of wine 2015/2016 - Meininger Verlag

2015/2016
families
of wine
59 successful international families of wine • winemakers for generations •
the perfect match between tradition and innovation • inside stories about
their passion for wines and vines
Harmony 72
Harmony 53
Design meets wine
www.rastal.com
Editorial
T
he family company is the bedrock of the worldwide wine
industry. This isn’t to say that big companies and small
startups aren’t also important, or that only family companies can make good wine. Clearly, this isn’t the case.
But it’s the family companies that hold wine regions together
and keep them thriving, through their relationships with
growers, workers, suppliers and other members of their local
communities. Families pull together in tough times and do
everything they can to keep going, which keeps communities
going as well.
And, of course, families have long memories. This is a key
asset in a business like wine, where memories of how the land,
the weather and the market behaved in previous times will
help steer a company through the coming years.
Finally, when a family puts its own name on a winery, or a
bottle, they’re going to do everything to ensure that name
maintains a good reputaton. This is why family-owned wineries typically stand for quality.
This book celebrates the family. Inside you’ll find stories of
notable families, up-and-coming families, and even families
that have passed into history, whose memory is being honoured by new family owners. It’s a refreshing reminder that good
business isn’t solely about the bottom line and profitability –
of course, those things are important too – but about people,
reputation and a commitment to quality.
In a world where those fundamental values seem constantly
under threat, it’s good to know that there is one industry, at
least, where family values are alive and thriving.
Best wishes,
Felicity Carter
families of wine
03
Contents
03 ......Editorial
06...... Aveleda SA
A family passion
applied to wine
08...... Boisset
Dynamism from the heart
of Burgundy
10...... Bouvet Ladoubay
The gem of the Loire
12...... Casa Bianchi
Writing wine history
14...... Champagne Boizel
In the tradition of the
greatest Champagnes
16...... De Bortoli
An Italian-Australian
dynasty
18...... Marchesi di Barolo
Out of love for Barolo
20...... Weingut
Baumgartner
Work of generations
04 families of wine
22...... Cantine Capetta
Terroir plus grit and
determination
24...... Carpene Malvolti
Five generations of fine sparkling wine and distillates
25...... Cecchi
A love affair with wine
26...... Cavino
Open to innovation
28...... Château de Minière
A complete wine experience
29...... J. Chivite
Family Estates
Spanish export pioneer
30...... Concha y Toro
An ambassador for Chile
32...... Marchesi De’
Frescobaldi
Rooted in Tuscany,
internationally significant
33...... Endrizzi
The lawyer of Trentino
34...... Ferrari F. LLI Lunelli
Life at Italy’s pinnacle
35...... Gruppo Viniculo
Fantinel
A dedication to service
36...... Greek Wine Cellars
D. Kourtakis
More than just retsina
38...... Grant Burge
The baron of the Barossa
40...... González Byass
Five generations strong
41...... Hoffmann &
Rathbone
A sparkling new English
venture
42...... Jaboulet Aîné
The greatness of la Chapelle
44...... Les Grands Chais
des France
An Alsace family business
46...... Littore Family Wines
Sicilian pioneers in
Victoria, Australia
47...... Lurton
A family of fine wines
48...... Laurent Miquel
Revolution in the Languedoc
50...... Montes SA
Wines at the pinnacle of Chile
52...... Bodegas Muga
A great tradition from Rioja
54...... Marques de Murrieta
Historic greatness from
Spain
56...... Meerlust Estate
A South African flagship
producer
58...... Weingut Georg
Müller Stiftung
Drink wine and contribute to
a charitable cause
60...... Ômina Romana
Bringing an ancient region
to life
62...... José Pariente
When persistence pays off
63...... Paladin Spa
Elegant wines from tough
soils
64...... p&f Wineries
Refreshing wines from
Slovenia
66...... Quinta da Plansel
Head over heels in love
with Portugal
68...... Bodega Ruca Malen
Nectar of the gods
69...... Roqueta Origen
Roqueta: Committed to the
territory since 1199
70...... Cantine Luigi Sgarzi
In the heart of
Emilia-Romagna
71...... Rodriguez Sanzo
A successful husband and
wife team
72...... Schenk
Swiss Europeans
74...... Schug Estate
German craftsmanship
with California flair
76...... Sileni Estates
A business that anticipates
tomorrow
78...... Félix Solís avantis
Spain’s modest giant
80...... Cantine Tinazzi
A very modern Italian
company
82...... Evangelos Tsantalis
Determined visionary
84...... Miguel Torres
A Spanish family
86...... Valdo Spumanti
An early pioneer of Prosecco
88...... Sektmanufaktur
Schloss Vaux
Unique sparkling wine
production
90...... Villa Maria
A New Zealand pioneer
91...... Velenosi Vini
Revolution through tradition
92...... Avelino Vegas
One big family
93...... Weingut Weegmüller
Palatinate roots
94...... Holz-Weisbrodt
Where you and your taste
feel at home
95...... De Wetshof
Champions for South Africa
96...... Casa Vinicola Zonin
Vintners since 1821
81...... Champagne Thiénot 98...... Masthead
A remarkable rise in
Champagne
families of wine
05
Aveleda SA
A family passion applied to wine
Guedes Family
Successive generations of the same family are at the
heart of Aveleda, along with architectural follies and
vineyards kept in such striking condition that they
inspired the travellers who saw them.
E
very family business has its
founder: The man or woman who produced and sold the
very first bottles of its wine. In
the case of Aveleda, those initial steps
were taken way back in the late 1800s,
when Manoel Pedro Guedes de Silva da
Fonseca, tired of living in Lisbon decided to move back to the Aveleda estate
that had been in his family since 1671.
Situated in Penafiel, in part of the country now known as Vinho Verde, it was,
as the name suggests, an ideal place
to produce fresh, characterful wines.
Manoel da Fonseca devoted his life to
the wine business, preparing the land,
06 families of wine
buying and planting vines, and building a cellar with a capacity for what was
then a huge volume of 300 barrels. The
earliest sale of Aveleda wines for which
records still exist was in 1870 and the
first evidence of their quality is provided
by the gold medals they won in international competitions in Berlin in 1888,
and Paris the following year.
The estate passed from Manoel Pedro
Guedes de Silva da Fonseca to his son,
Fernando Guedes, who further developed the wine business, including
launching Casal Garcia in 1939, one of
the world’s first successful wine brands.
The story of Casal Garcia, which has just
celebrated its 75th anniversary, reveals
an openness of mind on the part of the
Guedes family that was rare at the time.
That year, an eminent French oenologist
called Eugène Hélisse, who had been
working on a Port vintage in the Douro,
was particularly struck by the Quinta da
Aveleda vineyards that he saw through
the window of his train on the way back
to Oporto. What he noticed was the care
that had been taken of the land and the
efforts that had been given to separating
the vines by grape variety, as was then
common in France, but not in Portugal.
Eugène Hélisse persuaded the Guedes
family to let him help with the vinification
of that harvest and the innovative methods
he introduced helped to produce a fresher,
fruitier, finer white wine than any that had
even been seen at the estate. This became
the first vintage of Casal Garcia.
António Azevedo Guedes
On Fernando Guedes’s death in 1946,
management of the estate passed to his
son Roberto, who had long taken an
interest in winemaking and had begun
to work with his father as soon as he finished his military service.
the family turned to a Frenchman, Denis
Dubourdieu, one of the world’s top wine
experts, for winemaking advice, and were
gratified to see the 2013 Quinta da Aveleda
distinguished as #1 of the 2014 Best Buys
ranking by the Wine Enthusiast magazine.
Today, the Aveleda business is in the hands
of the fifth generation of the Guedes family, with António Azevedo Guedes acting
as CEO and Martim Guedes as Managing Director. Important investments were
made in the vines, equipments and human
resources in order to produce wines with
the best quality. Echoing the openness of
their ancestor, the current members of
While Quinta da Aveleda and Casal
Garcia Vinho Verde are among the company’s best-known wines, a broad range
is produced on the estate and from its
vineyards in other wine regions. So anyone wanting to compare a Vinho Verde
made from a blend of grapes with one
produced exclusively from the Alvarinho
can try one, while expansion into oth-
er regions of Portugal enable Aveleda to
offer wines from areas such as the Douro
and Bairrada, as well as its homeland of
Vinho Verde.
The architectural follies, and the
award-winning gardens (distinguished
with the International Award Best of
Wine Tourism) in which they stand, contribute to make the Quinta da Aveleda
one of the most beautiful and renowned
tourist attractions in Portugal. Visitors to
the cellars are invited to see every aspect
of the winemaking process, including
the final bottling and labelling, and to
taste the wines and cheese produced
at the state. But the cheese and wine
are only part of the appeal of a visit to
Quinta da Aveleda. Among the romantic buildings they can visit there are the
Manuelino-style Window (a National Monument), the Tea House and the
Four Sisters Fountain. They can see the
old coach house and the kitchen where
the old equipment has been lovingly preserved. Wandering through these buildings and gardens it is very easy to see what
seduced Manoel Pedro Guedes de Silva
da Fonseca back from the city over two
centuries ago.
INFO
The barrel cellar of Quinta da Aveleda
Aveleda, SA
Rua da Aveleda, nº2
4560-570 Penafiel - Portugal
T +351 255 718 200
F +351 255 711 139
www.aveleda.pt
families of wine
07
Boisset
Dynamism from the heart of Burgundy
From the beginning, the
Boisset name has stood
for doing things differently and taking daring
risks that have paid off,
even when others said
they couldn’t be done.
number of well-established negociants,
or merchants. Boisset, however, succeeded in finding new customers for
his wines, both in France and, more
especially in overseas markets such as
the UK and US. Indeed, by the mid
1970s, his business was one of the
biggest exporters to North America.
Understanding the need both to
own good vineyards and the value
of branding, Boisset – subsequently with the help of son Jean-Charles,
and daughter Nathalie – created the
top class Domaine de la Vougeraie
estate, and purchased well-established
historical houses, such Bouchard Aîné
& Fils, Jaffelin, Ropiteau Frères, J.
Moreau & Fils in Chablis, Mommessin
in Beaujolais and Bonpas in the Rhône.
More recently, Languedoc Roussillon
has been added to the portfolio with
the purchase of Skalli and Fortant.
Jean-Claude Boisset
T
he story of JC Boisset and Boisset
La Famille des Grands Vins is one
of the most extraordinary in the
wine world. It all began in 1961,
when Jean-Claude Boisset decided to go
into the wine business. This would not
have been an unusual step, given that he
had grown up in the heart of Burgundy,
except that he was only 18 years old and
had no wine trade background; his parents
were schoolteachers, not vignerons. But
08 families of wine
Boisset was insistent and, despite his youth
and inexperience, proved remarkably
successful at buying good wine in barrels
from small producers and selling it in bottle, initially to his parents’ friends. A few
years later, with his father’s help, he went
further, buying his first vineyard, a fine
plot in Gevrey-Chambertin.
At the time, most of the trade in
Burgundy was handled by a small
While Boisset senior had an instinctive
skill at marketing which was very rare
in the French wine industry, especially
in the 1970s and 1980s, a spell in the
US at an early age gave son Jean-Charles
even greater understanding of the global
wine business, and of the potential for
winemaking in California. Acquisitions
there have included DeLoach Vineyards,
Raymond Vineyards in Napa and Buena Vista, the oldest premium winery in
Sonoma, as well as Lockwood and Lyeth.
Boisset Junior, whose showman-like personality and taste for innovative spectacle
might have made him a highly successful
PHOTO: DAVID WAKELY
Gina and Jean-Charles Boisset
Buena Vista Winery
theatrical impresario in another life, has
surprised observers on both sides of the
Atlantic with his readiness to embrace
ultra-modern packaging, such as bag-inbox-in-a-barrel concepts for restaurants,
Tetra Pak cartons, and PET bottles and
cans, while also introducing organic and
biodynamic farming in his best US and
French vineyards.
Today, the Boisset French businesses are among the biggest wine exporters in France, while the Californian
estates and a dynamic distribution
business make Boisset a name to be
reckoned with in the highly competitive US market. Competitors and
observers alike struggle to keep up with
new Boisset initiatives, ranging from
the introduction of a super-premium
Pinot Noir made from a blend of Burgundy and Californian wine, to a sparkling wine range called JCB, to the
introduction of ‘make-your-own-blend’
features where visitors can create their
own Napa and Sonoma wines, and the
creation of an ‘Ambassador’ programme
that allows consumers to sell Boisset
wines to their friends, in an echo of the
activities with which Jean-Claude Boisset began his business over 50 years ago.
People who questioned the wisdom
of some of the purchases and the – to
some Napa traditionalists – shockingly
daring design decisions at the Raymond
winery, for example, have learned that
almost all have paid off handsomely
and are continuing to do so.
Jean-Claude Boisset is still very active in
the French business, where his daughter
Nathalie is responsible for communications. Jean-Charles is very active in both
the US and France, though he resides
most often in the US with his wife Gina
Gallo and their twin daughters, overlooking the Napa Valley. It is impossible to predict what new elements might
be added to the Boisset Collection,
but it’s certain that none of them will
be undertaken lightly. Behind the
flamboyant façade and genuinely warm
personality, competitors have discovered that Jean-Charles Boisset, like his
father, has a very fine head for business.
The Burgundy of the first decades of the
21st century is a very different place to
the sleepy region in which Jean-Claude
Boisset first entered the wine business.
Its current dynamism, owes much to
the ambition and enthusiasm he helped
to introduce.
INFO
5 Quai Dumorey
21700 Nuits-Saint-George
France
Tel: +33 380 62 61 61
www.boisset.com
www.boissetcollection.com
www.jcbwines.com
families of wine
09
Bouvet Ladubay
The gem of the Loire
independence granted to him by Claude
Taittinger. Between 1970 and 2006, production increased from 370,000 to 3.2
million bottles a year.
Patrice Monmousseau
and his daughter Juliette
Another change of ownership came in
2006, when Starwood Capital took over the
Taittinger Group. They had such respect for
Patrice Monmousseau’s achievements that,
during the resale, he was allowed to decide
for himself who became the new owner.
There was plenty of interest, but Dr Vijay
Mallya, Chairman of Indian company UB
Group, stood out.
When you think of sparkling wine from the Loire,
Bouvet Ladubay comes to mind almost immediately
as the epitome of high-quality winemaking.
T
résor’, ‘Saphir’ or ‘Taille Princesse’ are beautiful-sounding
names in the world of Crémants.
With these gems, Bouvet
Ladubay has conquered the world. Their
success is the achievement of the Monmousseau family over many generations.
In 1875, the family began by setting up
their wine company. A major era began in
1902, when Justin-Marcel Monmousseau,
the nephew of the company‘s founder,
joined the company. He had made contacts
in London before joining the company,
enabling it to start exporting. Even more
important was his decision to produce sparkling wine by the méthode traditionelle.
In 1932, Justin-Marcel reached another milestone when he purchased Bouvet
Ladubay, founded in 1851. Even then,
Bouvet Ladubay was one of the foremost
producers of sparkling wine in the world,
but was unfortunately in financial difficulty.
10 families of wine
After the Second World War, Jean
Monmousseau, the son of Justin-Marcel,
took over the management of Bouvet
Ladubay, which subsequently operated
independently of the Monmousseau parent
company. Jean Monmousseau succeeded in
restoring the reputation of Bouvet Ladubay
by focussing on the high quality of the wines.
In the 1970s, Bouvet Ladubay was lucky
on two counts. First, Jean Monmousseau had involved his sons Armand and
Patrice in the company early on. And second, the company came under the ownership of Champagne family Taittinger.
Patrice Monmousseau was already CEO
of Bouvet Ladubay, and Taittinger realised
how valuable the connection was between
the Monmousseau Family and Bouvet
Ladubay – a connection that continues to
this day and herealded a new era.
He benefited from the efforts made by
his father to increase the quality and the
When the magnate visited Bouvet
Ladubay, he was immediately enthralled
by the magic of this gem. He made the
decision to purchase immediately, and
Patrice Monmousseau also immediately
realised he had found the right partner,
someone for whom Bouvet Ladubay was
a passion and not just an investment.
Vijay Mallya also understood how beneficial the connection was between Bouvet Ladubay and the Monmousseau
family and placed his trust in the family management. The modern winery,
which opened in 2008 with the nickname ‘Full Metal’, brought the next
impetus, increasing production to 5.8
million bottles.
For Patrice Monmousseau, this success is
based on the art of blending, which he
learned from his father and is now passing on to his daughter Juliette, an art
which, like a gene, can only be passed
down through the family. As Patrice says:
“Taste is a question of ancestry.”
INFO
Bouvet Ladubay
Saint Hilaire – Saint-Florent
49400 Saumur
France
Tel. +33 241 838383
Fax +33 241 502432
www.bouvetladubay.com
[email protected]
Casa Bianchi
Writing wine history
Valentin Bianchi, Raul Bianchi,
Sylvia Bianchi, Carla Bianchi,
Ricardo Stradella Bianchi and
Eduardo Stradella Bianchi
The vineyards of San Rafael, Mendoza, enjoy a lofty position – and not only
because of their proximity to the Andes. The hard work and determination of
the Bianchi family has helped shape and promote this entire region.
A
rgentina’s Mendoza Province,
in the eastern foothills of the
Andes Mountains, is home to
some of the highest-altitude
vineyards in the world. It is the heart of
the Argentine winemaking industry, with
the majority of the country’s wineries,
where nearly two-thirds of the country’s
wine production takes place. It was in
Mendoza’s southern winegrowing mecca,
San Rafael, where Don Valentín Bianchi
bought a small vineyard and opened his
winery in 1928.
Born in Fasano, Italy, in 1887, Don
Valentín emigrated with his family to
Argentina in 1910. The next 18 years
saw him tackle just about every job
12 families of wine
he could find in his effort to establish
himself. He worked for the Argentine
national railway and a French bank; he
was an auctioneer, and then certified as
a master builder; he represented manufacturers of agricultural machines,
trucks and cars; he was a pioneer in
the wood industry; he founded a bus
company for travel between San Rafael
and General Alvear; and he served as a
councilman for the city of San Rafael.
Owning a winery was not only a longheld dream, it was about the only thing
he hadn’t done.
The name of this small winery that
he purchased in 1928 was El Chiche,
where he produced a Riesling and a
fine red wine known as Super Medoc.
In 1934 his wines were declared the
‘Maximum Exponent of Quality’ at
the renowned Mendoza Official Wine
Exhibition and Contest, and word of
Bianchi’s wines spread to Buenos Aires
and beyond.
Don Valentín’s son Enzo soon followed his father into the business. In
1951 the company became known as
Valentín Bianchi; today it’s known as
Casa Bianchi. Enzo Bianchi, with his
brother-in-law Aurelio Stradella, managed the company through a period of
steady growth, in which they developed
new wines: of particular note is Don
Valentín Lacrado, a classic blend intro-
duced in 1965 in honor of the founder.
Don Valentin’s third-generation heirs
continue the tradition of excellence. His
grandchildren – Valentín, Sylvia, Raúl
and Ricardo Stradella Bianchi – continue his legacy. Just as Enzo had released a
namesake wine in honor of his father in
1965, so has Valentin done for his father,
with the ultra-premium Enzo Bianchi
Gran Cru, released in 1994. In 2012,
Raúl released the ultra-premium María
Carmen, to honor their mother.
