of stainless steel tanks. No less than 50,000 butts were stored here, and yet the plant was so efficient that only 60 people were needed to run it. The company also owned 370 hectares of vineyards as well as buying in grapes from growers.

The wines came from three sources: the old Gilbey soleras, such as Doña Gracia, Picazo and Los Graciosos; wines which were bought in, some possibly from Diez Hermanos, who had a stake in the firm until 1977; and those they produced themselves. As to winemaking, the firm was progressive, introducing not only the first Pale Cream: Croft Original, but also the first Pale Medium: Croft Particular. They were made in roughly the same way, by blending Fino or young Amontillado with concentrated must which had been charcoal filtered to remove any colour. These wines were new and could be served chilled, and soon developed a huge market. Before long, nearly every other bodega felt the need to introduce a Pale Cream to their range. Croft Original soon became the world’s second best-selling Sherry after Harvey’s Bristol Cream.

Croft did produce other Sherries, however. There was a very refined and elegant Fino called Delicado, Croft Classic was a traditional and very good Amontillado, a good Palo Cortado, and an old Oloroso from a 140 year-old solera. There was also a good brandy.

The end of the 1970’s saw the beginning of a long and painful decline in the fortunes of Sherry, and many multinationals began considering their position. By the end of the 1990’s, Diageo was known to be keen to divest itself of its fortified wine interests, and to raise cash for a deal with Pernod Ricard to buy parts of Seagram, and in September 2001 they sold Croft and Delaforce. The Port interests went to Taylor Fonseca, and the Sherry interests went to Gonzalez Byass, who felt the deal would help to increase sales in the UK and beyond. They paid 9 billion pesetas (54 million euros) for the bodegas and wines, which were transferred to the GB bodegas, with the exception of certain anadas which were bought by Javier Rivero for his Bodegas Tradicion. GB really wanted the Croft Original. They already had their own brand of Pale Cream, San Domingo, but Croft had a much larger market, especially in the UK, and San Domingo was quietly dropped. Of the original brands only the Particular and Original survive, now made in GB’s facilities, though they do market a Fino Delicado under the GB name. Croft Original is still, however, to be found in nearly every wine shop in the world, some measure of the brand’s success.

The magnificent Rancho Croft, also owned by GB was sold for 6 billion pesetas (36 million euros) to a property developer in 2004 but it was left abandoned till a plan to build 600 dwellings on the 30 hectare site was approved, and that only happened in 2009. It seems to have fallen through however as more recently there have been plans to use the site as a new location for the law courts, though that has also seen unproductive comings and goings....

The Rumasa Saga: part 1

The Rumasa (RUiz MAteos S.A.) story deserves to be written by a skilled potboiler novelist, as it is filled with scandal, corruption, skullduggery - and even humour. It might even make a good film.

The undoubted leading man, or perhaps antihero, in the tale is Jose Maria Ruiz Mateos Jimenez de Tejada, born in Jerez in 1931 whose father, Zoilo Ruiz Mateos Camacho, had a small almacenista business of the same name originally established in Rota in 1857. Jose Maria was the more ambitious and business-like of Zoilo's sons, and from about 1960 quickly started building up the firm, which had by now moved to Jerez. It's consequent growth was quite phenomenal. So phenomenal, in fact, that nobody could quite believe it.

Most of part 1 of this tale took place under the dictatorship of General Franco, who by supporting the Catholic Church received its support in return, especially from ultra-Catholic Opus Dei. This is a group of mostly lay people who believe that ordinary life is a path to sanctity, and do charitable works, but it has been accused of secretiveness, elitism, and support for the right wing, not to mention cronyism. The Franco regime began a liberalisation of the economy in 1959 using many technocratic ideas of Opus Dei such as credit for business, help with export and redevelopment of deprived areas, but this only led to almost inevitable large scale corruption. Strangely, many members of Opus Dei benefited enormously, and our Jose Maria was only one. Rumasa could only have grown the way it did with state help. One of the Ruiz Mateos family was related to the Director of the Institute of Credit; the older sons of the Governor of the Bank of Spain worked for Rumasa.