The personality of the terroir is reflected
in the wine they produce. Even at about
700 metres above sea level, the vineyards
are still towered over by the Andean foothills, which act as a barrier from the damp
winds coming off the Pacific Ocean. This
unique landscape creates an ideal microclimate, with moderately warm summers
with warm days and cool nights. This
area of Argentina gets little rainfall, but
the vineyards are naturally irrigated with
water from the melting snow from the
Andes. Two rivers, the Diamante and the
Atuel, also irrigate the region and lend
alluvial soil to the vineyards.
The three vineyards – Asti, Las Paredes
and Doña Elsa – are planted over more
than 350 hectares. The rootstock is from
Valentín’s native Italy, along with vines
from France, adapted to climatic conditions and regional soils to find the best
relationship between the site and variety to
highlight the virtues of the combinations.
Varieties include: Malbec, Chardonnay,
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir
(mainly used for highly awarded traditional method sparkling wine), Syrah, Viognier
and Petit Verdot. Enzo Bianchi, Francisco
Martinez and currently Facundo Pereira
were and are head wine makers. The work
with the vines, terroir and conditions is
made more efficient and exact with the use
of cutting-edge technology, resulting in
wines that have received praise and awards
both in Argentina and abroad.
Today, Casa Bianchi’s wines are exported to more than 40 countries. Some of
the more recognisable wines are Enzo
Bianchi, Particular Bianchi, Famiglia
Bianchi, Bianchi Extra Brut, Don
Valentín Lacrado and New Age, a popular lightly frizzante wine launched in
1995, which remains a big success, especially in Argentina and the USA.
An interesting project of note is the recently launched LEO wine, a joint development between Casa Bianchi and the Leo
Messi Foundation, which works to develop projects on education and health care
for children with social disadvantages. A
portion of the proceeds from the sale of
the wines – one of which is outfitted rather
sharply in a football jersey label – contributes to the Foundation’s cause.
The Bianchi family has a long been
involved in community outreach. From
the beginning, Don Valentín insisted
that the work of his team did not end in
the vineyards or the cellar — they were
to contribute to works of public good
throughout San Rafael, investing time
and energy in endeavours to better the
region. The Valentin Bianchi Foundation,
headed by Sylvia Bianchi, grand-daughter of the founder, is very active in this
regard. It’s one of the reasons why Casa
Bianchi is looked upon as a true ambassador for San Rafael; they’ve attracted
attention to the region through their success, and have given back to the region
through their actions.
Three generations later, with the fourth
one getting ready, the spirit, passion and
personality of Don Valentín Bianchi
courses through Casa Bianchi. It’s unlikely that someone would have predicted
nearly a century ago that an industrious
jack-of-all-trades would be responsible for
bringing much of the world’s attention to
the now-famous vineyards of San Rafael,
Mendoza. The Bianchis probably couldn’t
see it any other way than how it happened,
of course. As the family likes to say — the
best part about history, is writing it.
INFO
Casa Bianchi
(Valentin Bianchi Sacif)
Ruta 143 y Valentín
Bianchi Street
Alto Las Paredes San Rafael
Mendoza - Argentina
Phone: + 54 260 444 9600
www.casabianchi.com.ar
families of wine
13
Champagne Boizel
In the tradition of the greatest Champagnes
Florent, Evelyne, Christophe
and Lionel Roques-Boizel
The wines from the Champagne house of Boizel are
recognised for their delicacy and finesse of touch.
The house was established in 1834, with deep roots
in the Champagne region that date back centuries.
I
t is an odd and often unremarked
fact that, while the wine world has
long been very much a male preserve, one region has stood apart.
The history of Champagne has been
largely built by a number of highly dynamic women, including a number of illustrious widows. Unlike those
formidable ladies, Evelyne RoquesBoizel, who with her husband Christophe Roques-Boizel now runs the family Champagne house of Boizel, was
not married to the owner of a Champagne house. She was the daughter of
Rene Boizel, whose family had been
involved in grape growing and wine-
14 families of wine
making around the villages of Ay and
Avize for centuries.
The company her father ran was originally founded in 1834 by Auguste Boizel
and, as a child, Evelyne was reminded
of its history by the array of old bottles
that were lovingly stored in the deep
underground chalk cellars of the winery on Epernay’s prestigious Avenue de
Champagne.
Even today, the Boizel collection is the
most impressive of its kind in the region
and still includes 11 bottles of 180-yearold Champagne from 1834, the year the
House first opened its doors for business.
Despite her immersion in the world of
wine, and a childhood that included
helping with the tasks in the vineyards
and cellars and relishing the aromas of
the fermenting juice, Evelyne Boizel’s
first instincts were to follow a quite different professional career. At university in nearby Reims, she studied history
and archeology before moving to Paris to
take a course in museum curation.
While in the capital, she met and fell in
love with Christophe Roques, the son
of an academic family in ClermontFerrand in the heart of France, who had
recently earned a first class engineering
degree. Within a year of their marriage,
however, the Roques-Boizels’ lives took
an unexpected turn when the death of
Rene Boizel and the serious illness of
Evelyne’s brother Eric left the business
without anyone at its head.
Boizel Grand Cru vineyards in Avize
planted with Chardonnay
Returning to Epernay, the couple had to
learn every facet of producing and selling Champagne. Fortunately, for their
first year, they had a skilled teacher at
hand in the shape of Marcel Carré, who
had been the head cellarmaster for over
50 years.
From the outset, Evelyne and Christophe Roques-Boizel divided the essential tasks involved in running the business. As general manager, Christophe
is in charge of sourcing the best grapes
– which come from as many as 50 of
the most prestigious villages (essentially Grand and Premier Crus) – signing
long term contracts with growers, and
managing every aspect of production,
bottling and shipping. Evelyne, for
her part, is company president, enthusiastically representing the company in
France and overseas and building sales
to the best restaurants around the world,
along with setting up a dynamic direct
marketing business in France.
All the Boizel Champagnes spend at
least 36 months on their lees and only
the purest juice from the first pressing is
used in the blends. Finesse and balance
are key to the delicate Boizel style. The
Blanc de Blancs is well known for its
fresh zestiness, while the rosés are often
praised for their fullness of flavour. In
his book, Hugh Johnson once described
the Boizel Champagnes as one of Champagne’s surest values and the Blanc de
Blancs as brilliantly aged.
the whole Champagne region. There is
no question that she is a very worthy
follower in the honorable line of great
ladies of Champagne.
The jewel in the Boizel range is the well
named Joyau de France, created by René
Boizel in 1961, a legendary vintage. It
is only produced in the years with great
ageing potential and always released after
a minimum of 10 years ageing on lees.
The composition is around 60% Pinot
Noir and 40% Chardonnay, depending
on the vintage.
Today, a sixth generation of the family
is now involved in the winery. Lionel
Roques-Boizel manages the French
market, while Florent Roques-Boizel
represents the House overseas. As
Evelyne Roques-Boizel says, “We are
proud to have always put the quality
of the Champagnes first in all decisions… We are very proud of the
continuity in the family involvement
to produce the best Champagnes.
Boizel is one of the rare family house
where the owners are responsible for
the blending and winemaking of all
the range”. As a true Champenoise,
Evelyne Roques-Boizel is not only an
ambassador for her wines, but also for
INFO
Champagne Boizel
46 Avenue de Champagne
51200 Epernay - France
Tel +33 (0)3 26 55 21 51
www.boizel.com
[email protected]
Facebook: www.facebook.com/
champagneboizel
families of wine
15
De Bortoli
An Italian-Australian dynasty
Kevin, Emeri, Darren, Leanne
and Victor De Bortoli
When Vittorio De Bortoli headed for Australia in 1924,
he was seeking a better life for his family. Ninety years
later, his descendants are part of one of Australia’s
most renowned wine dynasties
T
he year 2014 marks the 90th
anniversary of the momentous
voyage Vittorio De Bortoli took
across the world to Australia,
from his mountain village in the foothills of the Italian Alps, near the historic
town of Asolo.
Four years later, he started a wine business in the small town of Bilbul, 15km
from Griffith in the sunny Riverina
region of New South Wales, where his
wife Giuseppina was finally able to join
him. Most customers purchased their
wine in bulk, in wooden barrels or large
glass demijohns.
16 families of wine
It was Vittorio’s son, Deen, born in
1936, who built the family business into
one of Australia’s top six wine companies
– despite the fact that he left school at
the age of 15 and had no formal winemaking education. His son Darren,
however, gained a Bachelor of Applied
Science winemaking degree at the prestigious Roseworthy Agricultural College
in South Australia and used his knowledge to improve the quality and reputation of the family’s wines significantly.
Darren De Bortoli was interested in the
sweet wines of Europe and, with the
encouragement of his father, decided to
try his hand at making a botrytis wine,
believing that the long dry autumn days
of the Riverina, interspersed with showers, would be the right place to try it.
Unfortunately he reckoned without
grower resistance to allowing mould on
their grapes. Fortunately, there was a surplus of Semillon grapes that year, so he
was able to buy what he needed – and
then he had to use family members to
pick them, as the pickers had all gone
home.
De Bortoli skillfully fermented the
grapes in oak barrels, applying the same
techniques as the top estates in Sauternes. Everything went so well in 1982
that his first vintage beat some of the
finest examples from France in international competitions and established itself
as an icon wine. Since its release Noble
One has been awarded no fewer than
130 trophies and 406 gold medals – a
level of global success that has helped to
put De Bortoli on the map.
Today, Darren is Managing Director,
working alongside his sister Leanne and
her husband, winemaker Steve Webber,
one of Australia’s best-known wine personalities. It was Webber – 2007 winner
of Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine’s
Winemaker of the Year Award – who
helped to launch De Bortoli’s move
into the cool climate Yarra Valley in early 1987. The creation of a new estate in
this premium region of Victoria, and
the access to finer quality grapes that
the move provided, entirely changed the
company’s fortunes. Soon the company
was producing stylish Chardonnay and
Pinot Noir that would have been impossible in the warmer conditions of New
South Wales. Within a decade of opening the Yarra Valley winery, De Bortoli
was awarded the Jimmy Watson Trophy
– Australia’s leading wine prize – for its
1996 Yarra Valley Gulf Station Reserve
Shiraz. This was just one of a long list
of medals and trophies the company has
won over the decades.
Over the last 25 years, De Bortoli has
expanded into many of Australia’s most
sought-after areas. It still produces wines
in the Riverina, where the company has
300 ha of vines, as well as at properties in the Hunter Valley in New South
Wales and in the Yarra and King Valleys.
The company also sources grapes from
premium sites in Heathcote and Mornington in Victoria, in the Barossa and
McLaren Vale in South Australia, and
at Marlborough in New Zealand. Being
able to use top quality grapes from all
these regions enables the winemakers to
showcase some very diverse styles of the
same grapes. The DBHV Lower Hunter
Valley Shiraz, for example is a very different wine to the elegant Estate Grown
Shiraz from the Yarra Valley.
The De Bortolis also stay close to their
Italian heritage, producing wines that
showcase the flavours of Italy’s classic grape varieties, with a distinctive
Australian twist. There are varietals like
Moscato, Pinot Grigio, Vermentino,
Sangiovese and even, under the Melba
label, blends of Sangiovese and Cabernet
Sauvignon that pay homage to the Super
Tuscans.
Understanding the dangers of confusing customers with all these styles, De
Bortoli has grouped them under an
array of labels including the Rococo
and Emeri sparkling wines; 3 Tales New
Zealand Sauvignon Blanc; and Vinoque
experimental wines that allow the winemakers to try out what they call more
‘artisan’ styles.
One of Australia’s largest family-held
companies, De Bortoli has long pursued a sustainable strategy, including
biological farming, reducing their carbon footprint and recapturing and
cleaning water. Their stated goal of
being ‘The Zero Waste Wine Company’
and of leaving a legacy for future generations was recognised when the company won the Drinks Business Green
Awards International Sustainability
Award in 2011.
Most of these behind-the-scence efforts
and activities will, of course, go unnoticed by De Bortoli’s many fans. But the
results are there to taste, which is why
thousands of visitors flock to the company’s cellar door operations, complete
with a cheese shop and the award-winning Yarra Valley restaurant, Locale – as
well as a view over some of Australia’s
most beautiful wine country.
INFO
Steve Webber, chief winemaker at Yarra
Valley, husband of Leanne De Bortoli
De Bortoli Wines
De Bortoli Road,
PO Box 21
Bilbul NSW 2680
Australia
Tel: +61 2 69660100
www.debortoli.com.au
families of wine
17
Marchesi di Barolo
Out of love for Barolo
Barolo ambassadors backed by tradition:
Ernesto, Valentina, Anna and Davide Abbona
A
fter her marriage to the
Marchese di Barolo, Juliette
Colbert de Maulévrier fell in
love again – but her husband
had no reason to be jealous, as the object
of her passion was the Nebbiolo vine. It
was Juliette Colbert de Maulévrier who
recognised the potential of the vines on
the soils of lime, clay, marl and tufa in
the Piedmont microclimate. She set up
the wine cellar and named the wine
after its place of origin, according to the
French tradition.
She thus brought Italy’s most prestigious wine to the world – Barolo. Many
other vintners and even more wine lovers have also fallen in love with the wine.
The Marchese di Barolo, and also his
wife, were both very committed to the
welfare of their fellow men. They built
several schools, a home for young mothers, used parts of the Palazzo di Barolo in
18 families of wine
The story of Marchesi di Barolo is a love story that
has been going on for more than 200 years. It began
in 1807, when the Marchese di Barolo, Carlo Tancredi
Falletti, fell in love with the French aristocrat Juliette
Colbert de Maulévrier.
Turin as a home for workers’ children,
and founded a monastery.
However, in 1864, the Marchesa,
now called Giulia di Barolo Falletti,
died childless, thus ending the line of
the Marchesi di Barolo. Her material
inheritance was put into the Opera Pia
Barolo Foundation which was set up to
continue her charitable work. She also
left behind her love of Barolo as a legacy
that is accessible to everyone.
Pietro Abbona received a great deal from
this intangible legacy. In 1895, he began
working in his father‘s winery, but his
dream was the Marchesi di Barolo winery. He wanted to go to the place where
Barolo had started out and from where it
began its triumphal advance to become
the wine of kings. In 1929, Pietro
Abbona finally achieved his dream
and, together with his brother Ernesto
and their sisters Celestina and Marina,
acquired the winery.
His arrival not only brought a new lustre to the famous producer, it also ushered in a new era for Barolo. For proven Barolo-specialists such as Massimo
One of the best
places for Barolo
Martinelli, Pietro Abbona is the first
of the pioneers of Barolo. He succeeded in spreading the reputation of Barolo far beyond its Piedmont home.
He dealt reverently with the legacy that he was now able to continue.
His great respect for the creators of
Barolo is especially evident in the cellar.
Pietro Abbona kept and cherished the
wine barrels in which Marchesa Giulia
created Barolo from Nebbiolo gapes.
This legacy has been preserved to this
day. Five of the winery‘s very first barrels
are still used for ageing the wines. It is
as though the Barolo held by the ‘botti
della marchesa’ for two centuries had
given them something of its longevity.
The love of Barolo has been passed on
within the Abbona family from one generation to the next. Anna and Ernesto
Abbona are the fifth generation to manage the winery. While Ernesto takes care
of the production and management,
Anna is a tireless ambassador for Barolo
and represents the wines on numerous
trips. Their children are also ready to continue the family history. Their son Davide
is taking his winemaking education further at university, while their daughter
Valentina is now fully involved in marketing the estate. She previously spent a year
in Asia in order to gain a better understanding of the local market.
The Abbonas are proud of their heritage
and the fact that the wines of Marchesi
di Barolo are still among the best examples from the region and are highly sought
after around the world. Their motto is
to combine tradition and evolution. As
Pietro Abbona was, they are committed to
the traditional methods but, at the same
time, they want to present Barolo in a contemporary way. A beautiful way for visitors to the winery to enjoy it is to spend
time in the restaurant created by Anna
Abbona. The winery is a tourist magnet in
Piedmont, attracting 40,000 visitors each
year who then take their love of Barolo,
fostered here, back home with them.
The family’s bond with Barolo starts
with the vines. The aim is to promote
the biodiversity of the vineyard. This will
give the soil vitality and fertility, benefiting the vines and ultimately the wine.
A particular challenge for the winegrower are the historic crus. It is a vocation
for the vintner to transfer the uniqueness
of these sites into the wine. This requires
a close familiarity with the land and a lot
of flexibility in the cellar in order to be
able to respond to each of the crus – and
Marchesi di Barolo boasts some of the
most prestigious crus in the Barolo area:
Cannubi is a site characterised by lime,
which is protected from extreme weather conditions by the surrounding hills.
Coste di Rose is a very steep site with a
high quartzite content. Sarmassa faces
south-east and has very stony soil.
The wines originating from these sites
have an extremely long life. The family is especially proud of this longevity
of Barolo. Here too, the family is maintaining its traditional heritage, keeping
in its cellar several bottles from the 19th
century. At special tasting events, these
antique wines radiate the magic of Barolo to wine lovers.
INFO
Cantine dei Marchesi di
Barolo S.P.A.
Via Alba, 12
12060 Barolo CN
Italy
Tel: +39 0173 564400
Fax: +39 0173 564444
families of wine
19
Baumgartner
Work of generations
a special character. This exchange is a
feature of the collaboration between
Wolfgang and Wieland Baumgartner.
The youngest generations
of the Baumgartner family
Anyone visiting the Baumgartner family’s vineyard has
to take their hat off to what has been achieved here.
Austria’s largest winery is an enterprise which has
developed through the collaboration of generations.
T
he Baumgartner vineyard is a
happy family concern, and this is
something which is often by no
means a given. Unfortunately,
generational conflicts are, after all, a very
normal occurrence in family businesses.
Often, one generation prevails and suppresses the other. This is not the case with
the Baumgartners! Their success story is
based on the collaboration between father
Wolfgang and son Wieland Baumgartner.
The two are united by their goals and
visions, and they complement each other
perfectly with their respective skills.
The history of the Baumgartner vine-
20 families of wine
yard goes back a lot further, however.
References to the family vineyard can be
found as far back as 1648. Prior to this,
records and any trace of it were lost in
the confusion of the 30 Year War. It is
certain, however, that the Baumgartner
family has been engaged in wine growing in Untermarkersdorf in the Weinviertel wine-growing area for 11 generations. Since then, the family has set
itself the task of embodying the creativity and undisturbed nature of this beautiful landscape in its wines. Traditions and
experience have been passed on from
generation to generation and combined
with innovation to produce wines with
Despite the centuries-old tradition,
there was nothing to hint in 1968, when
Wolfgang Baumgartner joined the business, that the Baumgartner vineyard
would become Austriaʼs biggest vineyard less than 50 years later. In 1968, the
Baumgartners had barely three hectares
of wine-growing land. Wolfgang extended the vineyard to include wine trading
and grape processing for other businesses.
He was one of the first in Austria to install
large, modern tanks in the wine cellar.
Wolfgang Baumgartner quickly recognised that it was only possible to produce quality wines in high volumes just
by combining in-house grape processing
with an increase in the land available for
wine growing. Wolfgang found the perfect partner for this plan when his son
Wieland started at the vineyard in 1987.
Today, the storage tank capacity is
approximately 12 million litres, with 46
tanks with a capacity of 100,000 litres
each available for cold fermentation. Up
to 6,000 litres per hour can be bottled
in the bottling hall. Just as Wolfgang
planned, the wine-growing area has also
grown in size. The Baumgartner winery cultivates 175 hectares of vineyard.
As a result of the ever-increasing investment in technology, the Baumgartners
have also become more interesting as a
wine-producing operation and, amongst
12 million litres of tank capacity are a visible
sign of Baumgartner’s professionalism
other things, now produce wine from
the grapes of the 300-member Winzer
Pulkautal wine cooperative
The cellar is the realm of Wieland,
who also assumed overall responsibility for the company in 2000. “Wine
is fruit in a bottle,” is his motto and
he follows it meticulously. Thanks to
this philosophy, the Baumgartners are
held in high regard by retailers - not
least because they produce the necessary volume. With an average volume
of 1.5m litres, they are the largest producer of Weinviertel-DAC wines. But
the Baumgartners are not pure volume
producers, as evidenced by the numerous awards they receive - for example,
the title of “Austrian Winery of the
Year” at the New York Wine Challenge
2013, where their 2011 Portugieser also
received the very rarely bestowed Double Gold award.
Of course, the basis for this is provided
by the vineyards, for which Wolfgang
Baumgartner possesses a special intuition. His experience tells him exactly which vines are suitable for any one
location. For the Baumgartners, the typical Grüner Veltliner and Zweigelt grape
varieties are key, but some other specialities are also welcome. Their Pulka val-
ley origin works in their favour, and not
just because they know the area well.
The extensive landscape offers excellent
opportunities for expansion. Additionally,
the clay and loess soil make it possible to
produce the typical Grüner Veltliner and
full-bodied, velvety red wines.
It is a special privilege for visitors to the
vineyard if the Baumgartners invite them
to go underground with them. This is
because here, buried 25 metres under
the ground, is their vinothèque, which is
more like a library of their own works. It
is home to 140,000 bottles from the last
28 years. Perfect storage conditions at a
temperature of 8° Celsius and a humidity level of 80 per cent are designed to
preserve the wines and provide later generations with an impression of the wine
of our times. Of course, not every wine
is suitable for such long storage periods,
and this is why the Baumgartners select
which wines are kept according to strict
criteria, having already established that
the excellent micro-climate ensures the
wines retain the respective grape variety’s
typical fruity aromas.
The vinothèque fits perfectly with the
Baumgartners’ philosophy of passing on
their tradition from generation to generation. Wielandʼs daughter Katharina also
fits in perfectly here. Currently she is
studying at the federal college for wine
and fruit growing in Klosterneuburg –
just as her father and grandfather did
previously. They are probably both looking forward more than anyone to seeing
how she fulfils the second part of the
philosophy – improving the vineyard
through innovation.
Their own experience of this beneficial cooperation between the generations will surely help them to remain
open to innovation. However, it will
be important for them to retain their
traditional values so that they remain a
reliable partner who can convince others through their personal involvement
and enjoy the trust that makes it possible to do business based on the shake of
a hand – something that is becoming
ever rarer.
INFO
Baumgartner Vineyard
and Winery
Untermarkersdorf 198
2061 Untermarkersdorf
Austria
Tel: +43 (0)2943-2590
Fax: +43 (0)2943-3402
[email protected]
www.wein-baumgartner.at
families of wine
21
Cantine Capetta
Terroir plus grit and determination
In the front: Gabriella Capetta (left)
and Carla Capetta (right)
In the back: Maria Teresa Capetta
and Riccardo Capetta
When disaster struck
their well-known winery
in 1994, the Capetta
family all pitched in to
make sure they could fulfil
their Christmas orders.
It’s that determination that
has made them a worldfamous winery in just two
generations.
W
hen Francesco Capetta
decided to give up farming to open a wine shop in
Mondovi, in the foothills
of the Alps, at the end of the Second
World War, he could not have imagined
that 70 years later, his name would be
on the labels of one of the world’s most
popular sparkling wines. If he had really developed a taste for shopkeeping, the
Capetta, Balbi Soprani and Duchessa
Lia wine brands would never have been
born. But in his soul, Capetta was a
farmer, as his father had been, and as he
sold bottles produced by other people,
he began to dream of growing his own
vines, and of making his own wine.
In 1953, he finally decided that it was
time to stop dreaming. He closed his
shop and headed back to the area of
Piedmont where he was born and had
grown up. After searching for a while,
he found what he was looking for: A
tiny wine estate in Santo Stefano Belbo,
home of the famous Italian writer, Cesare
Pavese. He began to produce red wine,
which he sold to local inns and shops.
In those early years, Capetta’s business
was a very small affair, with just a couple
of tanks and a press. All of the work was
done by the family, with the two oldest daughters lending a hand when they
22 families of wine
Cantine Capetta in the heart of Piedmont
got back from school. But he appreciated the potential of the vineyards by
which he was surrounded. Situated
in the heart of Piedmont between the
regions of Langhe and Monferrato, his
winery was close to the homes of such
illustrious wines as Moscato d’Asti, Asti,
Barbera d’Asti, Dolcetto d’Alba,
Nebbiolo d’Alba, Barolo, Barbaresco
and Brachetto d’Acqui. In the 1950s,
many of these wines – and Piedmont as a
region – were well known in Italy, but
it would take time before many of
them developed a following overseas.
From that time until his death in 1999,
Capetta grew his business to become one
of the most successful in the area.
This steady progress almost came to a
halt, however, on 5 November 1994,
when the winery was the victim of a
flood that left it full of water and mud
that in some places rose to almost two
metres in height. Smaller tanks were
knocked over and none of the equipment
could be used again. Capetta’s children
looked at the devastation and felt defeated, but their father refused to give in. He
knew that the survival of everything he
had created depended on being able to
supply orders for the all-important
Christmas market, due to begin less than
a month later. For 20 days, the family
and the Capetta employees worked day
and night to get the winery working
again. They were rewarded by the sight
of the sparkling wine line efficiently producing beautifully-packaged bottles that
would make their way onto thousands of
tables during the holiday season.
Today, nine members of the Capetta family share the responsibilities of
running a company whose winery now
covers 22,000 square metres, and boasts
nearly 120,000 hL of storage capacity. Riccardo, Capetta’s son is president, while his
sisters, Maria Teresa, Carla and Gabriella are, respectively, managing director,
credit manager and vineyard manager.
Visitors to the winery are greeted by Riccardo’s wife Gloria who runs the front
of house, while Maria Teresa’s husband
Germano Bosio, the company’s oenologist presides over professional tastings.
Carla’s husband, Mario Del Tufo takes
care of sales, their daughter Chiara takes
care of marketing and her cousin, Sara
Bosio – Maria Teresa’s daughter – has the
role of chief controller.
Where other wine companies might have
board meetings in soulless offices, at the
Capetta winery the family can have their
discussions around a big table laden with
great Piedmontese food and bottles of
their delicious red, white, pink, still and
sparkling wines that are now recognised as
symbols of quality and excellence, both in
Italy and abroad. The current generation
has developed the business enormously
over the last 15 years, but they never forget that everything they have today is the
result of their father’s hard work, imagination and teaching, their employees’ passion
and abilities, and their own commitment
to follow in Francesco Capetta’s footsteps.
INFO
Corso Piave, 140
12058 SANTO STEFANO
BELBO CN
Tel: +39 0141841611
Fax.: +39 0141843277
www.cantinecapetta.it
families of wine
23
Carpenè Malvolti
Five generations of fine sparkling wine and distillates
est vineyards of Valdobbiadene and the
1868 Prosecco Superiore D.O.C.G., to
the distinctive Pinot Noir-Raboso Rosé
and the Millesimato Classic Method, to
continue with the fresh, Stelvin-sealed
Prosecco Frizzante and the distillates.
Etile Carpenè
Rosanna Carpenè
Antonio Carpenè, founder of Carpenè Malvolti, is one of
Italian winemaking’s historical heroes, being responsible
for the country’s first winemaking school. He was also a
Prosecco pioneer.
ne of the characteristics of many
family-run wine companies has
been the way in which they
have both helped to increase the
prestige of their regions and generously
shared their knowledge and expertise with
others. A fine example of this is offered by
Carpenè Malvolti, whose founder, Antonio
Carpenè, was one of the pioneers of quality
sparkling wines and distillates production.
After introducing the art of Champagne
and charmat-method sparkling wine
production to Italy with the launch of his
business in 1868, he also set up his country’s
first winemaking school, and wrote and
published several seminal practical and
theoretical essays on the subject.
O
a ‘tromboncino’ or ‘zucchetta’. Today, the
company’s range of grappas are among the
most respected in Italy.
In 1924, Carpenè’s son Etile pioneered the
notion of a regionally labelled ‘Prosecco
Amabile dei Colli di Conegliano’ and
cannily began to sell his grappa in a
distinctively shaped bottle that was based
on the vineyard workers’ tradition of
transporting a grappa-and-water drink in
a hollowed-out summer squash known as
Today, the business is run by the fourth and
fifth generations of the Carpenè family:
Etile and his daughter Rosanna, who have
worked hard to build global awareness of
the brand to the point at which it is now
sold in no fewer than 48 countries. The
range now has something for everyone,
from the 1868 Cartizze of the very fin-
24 families of wine
Antonio Carpenè, the third generation of
the family, who took over the reins in 1934,
maintained the tradition of innovation
and regional leadership. Among the
technical innovations he introduced was
temperature control in the winery, which
did much to improve quality and consistency. Neighbouring producers were
encouraged to focus on improving and
maintaining the reputation of the heartland of Prosecco with Carpenè’s foundation of the Consorzio Tutela Prosecco
Conegliano Valdobbiadene.
The enthusiasm to try new things has not
come at the expense of quality, and over
the years Carpenè Malvolti has amassed
an enviable collection of silver and gold
medals from respected competitions. To
encourage others, the company has also
created and sponsored a number of its own
awards.
These are exciting times for Prosecco
Superiore, one of the world’s fastest
growing wine styles. Recent years have
seen the tightening of the regulations
over the use of the region’s name, and
a much greater focus on the D.O.C.G.
super-regional sub-region of Conegliano
and Valdobbiadene, home to Carpenè
Malvolti. This trend towards higher quality
and prestige is very much in line with the
ambitions Antonio Carpenè revealed
when he launched his company and with
everything his family has achieved over the
last a century and a half.
INFO
Carpenè Malvolti S.p.a.
Via A. Carperie 1
31015 Conegliano
Treviso, Italy
Tel: +39 438364611
[email protected]
www.carpene-malvolti.com
Cecchi
A love affair with wine
duce Chianti Classico of elegance and
character, and also to give their sons a
wonderful setting in which to be raised.
It is Luigi’s and Anita’s two sons, Cesare
and Andrea, who are now at the company’s
helm, as the commercial director and
the production and technical director,
respectively. Inheriting the same enthusiasm and entrepreneurial know-how of
their predecessors, they are focused on
sustainability and their wine’s ability to
express its territory of origin.
Cesare and Andrea Cecchi.
A girl on a motor scooter, a first date that begins
as a bet and ends with dancing in front of an
orchestra, and a Tuscan winery — the Cecchi
story has all the elements of an Italian romance.
an uncommon profession in Italy at the
time. Luigi Cecchi, however, had the
foresight to see the potential of Italian
winemaking, and he believed it would to
soar to the apex of world oenology once
the quality of the wines was recognized.
T
he love story of Luigi and Anita
Cecchi began in Poggibonsi,
Tuscany in the 1950s, when
Luigi saw Anita whizz past on
her motor scooter. Intrigued by such an
adventurous woman, he pursued and
married her. Together, they poured their
hearts and souls into the Cecchi Winery
in Tuscany.
The story of Cecchi actually dates back
to 1893, when Luigi’s grandfather – also
Luigi – took his experience from working
at some of the most famous agricultural
companies in Tuscany and set out on his
own as a wine merchant and wine taster,
In the early 1900s, his son Cesare helped
him to develop the wine label ‘Cecchi’,
and they began exploring international
markets. Cesare is remembered as a man
full of optimism and creativity, vision and
ambition, always striving for progress and
innovation — values he inherited from
his father, and instilled in his son.
Grandson
Luigi’s
intuition
for
business and inspired introduction of
technological innovations helped distinguish Cecchi in the domestic wine
industry, and he and wife Anita worked
tirelessly to develop new territories in
the Americas and Australia. In 1962
they added the 120-ha Villa Cerna
property to their portfolio, both to pro-
In addition to Cecchi’s headquarters
in Castellina in Chianti and the Villa
Cerna estate in the heart of Chianti
Classico, they also hold Castello
Montauto in San Gimignano, where
they have been producing Vernaccia
di San Gimignano since the late
1980s; the Val delle Rose winery in
the Maremma area, where they produce Vermentino, as well as Merlot,
Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon
and Colorino, and the estate’s flagship Morellino di Scansano DOCG
and Morellino di Scansano Riserva
DOCG; and the Tenuta Alzatura
winery in Montefalco, Umbria, where
they produce Montefalco Sagrantino
DOCG and Montefalco Rosso DOC.
More than a century after Luigi Cecchi
took the plunge into wine, his risk taking
has taken off. Not only is Italian wine
recognized the world over for its quality,
but the name ‘Cecchi’ itself, worthily
synthesized by its award-winning iconic
wine COEVO, stands for some of the
finest wines being produced in the world
today.
INFO
Cecchi
Località Casina dei Ponti, 56
53011 Castellina in Chianti –
Siena, Italy
Tel: +39 0577 54311
www.cecchi.net
families of wine
25
Cavino
Open to innovation
Jiannis and Theodoros Anastasiou
are on target for Cavinoʼs expansion
man consumers liked to drink sweet
wine and developed Imiglykos especially for them. Consequently, Cavino was
one of the first Greek wineries to sell
wine in Germany. The company has
been exporting to Germany since 1970.
The wines came into their own in the
increasingly popular Greek restaurants
in Germany.
Sometimes it seems that the image of
Greece has changed radically in recent
years. In view of the financial crisis,
respect for the philosophical and cultural achievements of ancient times
and enthusiasm for the Greek way of
life have taken a back seat. When the
Anastasiou family sees this, it must be
with a heavy heart as they have been
heavily involved in the export market
for a long time and played an important
part in promoting positive emotions for
Greece throughout the world.
When Constantinos Anastasiou handed over Cavino to
his sons Jiannis and Theodoros in 2002, it was already
one of the most modern wineries in Greece. Now the
pair are carrying on their father’s good work.
I
t seems that there has always been a
distinct division of responsibilities
between Jiannis and Theodoros.
Jiannis is CEO of Cavino and Theodoros is the company‘s president. Jiannis is responsible for export and Theodoros for the domestic market. Jiannis
is studying oenology and Theodoros,
business. Their father, Constantinos
Anastasiou, must have been very pleased
to see the two of them complement each
other so well and master every facet of
the business he built up.
The Anastasious have been wine growers for many generations, exactly like
26 families of wine
many other families. They had a close
association with their home in Aigion
in the north of the Peloponnese region,
and harvested raisins and grapes. It was
Constantinos Anastasiou who took the
next step and founded the Cavino winery in 1958. CA represented his initials,
and VINO was clear to all.
It was perhaps his openness more than
anything that set the plucky businessman apart from the rest, and his vision
stretched way beyond his own sphere
of activity. He observed international
developments with interest and responded to trends. He recognised that Ger-
Their open approach to other countries has
also helped the family during the financial crisis. Because Cavino’s business was
already focused on export, it has been hit
less hard by the fall in demand in Greece.
Its good contacts abroad have even made it
possible for Cavino to continue its growth
on a sound economic basis. Seventy-five
per cent of its production is exported. Germany is still by far the biggest market, but
meanwhile Cavino wines can be found in
41 countries, including in the USA and
China, as well as in markets such as Brazil
and Nigeria.
Constantinos Anastasiou could, of
course, not have predicted this success at the outset. He concentrated on
producing typical Greek wines. His high
level of quality awareness enabled him
to build an internationally competitive
company for Jiannis and Thoedoros to
grow into.
A milestone in the company’s development was the establishment, in 1999,
of the Domaine Mega Spileo in the
historical vineyard of the monastery of
the same name which, when translated,
means the great cave. Whilst the monastery, which is built on a steep hillside,
can only be reached with difficulty, Cavino saw to it that the wines were again
available. Wine lovers can be very happy about this, since the 800m high vines
produce outstanding wines. The gravel
and clay soil give them a special terroir.
In former times, donkeys transported the
grapes to the poorly accessible monastery
cellar, but Cavino brought the vineyards
abandoned in the late 1980s into the
present. And so Cabernet Sauvignon,
Merlot, Syrah and Riesling were planted in the vineyard alongside the indigenous varieties. In the cellar, the wines are
given time to mature. Following maceration, the red wines mature for 16 to 24
months in the barrel. Subsequently, they
are allowed to spend a further two years
in the bottle. The wine producer has
received many awards at international
wine contests. The 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon was given the title of Best Greek
Red Wine at Mundus Vini 2013.
Cavinoʼs growth was not limited to
Mega Spileo. A large number of classical
Greek wines are produced in the highly efficient winery in Aigion, including
Retsina, Imiglykos, Imixiros and Ionos.
In addition to these are wines where the
emphasis is placed on where they come
from, whether it be Nemea, Naoussa or
Patras. Cavinoʼs commitment to the diffusion of Greek food and drink culture is
also reflected in some of the companyʼs
other products. Olives from the Aigion
region and olive oil are produced under
the Oliana brand name. Moreover, Ouzo
and the pomace brandy Tsipouro are produced under the brand name of Romios.
Domaine Mega Spileo
is the figurehead
Cavino’s power of innovation is demonstrated by the Deus line. Here, both
indigenous and international grape varieties come into their own, as does the
Anastasiousʼ love of experimentation,
which is breaking new ground with the
Deus white and rosé sparkling wines.
Their willingness to be open to new ideas and determination to continuously
change and improve are the characteristics that set the Anastasiou family apart.
Cavino benefits from this enthusiasm
for innovation, just as it does from the
fact that the Anastasious are interested
in the long-term development of their
family business. This has an impact not
only on their employees, some of whom
have been with Cavino for more than 30
years, but also on their long-term relationships with customers. Awards for
‘Best Winery in Greece’ from the Wine
and Spirits Magazine 2009, Best Red
Wine in Greece at Mundus Vini (Cabernet Sauvignon Domaine Mega Spileo
in 2013 and Domaine Mega Spileo in
2014) and National Champion at the
European Business Awards 2013/14 are
the reward for continuity and the best
proof that the company is also wellequipped for succeeding generations.
INFO
Cavino S.A.
Gefyra Maganiti
25100 Aigion
Greece
Tel: +30 26910 72003
Fax: +30 26910 71201
[email protected]
www.cavino.gr
families of wine
27
Château de Minière
A complete wine experience
careful consideration for tradition and
historic preservation. And there’s a lot
to preserve — through the centuries the
estate has served as a fortified farm, a
mansion and the Château. It has been
handed down through a line of women for two centuries, beginning when
Marie-Genevieve d’Espinay married
Martial du Soulier in 1767, bringing
him the property in her dowry.
Kathleen Van den Berghe with Sofie Mareels, Sigurd Mareels and Simon Mareels
A château with a storied past and a couple with some
progressive ideas have found each other in France’s
Loire Valley. The Complete Wine Experience serves
up fresh ideas in a fairytale setting.