In 1964, having badgered them for some years, Ruiz Mateos signed a deal with Harveys of Bristol to supply all the wine they needed for 99 years. He went to extraordinary lengths to prove to the Harveys executives that he could meet their needs. At that time Bristol Cream, and other Harveys brands were huge sellers, and RM could never supply all their needs, so another bodega was bought. The Harveys money along with credit was used to buy a bank to finance more bodegas and so on. In 1960 the company was worth 300,000 pesetas, and by 1969 it was worth 2000 million, and by the time of its demise it consisted of around 700 subsidiaries in Spain alone as well as others abroad, including 18 banks (he famously bought three banks in one day), 18 bodegas, construction firms, insurance companies, estate agencies, hotels, food and drinks companies etc etc. worth 111 billion.

The firm´s vineyard division, Viñedos Españoles, planted some 2,000 hectares in Jerez alone (bringing the total to 22,000 ha) and they controlled 33% of the Sherry industry and 25% of the Brandy industry. Rumasa´s hexagonal busy bee logo was to be seen everywhere. Other firms viewed Rumasa with considerable and justified suspicion; this was no longer the gentlemanly Sherry business of old and quality was being sacrificed for quantity. The big firms had an agreement that they would help each other in case of an attack by Rumasa. Its affairs were labyrinthine, and it was beginning to owe the tax man big time.

The global oil crisis of 1973 brought a dramatic reduction in sales and affected the Sherry industry decisively creating a situation of oversupply of some 46%. At that time 400,000 butts were being produced and sales were running at 270,000. This caused a price war which Rumasa was determined to win at any cost and Sherry was sold below cost forcing other firms to try and compete with many going bust and being bought up by Rumasa. When the government offered subsidies to promote exports, Rumasa exported vast quantities of wine, much of it of doubtful quality and whether it was actually sold or not, and stored it in warehouses in the UK. The Augustus Barnett wine retail chain, owned by Rumasa, had huge stocks of Sherry at knockdown prices. Things did not augur well for either Rumasa or the industry itself.

One nail in Rumasa's coffin came in the form of the takeover of Harveys by Showerings in 1965 and the purchase of the old bodega MacKenzie as a base in Jerez. Harveys were already suspicious of Rumasa and the exclusive supply contract was cancelled. Meanwhile International Distillers and Vintners (IDV) built a whole new bodega complex called Rancho Croft, using the name of their long-established Port subsidiary. Gilbeys (the oldest part of IDV already had soleras in Jerez at Gonzalez Byass). It was at Rancho Croft that the first pale cream sherries were produced and they soon provided stiff opposition to Harveys.

In 1983 the Socialist government of a newly democratic Spain decided to get the tax it was due, and expropriated the component companies of Rumasa, going through their books with a fine toothcomb and finding, needless to say, endless tax fiddles and a web of complicated interactions. Jose Maria fled to the UK and was later arrested in Frankfurt. For the next decade or so there was endless litigation - at one court case he appeared dressed as Superman - and he counterclaimed against the Spanish Government, seeking compensation. He was eventually, and controversially, absolved by the Supreme Court, but was refused the compensation he had bitterly contested for Williams & Humbert, which went to the Dutch firm Ahold. This was complicated by the fact that the Ruiz Mateos family owned the Dry Sack brand name while Rumasa owned the rest.

This was, apparently, the end of Rumasa. The component companies had been sold off by the Government back to the private sector, and life in Jerez returned to something like normal, though in fact much had changed. Many of the subsidiary bodegas had by now lost their individual identities, having been swallowed up by bigger concerns within the group, and many famous names disappeared. Names like:

AR Ruiz Hermanos.
Union de Exportadores de Jerez
Palomino & Vergara
Marques de Misa
Varela
Diestro Hermanos
Otaolaurruchi
Diaz Morales
Valderrama
Vergara & Gordon
Bodegas Internacionales


Those which survived more or less intact were:

Williams & Humbert
Garvey
Diez-Merito
Bertola
Pemartin