W
hen
Belgian
couple
Kathleen Van den Berghe
and Sigurd Mareels first
saw Château de Minière,
it was love at first sight. Nestled among
the vineyards in France’s Loire Valley,
Château de Minière looks like a building from a fairytale.
The property so captivated them that
Van den Berghe and Mareels bought it as
much for its charm as for its winegrow-
ing abilities. With 18 hectares under
vine – some of which are more than a
century old – spread over three of the
seven municipalities of the appellation
(Ingrandes de Touraine, Restigné and
Benais), they – along with winegrower
Eric Goujat – produce a range of
award-winning light- to full-bodied red
wines that are 100% Cabernet Franc and
100% certified hand-harvested organic.
Promoting their organic practices, they
believe that healthy soil is not only better
for the environment, but it also ensures
superior quality and flavour of the wine.
Weeding between rows, adding organic
materials, excluding chemical fertilizers,
and ploughing under the rows are all
practices employed.
From the moment Van den Berghe
and Mareels took ownership, every
step of the restoration has been conducted with a modern touch, but with
28 families of wine
The grounds offer a dynamic variety
of plants from all over the world, from
giant sequoias that are 150- to 200-years
old, to the ‘tree of heaven’, a member of
the Simaroubaceae family from China.
Self-guided walks around the grounds
are popular, as they are around the rest
of the Château and vineyard. The boutique offers artisanal, wine-based products such as pieces of art, jam, fruit on
wine, gifts around wine, unique pieces of
furniture, and more. And special activities such as meals with assorted wines,
wine tasting, vineyard activities, professional seminars in the historic building,
and even life coaching in the park are
tailor-made for guests.
They are now experimenting with new
styles of wines – in particular, ‘sparkling/
pétillant naturel’ wines – becoming one
of the first wineries to offer a 100%
Cabernet Franc sparkling dry red.
This effort, as with everything else at
Château de Minière, will be focused on
how it complements the complete wine
experience, as their goal is to leave guests
with a strong connection to not only the
Château’s wine, but to its environment
and the conservation of its unique history.
INFO
Château de Minière
23 rue de Minière
37140 Ingrandes-deTouraine, France
Tel: +33 2 47 96 94 30
www.chateaudeminiere.com
J. Chivite Family Estates
Spanish export pioneer
Julian Chivite and
consultant Denis Dubordieu
form a strong team
Chivite is more than just a wine family – Chivite is
a wine dynasty. It is very fitting, then, that Chivite
Coleccion 125 was served at the wedding of King
Felipe VI of Spain to Queen Letizia.
T
his wine has a special story to
tell. When it was created in
1985, Chivite was not, as the
name suggests, celebrating 125
years in existence, as the Chivite family have been winegrowers since 1647,
spanning 11 generations. The wine is
dedicated to a different family anniversary – the first export of wine in 1860.
At that time, Chivite exported wine to
France because there was a wine shortage there as a result of the oidium crisis.
Chivite’s pioneering role in the Spanish
export trade is demonstrated by the
fact that it has an ID number of 120 in
Spain’s general export register.
Chivite, great-grandfather of the current
Chairman Julian Chivite, acquired a
cave in a quarry, where he established his
wine cellar, rather than building a new
one from scratch. It was his son Felix
who, in 1877, created the company’s
first wine brand, Felix Chivite.
During its history, the family always
managed to identify and seize opportunities. Thus, in 1872, Claudio
Each of the 11 generations of the family
has given the company a new impetus. The
current CEO Julian Chivite and his father
Despite their own long tradition and
extensive experience of winegrowing, the
family also calls on external expertise.
The world-renowned wine expert Denis
Dubordieu has been advising the family exclusively in Spain for over 20 years.
The aim of the collaboration is to give the
wines more finesse and longevity.
Julian Chivite Sr. set the company onto a
new growth trajectory. Julian Chivite Sr.
was an innovator who set the focus on
quality and introduced new marketing
ideas. He and his son expanded the family portfolio to include wines from within and from outside their home region of
Navarre. Viña Salceda in Rioja Alavesa was
added, as was Señorio de Arinzano, which
was designed by leading architect Rafael
Moneo. The vineyards of this winery in
the north of Navarre are of such quality,
they were only the fifth Spanish vineyard
to be granted the Vino de Pago status of an
estate wine. In Ribera del Duero, Chivite
also acquired 45 hectares of vineyards in
La Horra. Gran Feudo Verdejo from D.O.
Rueda and Gran Feudo Rioja have been
added to the Group range, as well.
It was Julian Chivite Sr. who, with his
talent and his unique charisma, successfully took on the role of a Spanish
wine merchant and thereby gained the
best contacts in the wine industry. The
brand Gran Feudo, created by him in
1975, is also the most well-known rosé
wine from Navarre worldwide thanks
to Chivite’s export history. He was an
upright, widely-skilled man with special charisma. He was an outstanding
person.
Multi-award-winning Chivite wines are
served at important occasions, such as
the meeting of the heads of state of the
NATO countries and the royal wedding.
The fame and popularity of these wines is
undiminished, even after 11 generations.
The name of Chivite will be around in the
wine world for a long time to come.
INFO
J. Chivite Family Estates,
S.L.
Road NA-132 Km. 3.1
31264 Aberin, Navarre
Tel: +34 948 555 285
www.chivite.com
[email protected]
families of wine
29
Concha y Toro
An ambassador for Chile
Rafael and Eduardo Guilisasti
Isabel Guilisasti
Concha y Toro is a mighty company with properties
around the world, whose name is a byword for
quality. But however influential the company grows,
it stays firmly in family hands.
C
oncha y Toro is such a huge
international company that it
comes as a surprise to many that
it is still family controlled. The
saga began in 1883 when a politician
and businessman called Don Melchor
Concha y Toro imported both French
cuttings from Bordeaux to plant at
Pirque in the Maipo Valley, and an
expert French oenologist whose task it
was to grow them and turn their grapes
into high quality wine. This was a revolutionary step at a time when most
Chilean wine was produced from undistinguished local Pais grapes and drunk
30 families of wine
locally within a year or so of the harvest.
Following the death of Don Melchor
in 1892, his son, Juan Enrique Concha
Subercaseaux, took over and continued
to build up the company and its reputation. In 1933 it sent its first shipment
of wine to Europe – to Rotterdam in
Holland.
Twenty-four years later, another dynamic family arrived at Concha y Toro in the
shape of Eduardo Guilisasti Tagle, who
is credited with driving a programme of
innovation and expansion whose impact
is still felt today. Among the steps he
took was the purchase of the top quality Puente Alto vineyard, and the creation of a new brand called Casillero del
Diablo, which exploited an old legend
about the cellar being protected by the
devil. This became Chile’s first premium
wine brand, with sales of more than 4
million cases today.
The 1980s were a time for further
improvement in winemaking, including the introduction of French oak
barrels for the ageing of top wines.
One of these was Don Melchor from
Puente Alto, which was first produced
in 1987 with the aspiration to be
Chile’s leading Cabernet Sauvignon As
had happened nearly a century earlier, French expertise was brought in to
help achieve the levels of finesse and
complexity the winemaking team were
looking for.
In 1993, Concha y Toro decided that it
was time to create a new brand for some of
its more innovative wines, and Cono Sur
was born. Three years later, the company
crossed the Andes to launch an Argentine
brand called Trivento, which has grown to
become Argentina’s second biggest exporter.
While making inroads into the popular
segments of overseas markets, however, the company retained the ambition to
produce truly world-class wines alongside
Don Melchor. In 1997, Eduardo Guilisasti
Tagle signed a joint venture with the late
Baroness Philippine de Rothschild to create Viña Almaviva, as Chile’s first Primer
Orden – the equivalent of a Bordeaux
Premier Grand Cru Classé.
The efforts of these years paid off
handsomely, with a long list of awards
and official recognitions. In 1999,
Wine Spectator named Concha y Toro
the most important producer in Chile
and Argentina; in 2005, that same publication named the 2001 Don Melchor
as fourth in its Top 100 wines and in
2006 and 2007 the Wine Spectator
and Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
respectively gave Concha y Toro reds
the highest marks either had ever
awarded to a Chilean wine. The sec-
ond of these ratings was especially
welcomed by the company because it
was for the Carmín de Peumo 2003,
Concha y Toro’s flagship Carménère,
which came from one of the oldest
vineyards of the company located in
Peumo, Cachapoal Valley.
As Concha y Toro entered the second
decade of the 21st century, its own wines
found new markets across the globe.
These wines included Terrunyo, the
Marques de Casa Concha and Gravas del
Maipo and the award-winning Amelia
Chardonnay; and a range of associated brands including Viña Maipo,
Canepa, Viña Palo Alto, Trivento
and Fetzer, the Californian winery
in acquired in 2011. An understanding of the importance of distribution
has always been treated with the same
seriousness as the company’s focus
on quality. So, after building its presence in the crucial market of the UK,
efforts have been made to become a
leading exporter to Scandinavia and
Brazil and various parts of Asia, including Korea and mainland China. It was
Concha y Toro’s understanding of the
Asian market that led the company to
sign a ground-breaking sponsorship
agreement with Manchester United,
bringing together the ‘Red Devil’ soccer team with the fiery devil that is the
internationally familiar Casillero del
Diablo image.
Today, the Guilisasti family still holds
the reins at Concha y Toro, with Eduardo
Guilisasti Gana – winner of the 2011
Meininger’s International Wine Entrepreneur of the Year award – following
in the footsteps of his father, Eduardo
Guilisasti Tagle. Rafael Guilisasti Gana,
Eduardo’s brother, is vice chairman and
Isabel Guilisasti Gana has the role of
marketing manager for specific origin
wines. But there is a clear link to the
past, as Mariano Fontecilla de Santiago Concha, a descendent of the original Don Melchor and former Chilean
ambassador to Norway, Spain, Italy and
the Vatican, still serves on the company
board.
INFO
Vina Concha y Toro
Avda. Nueva Tajamar 481,
Torre Norte, Piso 15,
Las Condes, Santiago, Chile
Tel: (+562) 224765000
www.conchaytoro.com
families of wine
31
Marchesi De’Frescobaldi
Rooted in Tuscany, internationally significant
Luce della Vite Estate. Since then,
they have also acquired the Estate of
Conti Attems in Friuli, taken over the
management of the Ornellaia estate in
Bolgheri, and opened an ultra-modern
cellar – Tenuta dell’Ammiraglia - in
Maremma.
The Frescobaldi Family: Cristiana, Leonardo, Vittorio, Ferdinando, Rosaria,
Diana, Lamberto, Stefano Benini, Diletta and Tiziana Frescobaldi
The Frescobaldi family, originally from Florence, are a
noble family who have been involved in the cultural, political and economic life of Tuscany since the Middle Ages.
S
ome wine companies can take
pride in having been under the
control of the same family for
two or three hundred years.
Very, very few can look back over
seven centuries. As long ago as 1300, a
Frescobaldi could stand on the terrace of
his Tenuta di Castiglioni home in Val di
Pesa, to the south west of Florence, look
out across his vineyards and consider the
differences in the flavours of the wines
that came from each part of the estate.
We know that these individual characteristics and the general quality of their
wines mattered to the Frescobaldi family
all those years ago, because they kept
records that can still be read today.
The family had already been a distinguished banking dynasty since the early days of the city-state of Florence,
commissioning architectural marvels
such as the Church of Santo Spirito and
32 families of wine
the Santa Trinità bridge across the river Arno. Among their friends were poets
and artists such as Dante Alighieri and
Donatello, a regular buyer of wine from
their Nipozzano estate. Another historic
fan was the English king Henry VIII,
who served Frescobaldi at his sixteenth
century court.
In more recent times, the Frescobaldi
name has been synonymous in wine
circles with both quality and innovation.
In 1855, they were the first in Tuscany to
plant Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot
Nero and Chardonnay, at Nipozzano
and at their Pomino domaine. This last
estate was also the place where, in 1894,
they built Italy’s first gravity-fed cellars.
Always on the lookout for unusually fine vineyards, they bought
Castelgiocondo in Montalcino in 1989
where, six years later, they created the
Proof of the quality of the Frescobaldi
wines has regularly been provided by
top critics in Italy and across the world.
There have been frequent awards
of scores of over 90 points by publications such as the Wine Advocate,
Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast,
and their Nipozzano wine frequently
features on lists of the world’s finest
100.
A notable recent initiative has been the
launch of a highly praised organic white
wine called Gorgona, which is produced
largely by the inmates of a prison on an
island around 30k off the Tuscan coast.
Working on every aspect of the wine is
helping the prisoners to reintegrate into
society after their release.
Another wine launched in 2014 is
Nipozzano Vecchie Viti, expression of an
ancient family tradition and of the soil
and climate of Nipozzano, the historical
family estate.
President of the company is – since June
2013 – Lamberto Frescobaldi, born
and brought up with a great passion
for wine: his aim, along with the other
family members, is to produce quality
Tuscan wine and care for the family business their ancestors established so many
centuries ago
INFO
Marchesi de‘ Frescobaldi
Via S. Spirito 11
50125 Filorence
Italy
Tel: +39 055 27141
www.frescobaldi.it
Endrizzi
The lawyer of Trentino
the fifth generation has also already left
its mark on the winery; Lisa Maria and
Daniele, Paolo and Christine’s children,
have been able to put into practice the
knowledge they gained studying in
Geisenheim and Bordeaux.
The Masetto wine range, named after
their home town, is a particularly good example of how the Endricis
renew traditions, while at the same
time striving to bring progress to Trentino. The flagship wine, Gran Masetto,
is traditionally made entirely from
Teroldego grapes. However, a new feature is that the grapes are now partially
dried, something no-one had ever
attempted before with Teroldego. This
innovative spirit has been rewarded with
numerous awards, including the Grand
Gold award for their 2007 vintage at the
MUNDUS VINI wine competition.
Paolo, Lisa Maria, Christine, Daniele Endrici
and Christine’s brother Thomas Kemmler
The Endricis have always been winemakers and
lawyers. Paolo Endrici combines both of these
family traditions. This makes him the ideal person to
represent his home region of Trentino as president of
the wine consortium’s marketing commission.
F
or lawyer Paolo Endrici and his
wife German architect Christine,
continuing the family winery
– founded in 1885 – into the
fourth generation was a heartfelt endeavour. They had a dream of making
Endrizzi wines from Masetto wellknown throughout the world for their
elegance and quality.
Career-changers have a reputation for
bringing fresh air to a winery because
of their open-mindedness, and that
certainly applies to Paolo and Christine; however, others in the family were
the real revolutionaries. Right from the
outset when they set up the winery,
Francesco and Angelo Endrici broke the
rules by planting the Bordeaux grape
varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot
and Cabernet Franc, a first for Trentino.
The brothers also thought far beyond
their immediate environment when
it came to distribution, establishing
branches in Prague, Belgrade, Vienna
and St. Magrethen in Switzerland before
World War One.
The Endricis still benefit from this
pioneering spirit today, enabling them to
produce a wide range of wines. Cabernet
in particular has proved to be an ideal
grape variety for the Masetto terroir,
which is characterised by its proximity
to Lake Garda, its Mediterranean temperatures and a fresh breeze from the
Dolomites. Masetto DUE, a blend of the
indigenous grape variety Teroldego and
globetrotter Cabernet Sauvignon, captures the diversity of the Endricis. And
Today, the Endricis are an Italian/German
family success story. Christine’s brother,
Thomas Kemmler, has also caught the
wine bug and plays a more important
role in the family business than simply
running the German branch. Just like
their pioneering predecessors, the fourth
and fifth generation also look beyond
their boundaries. In the year 2000, in
conjunction with Thomas Kemmler,
the Endricis acquired the Serpaia di
Endrizzi winery in Tuscany. They
breathed new life into the 30 hectares
of vines in Maremma by cultivating the
vineyards as naturally as possible and
producing typical Italian wines. What
boundaries will the family transcend
next?
INFO
Endrizzi
38010 Michele all’Adige
Loc. Masetto (TN)
Italy
Tel: +39 0461 650129
Fax: +39 0461 650043
www.endrizzi.it
[email protected]
families of wine
33
Ferrari F. LLI Lunelli
Life at Italy’s pinnacle
at the World Cup in 1982, which sealed
Ferrari’s place in the heart of Italians.
Today, the family baton has passed to
Matteo Lunelli, now chairman, and his
three cousins: Marcello Lunelli, Camilla
Lunelli and Alessandro Lunelli, who are all
actively involved in the business.
Marcello, Camilla, Matteo
and Alessandro Lunelli
When Italy won the World Cup in 1982, player Paolo
Rossi celebrated the astonishing victory by raising a
magnum of sparkling wine towards his mouth. Viewers
took note of the name on the bottle: Ferrari. Overnight,
the respected Italian producer became a national icon.
F
errari was founded in Trento by
agronomist Giulio Ferrari. The
spectacular region is dominated
by lofty snow-capped mountains, and green valleys formed by the
Adige river. Culturally the region is as
diverse as its terrain; it had been part
of the Austro-Hungarian empire, so
vineyards had both German and Italian
grape varieties. Ferrari had spent some
time in Champagne, however, which
convinced him that his home region
of Trentino was the perfect place for
Chardonnay. He became the first person to plant it there, and Ferrari’s first
‘Champagne’ was released in 1902.
The business remained a relatively small
one and Ferrari himself had no heirs to
hand it on to, so he sold his business to
Bruno Lunelli, a wine merchant. Lunelli’s
sons took charge of the business in 1968,
and the next year one of them, Mauro,
created Italy’s first traditional method rosé.
Sparkling wine made using Champagne
techniques was still relatively rare in Italy.
34 families of wine
Like Ferrari before him, Mauro Lunelli
also visited Champagne, returning to Italy fired with new ideas, and the realization that bottle ageing the wine on lees for
longer would give it more complexity. In
1971 he put this new insight into action.
The company had moved to a new winery and the first vintage bottling was put
on lees for five years. A year later, Lunelli
went further, bottling 5,000 bottles of
Chardonnay – which he hid from his
siblings, so he could age the wines for a full
eight years. These spectacular wines were
finally revealed in 1980 and named the
Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore, now
the flagship of the house.
It was a good time to launch a prestige
product, as the economy of northern Italy
was on the cusp of a long boom. Not
only that, but Italy’s president Alessandro
Pertini decided in 1978 that it was time to
serve Italian wine at state functions, and
Ferrari was the natural choice to replace
Champagne. And then, of course, came
the spectacular Italian win against Spain
The Lunelli family have done their utmost
to respect the memory of their founder,
Giulio Ferrari. Not only have they placed
his name on their flagship wine, but every
tour through their facilities begins with the
tale of Ferrari and his first wine. Ferrari
chose his successor well; the Lunelli family
have proved not just superb winemakers,
but also a dynamic dynasty.
In 1982 they bought the Segnana grappa
brand, and then later acquired Surgiva bottled water, which they so revitalized that it
has become the chosen water of the Italian Sommelier Association. Later on, their
wine holdings spread to include properties
in Umbria, Trentino and Tuscany, under the
name Tenute Lunelli. In 2014 the company
announced that it had acquired a 50% stake
in premium Prosecco producer Bisol, to give
them access to the growing Prosecco market.
They also have a close relationship to the
terroir of Trento, adopting organic agriculture, and spearheading the move into
higher altitudes to protect grape acidity
as the climate warms and snow disappears
from the Dolomite mountains.
It’s this ability to preserve the best of the
past and present, while preparing for the
future, that has put the Lunelli family at
the pinnacle of Italian winemaking.
INFO
Cantine Ferrari
Via Del Ponte15
38123 Trento
Tel: +39 (0461) 972311
[email protected]
www.ferraritrento.it
Fantinel
A dedication to service
The third Fantinel generation of Marco,
Stefano and Marielena have become
involved, and are now following the family
tradition of leading the company in new
directions with interesting projects.
Luciano, Loris and Gianfranco Fantinel
Founder Mario Fantinel was so dedicated to customer
service that he decided to produce his own wines,
so he could get the quality he wanted. That decision
launched a multi-generation company.
I
n 1969, when hotelier and restaurateur Mario Fantinel set out to provide his clientele with a top-notch
wine list, he went to greater lengths
than normal – he bought his own vineyard. His purchase of the well-regarded land near Dolegna del Collio in the
Carnia region in northeastern Italy was
a remarkable display of customer service
and hospitality, that also launched the
Fantinel family wine business.
In a few quick years ‘Paron’ Mario’s passion and entrepreneurial enthusiasm
drew in his three sons, Luciano, Gianfranco and Loris, and in 1973 they set out to
expand the family’s land assets. Through
meticulous selection, they bought
hectare after hectare of the best vineyards
in the Collio, Grave and, eventually, the
Colli Orientali zones, all to solidify
the foundation of a business created to
produce quality wines.
The vinification of exclusive, proprietary grapes, such as Refosco – to which
Mario was particularly devoted – at the
La Roncaia estate in Cergneu di Nimis,
has led to the production of wines of
superior quality. The wines have struck
a delicate balance between the historic winegrowing tradition of Friuli and
the perpetual innovation of the family,
which has seen numerous partnerships
spun in interesting ways.
In 1994, Fantinel set up a partnership
with Collio wines in Canada. In 1994
they took a bold step to launch the first
joint venture of its kind to produce
wines for the Cuban market.
Pane, Vino e San Daniele is probably the
most visible example of the family’s innovation. An assortment of upscale wine
bars that can be found throughout Italy,
Pane, Vino e San Daniele – the first of
which opened in San Daniele del Friuli in
1998 – promotes the slow food philosophy and the enjoyment of local products
with family and friends, with an emphasis on the wines of Fantinel and the hams
that are produced in conjunction with
the Testa e Molinaro company.
One notable project is the work done
for the Convention for the Use of Food
Micro-Algae, Intergovernmental Institutional Spirulina Program (IIMSAM) – for
whom Marco Fantinel serves as a Goodwill Ambassador – dedicated to promoting
the use of spirulina to improve the lives of
children in third-world nations who suffer from hunger. For the project, Fantinel
released the Celebrate Life Merlot in 2008,
and contributes $1.00 to IIMSAM for
each bottle sold.
Marco is also part of a joint venture that
has recently launched I-Spirit Vodka,
“obtained from the skilled distillation of
the finest cereals and selection of excellent
white wines.”
Fantinel’s innovation continues through
interesting partnerships and projects, but it
can be argued that the family has achieved
so much success in such a short amount of
time because of the founding principles set
down Mario Fantinel when he purchased
the vineyard in Friuli back in 1969 –
everything is done to provide the highest
quality for their customers.
Stefano and Marco Fantinel
INFO
Gruppo Vinicolo Fantinel spa
Via Tesis n° 8, 33097
Spilimbergo (PN) - Italy
Tel: +39 0427 591 511
Fax: +39 0427 591 529
www.fantinel.com
families of wine
35
Greek Wine Cellars D. Kourtakis
More than just retsina
Vassili Kourtakis
Angelos Rouvalis and Tassos Drosiadis,
winemaking team at Oenoforos
When Vassili Kourtakis (1865-1946) founded the
company which now bears the name: Greek Wine
Cellars D. Kourtakis S.A., in central Athens in 1895,
he surely never imagined that his grandson would
one day head one of the largest family-owned
companies in the international wine industry.
I
t started out as a small business
for the production and quality control of wine in Athens.
In 1905, Vassili Kourtakis
established his first small winery in the
Mesogeia region, located approximately 30 kilometres east of Athens, then
one of the most important wine-growing regions in Greece. The wine was
brought to Athens and to the nearby
islands in casks. The most popular was
the long-lasting, aromatic retsina. The
tradition of resinated wine dates back
to ancient Greece. Wine was stored
with resin in sealed tubes or amphorae, giving it its characteristic flavour.
Nowadays, small pieces of resin are
added to the wine during fermentation
to achieve a similar flavour. The retsina produced by Vassili Kourtakis, the
36 families of wine
first qualified winemaker in modern
Greece, gained an excellent reputation
due to its consistently high quality.
Vassili’s son Dimitri (1908-2005) studied winemaking in France in the 1930s
and brought back several ideas with him.
Dimitri Kourtakis introduced marketing
into the Greek wine industry and began
bottling the wine instead of supplying it
in casks. In 1963, the first filling line was
installed in the winery in Markopoulo.
By the early 1960s, Kourtakis retsina
was sold throughout Greece. Even back
then, the amount produced was so great
that Charles De Gaulle, then President
of France and a friend of the cosmopolitan Dimitri, said, “The amount of wine
Kourtakis vinifies is so large, the entire
French fleet could float in it.”
At the end of the 1960s, Dimitri’s son
Vassili (*1937) took over the helm. As
well as studying winemaking in Dijon
and business administration in Oxford,
he also brought back seven years of
winemaking experience in Burgundy,
along with the vision to open up new
markets outside Greece. In 1972, the
company became a public limited company. Revenues from Kourtaki Retsina
were increasing constantly, with sales
exceeding 10,000 bottles a day. After
1980, 60 million bottles were sold each
year. The first exports were made – not
only did members of the Greek diaspora
worldwide not want to go without their
cherished retsina, but many tourists to
Greece also wanted an enjoyable way to
revive their holiday memories.
In the mid-1980s, Vassili Kourtakis
built
an
ultra-modern
winery,
Greek Wine Cellars, in Ritsona,
Viotia (around 75 kilometres north of
Athens). One reason for this was that
the grapes from the Mesogeia region
were no longer sufficient to support the
huge increase in retsina production. In
1986, sales exceeded 60 million bottles. The production facility in Ritsona
could vinify 30 million grapes a year,
which now also came from the Viotia
region. The winery not only produced
retsina, but also began bottling unresinated white, rosé and red wines. The
year 1985 saw the launch of the Apelia
brand. These clean everyday wines were
sold in 1.5 litre bottles. Ten years later,
the Apelia brand accounted for half of
all large bottles in Greek households.
A further expansion of the portfolio took place in 1992 as a result of
collaboration with the Calliga winery,
owned by famous winemaker Jianni
Calliga. Production and distribution were taken over by Greek Wine
Cellars. Exports were then being made
to 32 countries. In 1999, a series of
regional wineries were built, in Mantineia, Heraklion, Crete, Nemea and
Patras, which secured their supply from
regional grape production. At the start
of the new millennium, for the first
time, exports accounted for half of
sales. The company changed its name to
Greek Wine Cellars D. Kourtakis S.A.
In 2004, another product line was
added: Greek Wine Cellars took over a
50% stake in Oenoforos S.A. owned by
winemaker Angelos Rouvalis in Aegion,
thus taking on the sales and marketing
of exclusive wines like Asprolithi and
new creations such as Mikros Vorias and
Ianos.
At the end of 2009, another deal was
signed. Greek Wine Cellars became the
sole distributor in Greece of the wines
of Les Grands Chais de France, France‘s
largest wine company. Les Grands
Chais de France owns, among others,
the biggest French wine brand, J.P.
Chenet. With more than 400 million
bottles produced annually, the company
is one of the largest wine producers in
the world. This collaboration enabled
new product lines to be added to the
portfolio, such as sparkling wines.
In March 2010, the company became
the sole distributor, both nationally
and internationally, of the high-quality
wines and spirits made by the northern
Greek winery and distillery Babatzim.
Anestis Babamitzopoulos is an ambitious
organic winemaker and distiller in
Ossa, near Thessaloniki. He produces
exceptional ouzos, tsipouros and pomace brandies, which have earned him
the nickname the ‘master of distillation’. A fantastic asset to the Kourtakis
company.
From the one-man operation of an Athenian with a love of retsina to one of the
largest family-operated internationally
active players in the wine industry
within three generations – still with
a love of retsina and of all the other
products in its broad portfolio: Greek
Wine Cellars D. Kourtakis S.A.
INFO
Greek Wine Cellars
D. Kourtakis S.A.
Anapafseos 20
19003 Markopoulo, Attika
Greece
Tel: +30 22990 222314
Fax: +30 22990 23301
www.greek-wine-cellars.com
families of wine
37
Grant Burge
The baron of the Barossa
Grant and Helen Burge
While Grant Burge has a great winemaking heritage
behind him, he became a pioneer of modern
Australian winemaking in his own right, helping to
forge the worldwide reputation of the Barossa Valley.
Krondorf. In only a decade, they transformed Krondorf into a winery whose
wines were some of the most anticipated upon release, and which won multiple awards, including the Jimmy Watson
Trophy, Australia’s highest award.
G
Krondorf attracted so much attention that
Mildara Blass, which later became part of
Foster’s (now Treasury), bought the winery
in a hostile takeover in 1986. Undaunted,
Grant and his wife Helen founded Grant
Burge Wines in 1988.
rant Burge always knew he was
going to be a winemaker. “I’m
honoured to be a fifth generation
member of a great winemaking
and grape growing dynasty,” he says.
Burge’s ancestors settled in the Barossa
Valley, South Australia, in 1855 when
John Burge – a tailor from Wiltshire, England – migrated to the region with his wife
Eliza and their two sons. “John worked as
a winemaker at Hillside Vineyards and his
love of viticulture was passed on to his son
Meschach, who continued the tradition,”
explains Burge. Meschach, who made his
first wine in 1865, became a prominent
local leader, and his son Percival, one of
38 families of wine
eight children, established the Wilsford
Winery near Lyndoch in 1928.
Burge grew up helping his father Colin and
grandfather Percival make wine, so it was
only natural that he would become a winemaker; Burge created the Meschach Shiraz,
now the flagship of Grant Burge Wine,
in honour of his pioneering ancestor.But
while Burge has carried on the family tradition, he has also helped to develop the
modern Barossa Valley wine industry.
After learning winemaking, Burge teamed
up with winemaking partner Ian Wilson.
In 1972, aged just 26, he and Wilson
bought a run-down Barossa winery called
The early 1980s was such a difficult time in
the Barossa that the government of the day
paid growers to pull out vines and leave the
land vacant, rather than produce unwanted grapes. Unfortunately, some of the
uprooted vines included pre-phylloxera
vines. Alarmed, a small group of local
winemakers that included Grant Burge,
set out to save the vines by creating wines
made from old vine material, to showcase
what the vines could do. Not only did they
save many vines, but the old vine wines
helped to propel Australia’s dramatic wine
export boom of the 1990s and 2000s.
Burge also bought top-quality vineyards
as they became available, making him the
largest individual vineyard owner in the
Barossa Valley. He also acquired the historic Basedow winery at Tanunda, As he
grew, the accolades, trophies and medals
kept coming. In 1990 and 1997, respectively, Grant Burge and wife Helen, were
made Barons of the Barossa. An invitation
to the Barons of the Barossa, founded in
1974, is only extended to people who have
made an outstanding contribution to the
region. Membership is for life.
Then Burge enjoyed what might have been
the sweetest triumph of all – in 2000, he
bought back the Krondorf winery from
Foster’s (now Treasury) though not the
brand name. The winery is just 50 metres
from his Barossa home, which apparently
caused some problems for the family dog.
“After Mildara bought the winery, I trained
all the kids not to go in there,” he told the
Australian media at the time, adding that
when the family finally returned, “my dog
looked at me rather intently. I could tell he
was thinking that we weren’t supposed to
be going inside!”
Today, the old Krondorf winery (named
Grant Burge @ Krondorf ) is used for
making whites, while the Tanunda
winery produces the reds. While Burge
continues to make a major contribution
to the region – most recently founding
the Colin Burge Vineyard Sustainability Project – his reputation has ultimately
been made by the quality of his wines.
These include iconic old vine Shiraz,
along with the Holy Trinity Grenache
Shiraz Mourvedre blend, which is
so good that legend has it that the
Archbishop of York blessed it.
Today, the wines are made by Grant and
Craig Stansborough, who in 2014 was
declared Winemaker of the Year by the
Barons of the Barossa. Meanwhile, Helen
Burge remains managing director, eldest
son Toby is the company’s vineyard technical officer, youngest son Trent, part of
winery operations and promotions and
daughter Amelia is on the board.
When asked what he’s proudest of,
Burge says “the numerous international awards, including winning the
Decanter World Wine Awards Fortified
Trophy for the 20 Year Old Tawny,” over
several years, pointing out that it’s almost
unheard of for a non-Portuguese producer to win such an award. Another point
of pride is “seeing my children developing a passion for the business, industry and region like I have.” The family
business is in good hands.
INFO
Toby, Amelia and
Trent Burge
Grant Burge Wines Pty Ltd
Krondorf Road
Tanunda
South Australia
Tel: +61 8 8563 3700
Fax: +61 8 8563 2807
www.grantburgewines.com.au
[email protected]
families of wine
39
González Byass
Five generations strong
clear indication of the long-term view
the González family have.
Jerez-based González
Byass is not just an
important wine company,
it’s the living legacy of the
González family, which
has made an outsized
contribution to Spain.
W
hen
Manuel
María
González Gordon decided
to dedicate his life to
the wine industry back
in 1835, he could not have believed
that his passion would have inspired
his descendants to such an extent
that they would now be overseeing a
growing business, with world-famous
brands like Tio Pepe Fino, represented
in over 100 countries globally.
Very much a family business, González
Byass is owned and run by the fifth generation of the González family; a family that is committed to ensuring that
this renowned Jerez-based business
Mauricio González Gordon
thrives for a further five generations.
Their dedication to the wine and
spirits business and a strong belief that
what is taken out must be put back in,
means that Mauricio González Gordon
and his team are constantly thinking
about the legacy they will pass on to
the next generation. Indeed, the company’s sustainability programme is
called “5+5”, after the five previous
generation and those to come, is a
Part of the success of the company from
the outset has been its emphasis on
export, and whilst strong in the Spanish
market, the company has always looked
outside its own boundaries. Exporting
first to the UK, in the year of the company’s foundation, the drive to sell its
brands internationally has lead to setting up offices in the UK and Mexico
and to the recent purchase of a new distribution arm in the USA, VinDivino.
Other markets are also key to future
growth with ambassadors in China and
the Far East and in Germany, where
this year, González Byass will be enlarging its team considerably.
But Gonzalez Byass is so much more
than just Sherry today. Whilst its
roots are firmly in Jerez, the company
diversified into other leading Spanish
wine regions in the 1980’s starting with
the acquisition of Bodegas Beronia in
Rioja, quickly followed by purchase
of Cavas Vilarnau in Penedés. During
the start of the 21st century the company further expanded its interests by
building a single-estate winery from
scratch, close to Toledo, called Finca
Constancia, and also a smaller singleestate in Cádiz, Finca Moncloa, around
50 kms from Jerez. The year 2008 saw
the latest member of the Family of
Wine, Viñas del Vero in Somontano,
join the fold, showing that the González
Byass ‘Family of Wine’ extends not just
from the most southerly wine producing regions in Spain to one of the most
northerly, but across the globe.
INFO
Calle de Manuel María
González
12, 11403 Jerez de la
Frontera
Cádiz, Spain
www.gonzalezbyass.com
40 families of wine
Hoffmann and Rathbone
A sparkling new English venture
Birgit Rathbone and
Ulrich Hoffmann
U
Ulrich Hoffmann and Birgit
Rathbone are taking part
in one of the wine world’s
quiet revolutions. While
new vineyards are being
planted in exotic locations
like Argentina and Brazil,
a small group of people
have focused their
attentions on the chalky
slopes of the southern
regions of Great Britain.
ntil recently, the notion of
making fine wine in England
would not have been seriously
considered. Yet a combination
of increased localized expertise and a
little global warming have lead to the
creation of a number of Sussex-born
sparkling wines that regularly beat top
Champagnes in blind tastings. There
is a tangible buzz in the industry and
a feeling that the region has found its
identity in producing top-quality, highend sparkling wines.
Navarra, and Cain Vineyards in Napa
Valley. One of the wines he crafted in
England was served on the Royal Barge
as part of the Queens’ Diamond Jubilee
Celebration in 2012, while another
was described by Jancis Robinson MW
as “probably the best English red” she
had ever tasted.
Now Ansty – a little village in the rolling
hills of Sussex, to the north of Brighton,
that boasts a pub and a cricket team –
sees Hoffmann and Rathbone’s small,
family-run business hand-producing
sparkling wine in much the same way
as countless estates in the villages of the
Champagne region.
Together they have created a small
business that is exclusively focused on
quality. The grapes are drawn from the
local region, whose cool climate is perfectly suited to growing the traditional
Champagne varietals of Pinot Noir,
Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier.
Hoffmann, a skilled wine consultant
who represents half of the Hoffmann
& Rathbone business, has been
making wine for 15 years. His career
includes spells at the Rolf-Willy estate
in Baden-Württemberg in his native
Germany, Chateaux de Fieuzal and
Haut-Gardére in Bordeaux, Artadi in
Hoffmann might have continued on
his travels had he not fallen in love with
both the Sussex countryside and his
now wife, Birgit Rathbone.
The first release was a 2010 blend
of Pinot Noir and barrel-fermented
Chardonnay, of which only 1,500
individually-numbered bottles were
produced. Leading UK critic Jamie
Goode, who gave it 91 points out of
100, said that it had: “Lovely purity
and freshness… distinctive personality
and real finesse.”
A Classic Cuvée was released soon afterwards and a Blanc de Blancs is set to
follow. All wines are traditionally bottle
fermented and aged on the lees for at
least three to four years with an additional six to twelve-month maturing on
cork before release.
Hoffmann’s wine consultancies afford
him the luxury of patience and absolute insistence on quality: nothing is
released until it is ready to be sold and
unless it is unquestionably worthy of
the brand. Handling the tiny volumes
that are currently being produced is
simple: everything is sold by allocation.
And to judge by the reception of the
first releases, if you want to enjoy these
delicious fruits of the English wine
revolution, you’d be well advised to do
that before everybody else does.
INFO
Hoffmann & Rathbone
Moonhill Farm,
Burgess Hill Road , Ansty
West Sussex RH17 5AH
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 1444 454615
winery@
hoffmannandrathbone.co.uk
www.hoffmannandrathbone.co.uk
families of wine
41
Jaboulet Aîné
The greatness of la Chapelle
Caroline Frey
The iconic la Chapelle vineyard was already
recognized by the Roman writers Martial and Pliny
as one of the great wine soils of the world. Today,
the company which owns that important piece of
land has been renewed.
W
hen one considers some of
the world’s most successful and most famous wineries, it is striking how many
have passed from one family to another. And how often those transitions have
been responsible for a dramatic improvement in the quality of their wine. There
are few better examples of that happening than Paul Jaboulet Aîné, owners of
the iconic la Chapelle vineyard, and a
name that has long been synonymous
with the red wines of the Rhône Valley. As a result of earlier records having
been lost, nobody knows precisely how
42 families of wine
many generations of the Jaboulet family
were making wine in this region before
an ambitious 27-year-old called Antoine
started his company in 1834. It is known,
however, that when he died 30 years
later, a successful business passed into the
hands of his twin sons, Paul and Henri,
and that it was Paul, the eldest – l’aînéafter whom it would then be known.
The year 1864 was, coincidentally, also
when La Chapelle (or the Chapel of St
Christopher as it is properly known),
was built on the site of a tiny church
that had originally been constructed in
1235 by a wounded knight, who became
a hermit on his return from the crusades.
And it was, of course, that hermit after
whom the entire Hermitage hill on
which it stands is named. Hermitage is
undeniably among the finest places to
grow grapes and make wine anywhere
on earth. It was described by the Roman
writers Martial and Pliny 2,000 years
ago and the wine it produced was often
used to add body to top Bordeaux until
the late 19th century.
No part of the Hermitage hill produces
better wine than the vertiginously steep
collection of vineyards – a set of plots
including les Bessards, les Greffieux,
le Méal and les Rocoules – that collectively provide the grapes for Hermitage
la Chapelle. The Jaboulet family had
been buying vineyards in the area for a
long time, and then in 1919 acquired
the historic La Chapelle itself. Over
the following seven decades
they produced wines that often
outclassed the finest efforts of
Bordeaux. Indeed the 1961 is
arguably an even more legendary
example of that vintage than any
first growth.
La Chapelle
Although 1990 was another
great historic vintage, during the
ensuing decade the family business suffered an enormous blow.
In 1997, Gérard Jaboulet one of
the best-known, most generous
and most widely-travelled members of the wine world suffered
a fatal heart attack at the age of
just 55. After Gérard Jaboulet’s
death, as many influential critics
noted, the company seemed to
lack leadership and the wines
failed to live up to expectations.
The purchase in January 2006 of
Paul Jaboulet Aîné by Jean Jacques
Frey, a businessman whose wine
roots lay in Champagne, came
as a relief to many lovers of its
wines. The Freys may have been
newcomers to the region, but the
highly talented Caroline Frey had
already shown how quickly she
could get to grips with a combination of unfamiliar vines and winery at
Château la Lagune, which her family had
bought in 1999.
Robert Parker spoke for many when he
wrote a few years later that: “One needs
no further evidence of the extraordinary
turn around in the quality of the Jaboulet
wines than what proprietress Caroline
Frey has accomplished in 2009 as well as
2010. As I indicated last year, this is one
of the great qualitative turn arounds in
the wine world.”
While pointing out that both La Chapelle
and La Lagune stand on the 45th parallel, “the parallel of great wines”, Frey
Apart
from
conducting
fascinating experiments like
this and confronting the
annual challenge of ensuring that 2,000 cases or so of
la Chapelle now fulfil their
potential, Frey is at pains
to remind listeners about
the range of other wines she
is responsible for at Paul
Jaboulet Aîné. “In the Rhône
Valley, Syrah, Marsanne and
Roussanne not only find joy
on the slopes of the Hermitage
but also on the slopes of St.
Joseph, Cornas, Côte Rôtie,
Saint Péray and in the stony
slopes of Crozes Hermitage. On
the granite slopes of Condrieu,
Viognier is king. Further south,
we grow old vine Grenache and
Mourvêdre for example on
the stones of Châteauneuf du
Pape….”
Understanding that the key
to all great wines lies in the
vineyards rather than the winery, Frey has begun to convert
all of the viticulture to organic
Caroline and
and biodynamic methods. Full
Jean Jacques Frey
certification is expected for the
2015 vintage and it is a proherself clearly relishes comparing and ject of which Frey is particularly proud:
contrasting the two estates’ very differ- “This is a big move that has been made
ent terroirs and grapes. Indeed, in a for these historic estates. This brings…
nod to 19th century tradition, she has much expression of the terroir, the welleven blended Syrah from the Rhône being of the vines and our winemakwith Cabernet Sauvignon grown on the ers”. There may no longer be Jaboulets
white and pink pebbles of the Medoc. at the helm of Paul Jaboulet Aîné, but
Ten thousand bottles were produced the business is still very much a famiin 2010, labelled as ‘Evidence par ly concern and very definitely in very
Caroline’ and legally designated as a Vin good hands.
de France. As she explains : “This idea
came naturally from my frequent travels
between our two family wine estates and
my own curiosity about the outcome of
Domaines Paul Jaboulet Aine
Château La Lagune
the blend, hence its my own story. And
Tel : +33 4 75 84 68 93
I am so pleased to see [it] is successful
Fax : +33 4 75 84 56 14
www.jaboulet.com
with wine lovers and the wine trade.”
INFO
families of wine
43
Les Grands Chais de France
An Alsace family business
We often like to imagine
that the big players are
all anonymous, global
corporations controlled
by unapproachable managers, probably with an
address in the Cayman
Islands. But this is not
the case with Les Grands
Chais de France.
& Spirits” award for Family Business
of the Year. This is very fitting, because
wine and spirits are the core business
of this family company, which has its
headquarters in Petersbach.
Joseph Helfrich with Laurence Helfrich
and their children, Frédéric und AnneLaure.
T
he Les Grands Chais de France
Group, with annual sales of
around 400 million litres of wine
and 35 million bottles of spirits in 160 countries around the world,
is undoubtedly one of the biggest in the
industry. But at its core, it is an Alsatian family company – based in the tranquil Northern Vosges region of France.
44 families of wine
“The management of day-to-day operations and the definition of strategy are
carried out by the Helfrich family,” says
Joseph Helfrich, adding, “The family has
been Alsatian for generations and is very
proud of its heritage and culture.” This
culture is evident within the company
to this day. In 2014, the Helfrich family
received a Meininger “Excellence in Wine
It all began with spirits. Alsace is
renowned for producing wonderful
eaux-de-vie brandies. When Joseph
Helfrich founded the Les Grands Chais
de France winery in 1979 at the age of
23, with just 5000 francs in his pocket,
the direction was already set. A passion
for good spirits was in his blood on his
father’s side as his father, René Helfrich,
owned a small distillery. The decision
to sell Cognac and brandy beyond the
French borders – Germany was right
next door and even East Germany was
a good market for the bilingual Joseph
Helfrich – proved very astute, despite
the fact that Cognac was seen as rather
exotic by Alsatians. The first brand to
be introduced was the Cognac Comte
Joseph. Wine followed soon after. The
idea of putting the wine into curved
bottles originally intended for spirits
made the J.P. Chenet brand famous
overnight (1984). And speaking of
night: At that time, bottling was carried
out at night, with visits to customers
taking place during the day. Capacities
had to be expanded constantly. Introduced in 2000, the Grand Sud brand,
with its striking litre bottle, was another
success. J.P. Chenet and Grand Sud are
now two of the most important wine
brands in the food retailing sector. J.P.
Chenet is the best-selling French wine
in the world. Around 76% of the company’s revenue (2012: €841 million) is
generated from exports.
The ability to offer good quality – as
demonstrated by numerous awards – at
reasonable prices sums up the core idea
of the Helfrich family, for whom food
culture and the French way of life are
virtually a daily pastime. Joseph Helfrich
describes himself as cosmopolitan, and it
is indeed essential to bear in mind that
consumer habits and preferences vary
throughout the world. The Alsatians are
reaching more and more consumers with
their wines. Not forgetting their spirits.
For example, the Jelzin vodka brand is
one of the top sellers in Germany, with
16 million bottles sold.
To offer quality, above all you need
good raw materials. It is therefore strategically wise to establish collaborations
with good grape producers – preferably on a long-term basis, creating a
solid relationship based on trust, as is
often the case with family companies.
It is therefore no surprise that the Les
Grands Chais de France group is one
of the largest vineyard owners in the
world. The group currently owns 33
wineries in many wine-growing areas
of France and 1,500 hectares of vines,
including the leading Crémant and
wine producer Arthur Metz and the
Domaine viticole de la Ville de Colmar
in Alsace, Lacheteau in the Loire,
Pasquier des Vignes in Beaujolais, Maison du Vigneron in the Jura region,
Caves Carod (Clairette de Die, Rhône)
and Domaine de la Baume near Béziers
(Languedoc). The group also owns an
ultramodern winery in Landiras in the
Bordeaux region which, with a capacity of 170 million bottles, is almost that
of the Petersbach headquarters (181
million bottles). Incidentally, at these
two production and logistics sites of
Landiras and Petersbach alone, GCF,
as the company is abbreviated, provides
employment for almost 1,100 people,
with around 2,000 employees throughout the world. Other trading companies
have gradually been added to the portfolio, such as the renowned Bordeaux
wine trading company Calvet (2007).
In 2001, the group gained a staff team
with excellent expertise and prime contacts in the premium Bordeaux wines
segment when it acquired the company
Crus et Domaines de France. The group
now distributes a wide range of its own
and other brands, its customers including most of the large food retail chains,
for example in Germany, Edeka, Metro,
Rewe, Kaufland Tegut, Netto and other
discounters.
Too big for one family? Of course this
success would not be possible without
dedicated, qualified employees. A large
team of winemakers is responsible for
ensuring that the high quality standards are maintained. Naturally, the
company has all the relevant certifications, such as the International
Food Standard (IFS). However, the
company‘s fate still lies in the hands
of the family. As Marketing Director,
Laurence Helfrich is responsible for
the distinctive bottle shapes and
designs. Frédéric Helfrich is following in his father’s footsteps as Export
Director, while his sister Anne Laure
has taken over as Product Manager in
the important area of communication.
The family and staff all work together towards a common goal. This is
something the Helfrichs are especially
proud of. Justifiably so.
INFO
Groupe Les Grands Chais de
France
1, rue de la Division Leclerc
67290 Petersbach
France
Tel: +33 388 70 79 79
www.gcfplanet.com
families of wine
45
Littore Family Wines
Sicilian pioneers in Victoria, Australia
covering more than 1,800 ha, from the heart
of the Murray Darling growing region.
The company produces a number of wine
brands, including Idyll, named for the
winery, and Jindalee, named for the first
vineyard; it’s an aboriginal word, meaning
‘bare hill’. As well as producing their own
brands, the company offers contract
bottling, thanks to a state-of-the-art bottling line that can bottle up to 10,000
bottles per hour, along with bulk wine,
private label and logistics services, including a ‘winery to wharf ’ program.
Vince and David Littore
In less than 40 years, the Littore family have
transformed a corner of Victoria into a thriving wine
area, and built a flourishing, international business.
T
he historic Australian winery Idyll sits in the picturesque
Moorabool Valley, an hour
southwest of Melbourne. The
winery overlooks the first vineyard
planted (in the 1960s) since a Phylloxera
outbreak decimated the region in 1875,
at which time were more than one hundred vineyards in the area. It took almost
a century before new pioneers rediscovered the region and started planting
again. Idyll is where you’ll find one such
pioneering family – the Littores.
Mario and Aurora Littore emigrated in
1953 from the Mediterranean island of
Lipari, off the north coast of Sicily, where
vineyards cover the landscape and wine
is a way of life. In the 1970s, after many
years in Melbourne, the couple and their
four sons re-settled in Mildura in southern
New South Wales. There, on the rich earth
of the area, they founded Jindalee, a small
vineyard and citrus holding with views
over the Murray River.
Mario and Aurora’s sons Vince and David
went on to create Jindalee Estate Wines
after purchasing Idyll in 1998. The two
brothers, who serve as co-managing directors, increased holdings and production,
and, since 2008, have conducted operations as Littore Family Wines, a business
that reflects the strong family values and
ethics of the family.
Today, Vince, based in the Moorabool
Valley, manages winery operations and
exports, while David and his wife Sharyn
run the family’s vineyard operations, an area
Yet, while business has experienced
significant growth – storage capacity is
now at 18m litres, and the crushing and
winemaking facilities can handle 15,000
tonnes per year – it is still very much a
family operation.
Today, a number of family members are
involved in the day-to-day running of the
company: Sharyn is Vineyard Administrator; Ant is Cellar Hand; Tom manages
Accounting and Pip handles Reception.
Yet while the Littore name is on the
letterhead, the ethos is that everyone who
works for the company is part of the family. Many of the key staff have been with
the company since its inception, and as
an extension, their families have been
involved with the company as well.
The Littores joke that they spend almost
as much time discussing the results of
their children’s weekend sporting events
as they do planning for the business
week ahead. Wherever they are headed,
it’s important to them that they’re family
first.
INFO
Littore Family Wines
265 Ballan Rd
Geelong VIC 3219
Australia
Tel: +61 3 5228 4888
www.littorewines.com.au
46 families of wine
Lurton
A family of fine wines
The Lurton wine group
comprises all members
of the extensive Lurton
family working in the
wine industry, of which
there are currently
thirteen. Vinexpo 2009
saw the clan become a
single marketing entity,
presented in detail online
at: www.lurton.com
Château Climens
1er Grand Cru Classé 1855
One of the oldest and greatest dynasties
operating in the world’s most famous
winegrowing region, Bordeaux, the
Lurtons have also branched out internationally, with the forays of various family
members into other regions throughout
Europe and the southern hemisphere.
Château Reynier
The Islander Estate
Kangaroo Island, South Australia
Château de Camarsac
Domaines François Lurton
France, Spain, Argentina, Chile
Vignobles André Lurton
Château Brane-Cantenac
2nd Grand Cru Classé 1855
The Lurton flag flies over more than
30 vineyards worldwide, accounting for
1,300 hectares of viticultural land.
You won’t find a group like ours
anywhere else. We’re the only family in
the world to have so many of its members
all working in the wine industry.
While each has their own individual
business, synergies between these
different branches of the family tree
naturally occur from time to time.
We appreciate that the Lurton family name is now a recognisable brand.
That’s why we’re so keen to promote and
cherish it, even if alongside this each
individual family member is nurturing
and developing their own message under
their own first name.
By working together like this, we like
to think we’re giving those within our
industry (buyers, the press, opinion
leaders, etc.) a clearer insight into our
individual differences in terms of who
we are and what we do.
Our family’s involvement in such a
high calibre range of business activities
makes us extremely proud of what we
produce. We’re delighted to be able to
share our passion for wine with you, so
relax and browse away!
Vignobles Marie-Laure Lurton Château Marjosse
QRQR
Cod
C
o e
Code
Château Desmirail
Château Bouscaut
3ème Grand Cru Classé 1855 Cru Classé des Graves
Château Durfort Vivens
2nd Grand Cru Classé 1855
INFO
offi[email protected]
www.lurton.com
families of wine
47
Laurent Miquel
Revolution in the Languedoc
Neasa, Sean and Laurent Miquel, with
Henri and Christiane Miquel.
The Languedoc appellation of France, which runs
along the Mediterranean coast from Provence to the
Spanish border, has become one of Europe’s most
exciting and diverse wine areas, thanks to winemakers
like Laurent Miquel, that have transformed the region.
W
Fontcaude, who had produced wine
since 1202. But it wasn‘t until the
1970s, when Henri and Christiane
Miquel took over, that the estate truly
showed its potential.
The Miquels established their estate in
1791, after the French revolution had
driven out the monks of the Abbey de
Although he was fully employed as
a bank manager, Henri Miquel, the
seventh generation of his family to
own the estate, loved Rhône wines and
passionately believed in the possibility
of making a similar style and quality in
this region. Working in his spare time
at night and weekends, he began to
plant new Syrah vines and rejuvenated
hen the Romans arrived
in the Saint Chinian
region in the south of
France 2000 years ago,
they started a historic revolution by
planting vines and making the region’s
first wine. Today, the Miquel family
whose Château Cazal Viel vineyards
still boasts ruins left by those Roman
settlers, is helping to kickstart a
modern revolution of their own.
48 families of wine
old ones. Encouraged by the results, he
went full time and produced his first
vintage in 1980. Two years later, his
efforts were rewarded by the official
recognition of the Saint-Chinian AOC.
“We have observed a revolution in the
past 30 years, both qualitatively and
quantitatively,” says Laurent, Henri’s
son, who joined the family business
in 1996 and is now its head. “Major
improvements in terms of quality production have led to the region gaining
worldwide recognition for its structured and expressive wines.”
It wasn’t a given that Laurent Miquel
would be a winemaker: At university,
he studied engineering and then did
post-graduate studies in quality assurance from the University of Leeds. “I
worked in the automobile industry
in England, far away from the family
Château les Auzines
vineyards.” But his heart was still in the
region, so returned to France to study
oenology in Montpellier. “In 1996,
inspired and encouraged by my father,
I created my first vintage – more than
two centuries after my forefather!”
Understanding the precise combination
of soils and microclimates enabled the
Miquels in 1992 to choose ideal plots
in which to plant Viognier vines. They
now have more than 40 ha and are
recognized as champions of the variety,
having accumulated numerous international awards, including twice winning the International Wine Challenge
trophy for Best French Viognier.
“Our understanding of the land
and the unique wines it can produce
has been handed down through the
generations,” says Miquel, adding that
his life is dedicated to elevating the
region’s reputation to its rightful place
among the great classic wine regions
of France. “By concentrating on the
noble varieties of Syrah and Viognier
I, and my father before me, have been
champions for a new revolution in the
Languedoc, the drive towards exceptional quality. In the process we have
produced wines of great depth and
character, with a strong local accent.”
Their work with Viognier proved that
the Languedoc can produce genuinely great aromatic white wines with the
kind of acidity that gives great ageing
potential. In 2009, the family acquired
the Les Auzines estate in Corbiéres.
Isolated on a rocky plateau at an altitude of 350 m, between the Alaric Mountains and the Alzou gorge,
overlooking the village of Lagrasse,
because it offers ideal conditions
for aromatic whites. After careful
soil studies, the Miquel family planted 32 ha of high altitude vineyards,
17 ha of which have been planted to
the Spanish grape Albariño. Miquel
says that the 2013 vintage, their
first for the variety, has been a huge
success. Which is not surprising,
because the Albariño is perfect for the
modern palate, being fresh, lively and
food friendly, with excellent acidity.
Introducing varieties like the Albariño
is where the revolutionary spirit of
the Miquels and their region comes
into play. Miquel says the winery is
successful precisely because it doesn’t
conform to expectations. “Languedoc and its inhabitants have always
had a rebellious reputation amongst
our fellow country-men,” he says.
“I am adding to this by questioning
the establishment ‘rules’ and producing innovative, exciting and flavoursome new wines to delight the palate.”
Miquel says he’s fortunate that he has
the expertise of some of the great revolutionary winemakers of the region to
draw upon, not least of whom is his
father Henri. “They provide me with
support and advice as well as information and knowledge gained from years
of experience.”
Today, the entire Miquel family is
involved in wine, with Henri and
Laurent the vignerons, and Laurent’s
Irish-born wife Neasa Miquel the sales
and marketing director. Their three year
old son, Sean, is already showing an
interest.
Les Auzines is now home for the
current generations of Miquels, No
doubt it’s also the base from which
future revolutions will almost certainly
be born.
INFO
Laurent Miquel
Hameau Cazal Viel
34 460 Cessenon sur Orb
France
[email protected]
www.laurent-miquel.com
families of wine
49
Montes SA
Wines at the pinnacle of Chile
After Aurelio Montes had his life turned upside, he
joined with colleagues to create a new wine venture.
Today, Viña Montes is a flagship Chilean winery.
I
n every New World wine producing country, there are inevitably
a few pioneers who have played a
crucial role in its evolution. Back in
1988, a small band of overseas visitors
had already recognized the quality of
Chile’s Cabernet Sauvignons and the
potential of the country’s vineyards to
produce world-beating wines, but the
number of good producers was small.
There were some large, family-owned
companies making fine reds and whites,
but there were also far too many examples of basic wines from badly-tended
vineyards, stored in unsuitable raulí
wooden barrels. So Aurelio Montes
and three partners bravely pooled their
limited resources to launch a small
business called Discover Wines, focused
on showing how good wines from Chile
could be.
Montes, who was born in 1948, had
discovered a taste for wine while young,
thanks to the Undurraga Cabernet that
his father used to drink. As a student
at agricultural college, Montes found
he preferred wine to the rum-and-Coke
favoured by his friends. Appropriately
enough, once he graduated, Montes went
on to become winemaker at Undurraga,
where he remained for 12 years before
taking the position of production manager at Viña San Pedro, one of the
biggest wine companies in Chile.
Aged 39, he joined with friends Douglas
Murray, a colleague at San Pedro, and
Alfredo Vidaurre former financial
strategist at San Pedro, to make wine
from the grapes of a 30 ha plot of land,
on which he had conducted vinous
experiments while at the company. For
production facilities, the trio turned to
a fourth partner, Pedro Grand, owner
of a winery in Curicó.
At first, the team’s ambitions were
relatively modest: In the first year,
they would sell 10,000 cases of the
wine; in the second, 15,000; and in
the third, 20,000. These estimates
proved inaccurate. Thanks to Montes’s
winemaking skills and Murray’s marketing know-how, sales rose over those
years to 50,000 cases. The quartet also
Aurelio Montes and
wife Bernardita
The Montes family
decided to rename their wines Montes,
in honour both of the winemaker and
the mountains that offer a backdrop to
Chile’s vineyards.
For many years, the four men continued to run the business, earning the
description by UK wine writer Oz
Clarke as “the most charming hosts –
generous with their time, generous with
their knowledge – that you could possibly hope to meet.” Eventually, however,
Montes, La Filca de Apalta Vineyard
Aurelio Montes
50 families of wine
Grand sold his shares. The Garcés and
Barros families joined as partners in
1999, bringing additional business
knowledge and experience to the company. Tragically, in 2008 and 2010,
Vidaurre and then Murray both died
while still in their 60s. Today, Aurelio
Montes manages the winery with the
help of a professional team.
Montes is now the seventh largest
Chilean exporter selling its wines in
110 countries, with own vineyards
in Chile’s premier regions. Part of the
success of Viña Montes has come from
the decision to plant the right grapes
in the most appropriate vineyard, with
the aim of producing premium wines.
Montes pioneered the planting of vineyards on steep slopes in the Apalta area of
the Colchagua Valley which he’d known
about since 1972, during his early years
as a winemaker looking for quality
grapes. A state-of-the-art winery built
using Feng Shui principles was inaugurated here in 2004, where some 10,000
visitors per year are now made welcome.
The winery’s fame owes much to the
success of the Montes Alpha range of
wines. Back in 1988, the first real premium wines from Chile at that time
that showed the true potential of the
Chilean wine industry. Today Montes produces these wines under the
Montes Feng Shui barrel room,
Apalta Estate
The Montes vineyards, Colchagua Valley
‘Sustainable Dry Farming’ philosophy,
developed after years of research into
using the precise amount of post-winter
irrigation for each vineyard sector and
grape variety. This has enabled the
winery to reduce its water usage by
65% as of vintage 2012.
Further groundbreaking wines include
Montes Alpha M, an elegant cuvée of
Bordeaux varieties from Apalta; Montes Folly, Chile’s first ultra-premium Syrah; and the dual-region Purple Angel, an extraordinarily elegant
wine that unites the best Carménère
grapes from Apalta with the best Car-
ménère grapes from Marchigüe in the
Colchagya Valley. In 2013, Montes
released the first vintage of its first
super-icon wine, Taita 2007, a result
of more than three years of work;
After Chilean terroir expert Pedro Parra, analysed the micro terroirs of the
Marchigue Vineyard, a glacial area was
found. As the glacier retreated, it left
behind a very small parcel of stones
and pebbles that has proven itself
‘golden’ terroir. It is from vines grown
here that the grapes for Taita – 90%
Cabernet Sauvignon, with Syrah and
Carménere – are grown. Taita excited
international attention and praise
immediately upon release.
It is wines like these that help both to
make Chile such an exciting country
today – and to make Montes such a
highly-respected member of not only
of Chile’s wine community, but of the
world of wine at large.
INFO
Av. del Valle 945, of. 2611,
Huechuraba, Chile
Tel: (56-2) 2248-4805
Fax: (56-2) 2248-4790
www.monteswines.com
families of wine
51
Bodegas Muga
A great tradition from Rioja
following year. The task of laying the
foundations for the company that exists
today passed to his sons Manuel and
Isacín (short for Isaac).
The new bodega included modern winemaking facilities, barrel- and bottle-ageing areas and the cooperage, where three
professional barrel-makers and a ‘cubero’
(who specializes in larger casks) still prepare the new oak barrels and regularly-replaced wooden vats that are part of the
hallmark of the Muga style. Once, it was
fairly commonplace for a Rioja bodega or
a Bordeaux merchant to make and repair
its own casks; today it is very rare, and
Muga is the only substantial company in
the region to do so.
Isaac and Jorge Muga Palacín, Isabel, Manuel and
Isacín Muga Caño, and Juan and Manuel Muga Peña
Although Isaac Muga Martinez had built an enviable
Riojan wine business, he believed it wouldn’t be
complete without the right building. When one became
available, the family turned it into something remarkable.
T
he town of Haro, home to
the Muga family for at least
300 years, lies at the heart of
Rioja. Mugas have been involved
in wine production for generations, but
the story of the bodega that bears their
name began relatively recently – in 1932.
That was the year when Isaac Muga
Martinez and his wife Aurora Caño,
whose family also had roots in the region’s
vineyards, decided to start their own wine
business. It was a courageous step to take
at a time when the world was at the low
point of the Great Depression and Spain
was going through its own period of
financial and political turmoil.
52 families of wine
Despite these challenges, the couple
found underground cellars in the heart
of the town and established their bodega.
Over nearly four decades, they gradually
built up a successful business. And yet
every time he passed the old bodegas close
to the railway station on the outskirts of
Haro, Muga wistfully recalled that it had
always been his ambition to produce and
age his wine amongst them. Finally, in
1968, a fine 19th century building with
a picturesque tower became available,
and preparations were made to relocate
the business. Sadly, Muga did not live
to see how well the company would fit
into its new home, because he died in the
As always, however splendid the winery,
the most important part of the Bodegas
Muga business lay – and still lies – in its
vineyards. These are located on the foot of
the Montes Obarenses range within the
high quality sub-region of Rioja Alta, where
the combined effects of Mediterranean,
Atlantic and continental climates and widely varied clay and limestone soils contribute
to the making of fine, complex wine.
The company actually has 250 ha of
its own vineyards and directly controls
another 150 ha that are under contract with individual farmers. This being
Rioja, the majority of the vines are
Tempranillo, with plots of Garnacha
(Grenache), Mazuelo (Carignan) and
Graciano to add structure and complexity
to the reds. For the whites, the two varieties are Viura and Malvasia. As for the
annual production, this depends entirely on the quality of the weather, because
several of the Muga wines are only produced when conditions have been ideal.
For this reason the number of red bottles
in any vintage can vary from 800,000
bottles to nearly 1.5 million.
While best known for its reds, Muga
also produces a pair of very high qual-
The winery lies in the prized sub-region of Rioja Alta
ity Cava Conde de Haro sparkling
wines. The fresh, floral white is primarily made from Viura grapes grown at relatively high altitude, while the elegant,
peachy, pale-hued rosé shows how great
a potential Grenache grape can have for
this style when treated with care. The
cask-fermented white is also Viura-based,
but benefits from slow fermentation in
new French oak and three months on its
lees, making for fresh flavours that, while
dry, are reminiscent of ripe pineapple,
peaches and honey. The Muga Rosado
also contains some Viura, but the keynote
is of strawberry-and-cherryish Grenache,
with more than a sprinkling of the black
pepper that is associated with that variety.
Eneas follows the old Riojan – and northern Rhône – tradition of co-fermenting
some white grapes, in this case 10%
Viura, with the red, Tempranillo. This is
the freshest and fruitest of the bodega’s
reds, but it is still a very serious wine. Its
characteristic fruitiness comes from a process of natural carbonic maceration: 15kg
boxes of grapes are carefully carried down
to the bottom of wooden vats by ladder
and emptied by hand until the fruit
reaches a metre in height. After a week,
the juice and skins are drawn off and
fermentation is completed in small vats.
The Reserva and Reserva Selección
Especial, made in particularly fine vintages, both exploit all of the region’s red
wine grapes – Tempranillo, Garnacha,
and Graciano – and spend around two
years in barrel, followed by at least a year
in bottle before being released. These
are classic, long-lived wines that are
very much of the same family as Prado
Enea, the incredibly complex, leathery-spicy wine that, for many people,
is most closely associated with Muga.
The extra quality of the latter wine
comes from slightly later harvesting of
specially selected grapes and ageing in
16,000-litre oak vats for 12 months, followed by at least 36 months in oak casks
and bottle respectively. In other words,
every bottle has had a minimum of seven
years “polishing and smoothing” before
its contents are ever poured into a glass.
Sit down with any of the youngest Mugas
in the family dining room and ask them
to name their favourite among the wines
in their portfolio, and they’ll almost certainly reply that it all depends on what
one is eating. Then they might well point
out that the delicious dish you are eating today is made from a recipe by their
grandmother Aurora Caño, the joint
founder of the bodega who was famous
for her skills as a taster and matcher of
wine and food as she was for the quality
of her cooking.
The traditional Prado Enea style stands
in contrast to the more modern and
immediately intense Torre Muga and Aro
which both spend six months in vat, 18
in new French oak barrels and at least 12
in bottle. These are very, very impressive
wines that can both be enjoyed while relatively young, despite the presence of the
vanilla oak, or allowed to develop myriad
layers of flavour.
Today, Muga is still very much a family company, with Isaac Muga Caño, the
founders’ son and Manuel Muga Peña,
acting as president and vice president
respectively while the next generation,
is taking up the reins, with Juan Muga
Peña handling marketing and communications, Jorge Muga Palacín holding the
role of general manager and Isaac Muga
Palacín serving as technical director.
Eduardo Muga Peña has the essential role
of finance director.
INFO
Bodegas Muga
Barrio de la Estación s/n
26200 Haro (La Rioja) Spain
Tel: (0034) 941 311825
www.bodegasmuga.com
families of wine
53
Marques de Murrieta
Historic greatness from Spain
The bodega dates back to the 1850s
The wines of Marques de Murrieta are deeply entwined
in Spanish history, and have not only helped to build the
reputation of Rioja, but also Spain itself.
U
nlike Bordeaux, Rioja has no
official classification table listing its greatest estates, but if anyone were to draw up that kind
of hierarchy, there is no question that
the Marques de Murrieta would occupy the same kind of place as Chateaux
Lafite, Mouton Rothschild and Margaux
do in the Médoc. The oldest of the Rioja
region’s top estates, Marques de Murrieta
was established close to the southern tip of
the Rioja Alta in 1852 by Luciano Francisco Ramón de Murrieta. A Peruvian-born,
unusually resourceful soldier, Murrieta had
gone into exile in London with Baldomero
Espartero, the former prime minister of
Spain, during the Civil War of the 1840s.
While in Britain he developed a taste for
Bordeaux and later travelled to that part
54 families of wine
of France to discover how its wines were
made. At the time, despite the struggles
they were facing against a range of vineyard pests and diseases, French wine producers had a greater understanding of fermentation and the value of storing wine in
oak barrels.
The skills he learned enabled Murrieta to improve the wines that being produced in vineyards belonging to Espartero, who had now returned to power with
the title Duque de la Victoria. Murrieta’s
wines were good enough to develop a
reputation for their quality in overseas
markets such as Cuba and Mexico, and
were the first Rioja wines to be exported
to other parts of the world. Armed with
this winemaking apprenticeship and the
reputation he had acquired as a winemaker, the Marquis of Murrieta launched his
own brand and, in 1852, established his
bodega and 300ha surrounding estate
called Finca Ygay, near Logroño. Royal
recognition of the quality of the wine
he made there and the contribution he
had made to the region came when the
king named him Marquis of Murrieta.
Following Murrieta’s death in 1911, the
estate remained in the Murrieta family until its purchase in 1983 by another
family led by Vicente Cebrián-Sagarriga,
tenth Count of Creixell.
Vicente Cebrián-Sagarriga, who had
bought the Bodega at the age of 34,
died tragically young, 13 years later,
passing it to his 26 year-old eldest son
Vicente Dalmau, the winery’s owner
and president today, who had been
working in the winery since 1989. He
took over the project with an unusual
energy and determination. He decided
to build an energetic and young team
The Ygay estate was established in 1852
in which the winemaker María Vargas
plays a relevant role.
In 1998 he launched Dalmau from the
excellent vintage 1994, a richer, more
full-bodied and earlier-bottled style of
single vineyard wine made with the inclusion of some Cabernet Sauvignon, which
had been grown on the estate over the past
years, much before the creation of the Rioja
appellation.
If Dalmau was controversial with some
Riojan traditionalists, it won immediate
recognition for its quality overseas, echoing
the success Luciano Francisco Ramón de
Murrieta had had a century earlier. From
now on, there would be Reserva and – in
the rare, most excellent years when quality
permitted – Gran Reserva Especial. While
the traditional Rioja characteristics of
Tempranillo-based blends and careful barrel-ageing were maintained, there was a
shift towards greater freshness of flavour.
This was particularly apparent in the white
which was renamed Capellanía. Tradition
was not abandoned however. The glorious
iconic labels were maintained and, while
the current Gran Reserva Especial vintages
age for 30 months in barrel rather than
the 312 months imposed on the 1970,
they remain one of the touchstones for the
region. Ironically, the longest barrel-aged
wine now is the Castillo Ygay Gran
Reserva Blanco which spends over 25 years
in wood and is one of the few examples of
this style that is still being produced.
Alongside these Rioja wines, Vicente
Dalmau Cebrián-Sagarriga, Count of
Creixell, also produces highly respected
Albariños from the Pazo Barrantes estate in
Rias Baixas, that has belonged to his family since 1511. Here, too, modernisation
has been also introduced in the shape of a
skilfully wooden vat fermented and aged
white wine called La Comtesse de Pazo
Barrantes.
Vicente D.
CebriánSagarriga
architectural marvels, Vicente Dalmau
Cebrián-Sagarriga has reconstructed the
original castle using sandstone that has
been specially treated to impart the impression of age. Seventy thousand bottles of
vintages stretching back to 1852 slumber in a private library while the current
vintages can be sampled from enomatic
machines, and a luxurious private kitchen
led by the winery’s chef has been modelled
on the one at the El Bulli Restaurant.
In all of these efforts it is easy to see a
continuation of the blend of curiosity and
ambition established 162 years ago by
Luciano Francisco Ramón de Murrieta –
along with the will to retain the position of
one of Rioja’s leading ‘first growths’.
In this way, Vicente D. Cebrián-Sagarriga
becomes the perfect inheritor of Luciano’s
philosophy and vision. He is capable of
facing the XXI century with a more
solid and stronger Murrieta than ever.
A winery that does honour to its
legend and which continues playing a
vital role within the world of Riojan and
Spanish wine.
The family philosophy of combining
tradition and innovation is now revealed
to huge numbers of wine lovers who every
year visit the Castillo de Ygay from which
Murrieta’s top wine takes its name. Where
other bodegas have built ultra-modern
INFO
Marques de Murietta
Carretera Logroño-Zaragoza km 5
26006, Logroño,
La Rioja, Spain
www.marquesdemurrieta.com
families of wine
55
Meerlust Estate
A South African flagship producer
Hannes Myburgh
Meerlust Estate is a
storied name in South
Africa, as it has produced fine wines since the
nineteenth century. The
Myburgh family have
further enhanced the reputation of this national
treasure.
G
rowing fine wines on the
Meerlust Estate has been part
of the Myburgh family tradition since 1756. Long recognized for producing world-class wines,
the Meerlust Estate is singularly rich
in charm and history. When, in 1988,
Hannes Myburgh succeeded his father
as the custodian of Meerlust, he was the
estate’s eleventh owner and represented
the eighth generation of his family to
preside over one of the Cape’s great estates. It has been his happy but exacting lot
to lead Meerlust into a new millennium
and to bring its operations in line with
the demanding requirements of a new
technological age. Under his guidance,
further modernization of the cellar took
place to ensure the meticulous handling
of grapes and, in particular, the vinification of smaller parcels of grapes.
Sensitive redevelopment has enabled
a functioning modern winery to exist
within a historical national treasure. Both
time-honoured and modern techniques
are applied to achieve the potential of the
vineyards and soils, ensuring that each bottle bears the hallmark of Meerlust Estate
wine. The wines are all made exclusively
from grapes grown on the Estate.
Hannes’ late father, Nico Myburgh, was
responsible for the introduction of what
is today the Estate’s flagship wine. Launched on the local wine market in 1984, the
aptly named Rubicon ushered in, not only
a significant, internationally recognized
new style of wine in South Africa, but one
that was to become a benchmark of local
red wine quality. It was one of only three
‘Bordeaux’ style blends made in the Cape
at the time. Rubicon itself was headed for
iconic status, revered here and worldwide
for its consistent, understated elegance and
refinement. As a product of a family and
farm with deep roots in the history of Cape
wine, it was then, and remains today, the
embodiment of the rich cultural heritage of
South Africa’s 350-year-old wine industry.
As the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990 and the advent of democracy
in South Africa in 1994 saw the country
welcomed back into the international fold,
connoisseurs the world over became even
more familiar with Meerlust Rubicon.
56 families of wine
The farm’s 300th anniversary in 1993 was
celebrated, in part, with Meerlust wines’
debut in the United States, by which time
it was listed in top London establishments. Today Rubicon, together with its
select classic single-varietal stable mates
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir
and Chardonnay, are found in over 30
markets, from New York to Beijing.
Visitors to the Estate have for centuries anticipated seeing the cool, white
façade of the Manor House as they passed
through the gates and along the palm and
oak tree-lined drive. Not much has changed. Today, that sense of having arrived
at a most treasured home and estate is
enhanced by the knowledge – on seeing
the sweep of vineyards that flank the drive
– that here grow the grapes of the prized
Meerlust wines.
INFO
Meerlust Estate
Baden Powell Drive
Stellenbosch
7599
South Africa
Tel: +27 21 843 3587
[email protected]
www.meerlust.co.za
families of wine
57
Weingut Georg Müller Stiftung
Drink wine and contribute to a charitable cause
Anyone who drinks
wine from the Georg
Müller Stiftung winery
is contributing to a
charitable cause, as the
town of Eltville donates
the income it receives
from the winery to local
social service institutions.
Elvira Mann-Winter, Peter Winter and
their two children live for wine and art.
T
he village of Hattenheim, part
of the city of Eltville, is situated between Wiesbaden and
Rüdesheim and has a lot to
offer. Renovated timbered houses, a
luxury hotel, three top restaurants,
five top wineries, the ruins of a
castle and the large wine barrels of
the wine estate on the banks of the
Rhine are sights worth seeing in this
small community. In 1882 Georg
Müller – co-owner of the sparkling wine
producer Matheus Müller in Eltville –
founded a winery in Hattenheim which
was soon to become one of the best in
the Rheingau region. As he had no heirs,
he donated his renowned winery to the
town of Hattenheim in 1913. The only
condition was that the revenues were to
go the needy in the community, resulting in the winery becoming the Georg
Müller winery trust. After Hattenheim
merged with Eltville in 1972, the vineyard traded as „Weingut der Stadt Eltville“ until 2003, when the town finally
decided to privatise it.
In businessman and wine expert Peter
Winter they found the ideal buyer to
enhance the estate’s prestige and upgrade
its image. Purchasing the Georg Müller
trust was the fulfilment of a professional
dream for Peter Winter. This allowed the
long-time chairman of the board at WIV
Wein International AG (the world’s largest and highest-earning direct wine sales
58 families of wine
organisation in 2002) to combine his
two passions: art and wine. He shares
the first of these passions with his wife
Elvira Mann-Winter, partner of the
Rother-Winter gallery in Wiesbaden.
Ultimately his second passion for wine
stopped him from retiring. Instead,
Peter Winter became a winery owner on
his 60th birthday and has thrown all of
his efforts and passion into producing
quality wines since then.
The 71-year old remarks, “With extensive investment, I have made the winery fit for the future. Our objectives are
to combine tradition with progress, to
create something that the community
of Hattenheim, the city of Eltville and
the entire Rheingau region can be proud
of and of course, to make a profit.”
Following the conclusion of extensive
renovation work, the winery has become
one of the most significant and outstanding sights in the Rheingau region.
Peter Winter and his wife Elvira
Mann-Winter have devoted particular
care and attention to the vaulted cellar.
As if the 250-year old cellar with its
1,400 square metres and rare wines wasn’t
already fascinating enough, the works of
art displayed here will distract any wine
fanatic from the old wine bottles stored in
the treasure chamber. There are over 1,000
square metres available for art works,
giving the cellar a true museum character.
The art tours in the cellar are just one of
the many events to attract visitors to the
winery.
Some of the art installations fill entire
rooms; some of them illuminate their
surroundings with bright colours, while
others complement the patina of the
A jewel on the Rhine: The Georg Müller
Stiftung in Hattenheim.
Peter Winter
Artist: José de Guimaraes
old brickwork. There are art works by
the artists Armin Baumgarten, Ulli
Böhmelmann, Jacques Gassmann, José de
Guimarães, Kazuo Katase, Livia Kubach
& Michael Kropp, Philipp Fürhofer,
Timo Ohler, Karlheinz Oswald, Nina
Stoelting, Sofi Zezmer and Bernd Zimmer featured in the cellar. In most cases the artists have been inspired by the
atmosphere of the cellar and have created
their art works – some of very large scale
– especially for the location in which they
are displayed. As a result, they have transformed the winery’s cellar into an unforgettable experience.
president of the Association of German
Wine Exporters.
What pleases Peter Winter most is
when precious wines are created in the
wine cellar. His team – built around
winery manager Tim Lilienström and
export manager Andreas Stiep – has
already succeeded in obtaining many
awards for the high quality of the wines
at tastings and contests. Speaking as a
businessman and marketing professional, Peter Winter says: “Awards such as
the Austrian Wine Challenge, the DLG,
the International Riesling Challenge
Canberra, Australia, and the MUNDUS
VINI are very important for marketing.” The marketing aspect is even
more important for export, which Peter
Winter is particularly committed to as
Riesling is the main grape for the Georg
Müller trust wines: It represents 80
per cent of the grape varieties used. In
addition, there is Spätburgunder (15 per
cent) for the production of which new
barrique barrels are purchased annually, as well as Auxerrois, Müller-Thurgau, Ehrenfelser and Frühburgunder
(5 per cent all together). The vines
are cultivated in an environmentally
friendly way. The average yield in the
last decade was less than 50 hectolitres per hectare. Of course the grapes
are picked by hand as well as thinned
and selectively harvested. This process
makes it possible to pay very precise
attention to the individual berries. To
Included in the vineyards of 14-hectares
are prestigious Rheingau sites: parcels in
Hattenheim’s prime areas of Schützenhaus, Wisselbrunnen, Engelmannsberg,
Hassel and Nussbrunnen form part of
the heritage left by Georg Müller. It is
not surprising that the winery was a
founding member of the Association of
German Predicate Wine Estates (VDP)
back in 1910. Being a member means
that Peter Winter is committed to maintaining the strictest quality standards.
avoid bad berries hidden on the inside
of the vines in difficult vintages, the
picker has to test the smell of each individual vine that he cuts. This requires
a lot of work, but Peter Winter offers
the pickers a reward in giving them a
bonus for every award or medal won
for the quality of the wine, creating an
additional incentive for the employees
to produce their best work.
Not only the consumers and winepickers benefit from the new increase
in quality, but also those in need in
the community who are helped by the
Georg Müller trust through the funds
donated to Eltville social service institutions. Of course, the town’s treasurers
are delighted with the lease revenue
from the vineyards and licence fees for
the Georg Müller trust name. And so, it
is well worth enjoying a fine wine from
the winery.
INFO
Weingut
Georg Müller Stiftung
Eberbacher Strasse 7-9
65347 Hattenheim im Rheingau
Germany
Tel. +49 6723 2020
Fax +49 6723 2035
[email protected]
www.georg-mueller-stiftung.de
families of wine
59
Ômina Romana
Bringing an ancient region to life
Anton F. Börner and
his daughter Katharina
When a German-Italian family went on holiday
in Italy, the last thing they expected was to find
themselves buying a vineyard. But not only did the
Börners buy land – they committed to bringing an
ancient Roman region back to glory.
W
hen Anton F. Börner put
his hands into the soil of
Lazio, he said to his wife
that it was a pity people in
the area didn’t make premium wine – the
soil seemed perfect for top quality wine
grapes. At the time he was more interested
in looking for a house, so it was a throwaway remark. But a man who overheard
him immediately offered him 55 ha of
vineyard land.
“I said ‘yes, why not?’” recalls Börner.
That was in 2004. Ten years later, his
wine business is thriving. His daughter
60 families of wine
Katharina Börner is CEO of the company, while his wife Anna Maria Börner
is an investor, making Ômina Romana
a true family business. Best of all, when
Ômina Romana’s wine were launched into
the world, they picked up gold medals
almost immediately. And yet, prior to this
venture, none of the Börners had any wine
industry experience.
“It has happened the way things happen
in life,” says Börner. “We’ve always been
connoisseurs of wine, but I’m not a
professional.”
What the Börners did have, however, was
business expertise. Not only was Börner
an entrepreneur and manufacturer, he
was (and remains) the president of the
BGA, the Federation of Wholesalers, Foreign Trade. The first thing he did was go
to Germany’s University of Geisenheim,
internationally renowned for its wine
school, and ask their experts to do due diligence on the area. “The result was, I discovered this is an area where you can produce top quality wine,” he says. “I started
in 2004.”
The next thing that happened was
neighbours came and offered land, so the
available area grew to 80 ha “all rectangular,
in one area”.
Today, Ômina Romana has a winery and its
own production line, and uses the services
of oenologist Claudio Gori and agronomist
Paula Pacheco. Situated in the Alban Hills,
it’s in the region of Lazio, close to Velletri
and just under 40 km southeast of Rome.
completely independent,” says Börner.
“We have a team of 31 local people and
they’re all very keen.”
The team pay meticulous attention to
the soil, grapes and vinification. “We
are working in cooperation not just
with Geisenheim, but with the Universities of Florence and Parma.”
This is reflected in the winery’s motto:
Mens et Manus, or ‘mind and hand’. The
result is high quality wines, both single
varietals and cuvées named for Roman
gods, such as the Diana Nemorensis I,
a blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot and
Cabernet Sauvignon. Already, Ômina
Romana wines are appearing in fine
restaurants in Germany, Austria, Italy
and Switzerland – proof that hard work
and diligence, when combined with the
right terroir, pay off.
“The location is in the community of
Velletri, an ancient city,” says Börner.
“The emperor Augustus was born in
this city.” This, he explains, is where
wine was born in the West. “Vines were
taken from here by Roman soldiers, to
France and Germany. So we are in the
nucleus of the western European wine
area.”
The wine trade collapsed after the fall
of the Roman Empire, and grape growing was abandoned until the end of
the nineteenth century, when Lazio
established a reputation for poor quality, high-yielding white varieties like
Trebbiano Toscano. Yet the Romans
were right to value Lazio, because the
region was once volcanic, and the soils
are fertile lava and potassium-rich
tufa. Sea breezes wafting in from the
Tyrrhenian Sea in the west moderate
the warmer climate. The Börner family
believe that it’s time to return the region
to glory.
“We asked ourselves what kind of
grapes we needed to cultivate,” says Mr
Börner. “We went back to Geisenheim
and did more due diligence and now
we do 70% red grapes, chosen to be
optimized for the soil and the climate.”
Planting by hand started in 2007, and
the vineyards are now growing 65%
international grape varities, including
the Bordeaux varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet France and Merlot,
along with Petit Menseng and Tannat.
Indigenous varieties include the white
Bellone and red Cesanese; altogether there are eleven red and seven white
varieties being grown on the property. Ten hectares of the property is also
devoted to olive groves and the production of high quality olive oil. “We are
It sounds like the Börner family had a
dream run, from finding the right patch
of ground to working with the right
people. Except that they’ve had their
fair share of issues, too.
“The thing that I was really surprised
about was Italian bureaucracy – it is
impossible to understand!” says Börner,
groaning as he recalls the red tape he
had to wade through to make his dream
happen.
But happen it did, and Ômina
Romana wines are now heading to
the major markets of the world, the
phoenix on the label a symbol of
Lazio’s rejuvenation.
INFO
Omina Romana
S.A.F. La Torre
Via Fontana Parata, 75
00049 Velletri (RM)
Tel/Fax: +39 06 96 43 01 93
[email protected]
www.ominaromana.com
families of wine
61
José Pariente
When persistence pays off
José Pariente
Half a century has passed
since José Pariente
brought his artisanal
touch to working with the
Verdejo grapes of Spain’s
Rueda appellation,
crafting a white wine of
exceptional quality.
I
t was José Pariente’s meticulous
approach to viticulture and his faith
in the region’s terroir that ensured
his wine would be an excellent
representation of the Verdejo variety.
Working in the 1960s, Pariente made
everything by hand, at home.
His energy and passion inspired his
daughter, Victoria Pariente, to take up
winemaking. Sadly, her father died in
1997, one year before she began production of the José Pariente Verdejo in 1998.
His vision was fulfilled, however, because
the wine was instantly well received,
and José Pariente Verdejo became a top
Spanish wine within a decade. It wasn’t
always easy, as Victoria, one of the first
successful winemaking women in Spain,
can attest. “This is ‘man’s work’,” she
would often hear — from colleagues
who hadn’t yet realized they were dealing
with a woman. But much as the vines
of Rueda’s stony vineyards and harsh,
continental climate do, she persisted.
In 2008, Victoria opened the doors to a
62 families of wine
new production facility between Rueda
and La Seca. Offering spectacular views
over the region, it’s a modern facility that
uses innovative techniques to produce
white wines of great elegance, freshness
and complexity.
The family has grown, but every member
remains true to their roots. Victoria’s
husband, Ignacio Prieto, oversees the
numbers as director of finance. Their
daughter, Martina Prieto Pariente, is the
sales director and technical winemaker,
following the passion and tradition of her
winemaking mother. And son Ignacio
Prieto Pariente is looking to the future
and new markets as the export manager.
Victoria Pariente
Martina and Ignacio
Prieto Pariente
The wine list has expanded as well, with
three Verdejo offerings and two Sauvignon
Blanc. José Pariente Varietal Verdejo
remains the flagship of the house, expressing the elegant crispness of the Verdejo
variety. José Pariente Barrel-Fermented is
produced with grapes from old Verdejo
vines and fermented in French oak barrels to produce a remarkably nuanced
wine. José Pariente Special Cuvée makes
use of innovative, oval concrete-clay tanks,
resulting in a complex wine of impressive
smoothness and silky texture, and a minerality not previously found in a Verdejo.
José Pariente Varietal Sauvignon Blanc is
a clean, cool and distinguished wine with
a wide range of vegetal, tropical fruit and
mineral notes. And José Pariente Apasionado is a sweet wine with a freshness that
both surprises and impresses.
Today, just barely a decade and a half
after José Pariente Verdejo’s first bottling,
José Pariente wines can be found in more
than 30 countries. It can be said that it’s
the passion and energy of José Pariente
that has provided the inspiration, but it’s
Victoria – who has poured her heart and
soul into the production of the wine and
creation of the winery – who is to credit
for the wines’ tremendous success.
What’s next? “Vineyard, winery, world:
a story of three generations,” they like
to say at José Pariente. Faith in their
soil, a sincere passion for winemaking,
and a deep respect for their craft, they
make high-quality wine they are proud
of — something this next generation
of Parientes is happy to share with the
world.
INFO
Bodegas José Pariente
Crta de Rueda Km 2.5
47491 La Seca
Valladolid,
Spain
Tel: +34 983 816 600
[email protected]
www.josepariente.com
Paladin Spa
Elegant wines from tough soils
The Paladin family
Passion, research, and respect for tradition and environment — these are the values of the Paladin family.
W
hen Valentino Paladin
founded Paladin Spa in
1962, he skilfully situated it
between Veneto and Friuli,
Italy. His talent in recognising terroir
has been inherited by his children, who
have gone on to develop the company,
acquiring three more estates.
Not only do Paladin wines regularly win
international awards, but the Castello
Bonomi Franciacorta Cuvée Lucrezia
Etichetta Nera 2004 won 3 Glasses, as
well as Best Sparkling Wine at the Italian
Sommelier Awards and the 5 Clusters,
making it the most awarded Franciacorta
wine in history.
Lucia works to develop markets, helped
in Germany and Switzerland by a great
wine ambassador, the export director
Renato Dreussi. She also coordinates
finance and marketing, including
communicating the company’s image
across all media. Roberto manages the
domestic market, supervising 60 salespeople who promote all the family’s
wines throughout the country’s best
restaurants, wine bars and wine shops.
Today it is Valentino’s children, Carlo,
Lucia and Roberto, who produce
regionally representative wines in the
Paladin family tradition. Their energy
and enthusiasm have helped to expand
the company’s reach and prestige.
The Paladin family practices “reasoned
viticulture”, putting every effort into
getting the best results with the least
waste, while working with the utmost
care for the quality of the wine, the
environment and for ethics. Projects
include reducing sulphites, maintaining
a responsible carbon footprint, taking
extra care in the vineyards – including
night harvesting to preserve the grapes’
aroma – and collaborating with Padua
University and Milan University.
Carlo started working with his father
as a young boy, and now supervises the production cycle from vineyard
to winery. Dynamic yet measured, he
is responsible for the winery’s overall
direction, the viticultural and oenological research, and the experimentation.
The family, famous for producing fruity
wines like the red Salbanello, have also
acquired more vineyards. After they
founded the Bosco del Merlo estate
in 1977, the Paladin family rejuvenated the old estate vineyards and planted them with more desirable vines, as
determined in collaboration with the
Istituto Sperimentale per la Viticoltura
in Conegliano. The 100-ha Bosco del
Merlo is now renowned for the production of great crus as Prosecco and
Sauvignon.
Another acquisition was the Premiata
Fattoria di Castelvecchi in Chianti estate
near Radda, in the very heart of Chianti
Classico. The setting is amazing, as the
vineyards range over some of the steepest
hills in Tuscany, at the foot of the millennium-old Castelvecchi Castle.
And finally, there is Castello Bonomi,
a tiny chateau situated on the slopes of
Monte Orfano in Franciacorta, the Italian region considered best for the production of Metodo Classico sparkling
wines. Franciacorta CruPerdu – a lively sparkling that rests for more than 36
months on its yeasts in the bottle – is
Castello Bonomi’s signature offering.
The passion of Carlo, Lucia and
Roberto Paladin is fuelled by a commitment to both tradition and innovation,
and is showcased in their picturesque
vineyards and award-winning wines.
INFO
PALADIN SpA
Via Postumia, 12
Annone Veneto
Italy
Tel: +39 0422 768167
Fax:+39 0422 768590
families of wine
63
p&f Wineries
Refreshing wines from Slovenia
For the Puclavecs, ’family’
means the deepest of ties.
p&f wineries is a very young winery, only founded in
2009. However, the Puklavec family has enjoyed a passionate relationship with wine for much longer, and when
it founded p&f wineries it was a return to its roots.
I
t is fascinating to meet people who
have been totally bitten by the wine
bug. People who devote themselves
to wine with a passion, who focus
on every aspect and put an unimaginable amount of energy into it. Martin
Puklavec must have been such a person.
As was often the case in Slovenia in former
times, the Puklavec family ran their vineyard as a sideline to their main occupation.
But it was only with Martin Puklavec that
the passion for wine really emerged with
any force. He became an oenologist and,
in 1934, took on the role of secretary for
the Jeruzalem-Ormož wine cooperative.
His main concerns were to improve cooperation amongst the vintners and increase
the quality of the wines.
History did not make Martin Puklavec’s
job an easy one by any means. After World
64 families of wine
War Two, Slovenia became a communist
state. To go into the business of quality wine production at such a time, when
vineyards were nationalised, you had to be
very committed. But despite the difficulties, Martin Puklavec managed to get his
philosophy accepted. As head of the wine
cooperative, he was responsible for the
construction of the seven-storey underground cellar which extended to 25 metres
below the surface. To allow the journey of
the grapes in the cellar to be determined
by gravity is the dream of many qualityoriented vintners. Martin Puklavec made
it happen it in a highly impressive fashion,
enabling his successors to reap the rewards.
When he died in 1969, the Puklavec family
left both the wine business and Slovenia.
Martin’s son Vladimir made his new home
in Germany. Trained as a mechanical engineer, he built up a successful company in
the gas industry and ran it for 27 years. But
he could not shake off the passion for wine
brought to the family by his father, and the
bug eventually got to him. “One day when
we were in the kitchen, my father told us
about his plans to buy grandfather’s vineyard and start up p&f wineries. At first, my
sister and I thought he was joking – but
in fact, it was totally logical for all of us
to carry on our grandfather’s legacy,” says
Tatjana Puklavec.
And so, Vladimir and his daughters
Tatjana and Kristina Puklavec built a highly committed team and went about the
business of making the dream of having
their own winery in their old home come
true. Even such a successful businessman
as Vladimir Puklavec would probably not
have automatically been received with
open arms in Slovenia, had it not immediately become clear that the family intended
to take up the legacy of the unforgettable
Martin Puklavec. In 2009, they took over
the Jeruzalem-Ormož wine cooperative
and founded p&f wineries.
The fact that none of them were from
the wine industry could have been a
disadvantage, but the Puklavec family
turned it into an advantage. Driven
by their passion for wine, they ran the
new winery with a fresh approach and
focused on quality in exactly the same
uncompromising way as Martin Puklavec.
The oenologist Mitja Herga was the perfect
person to assist the family, although they
sometimes brought him to the edge of
despair with their off-the-wall and dynamic ideas, but he always found a way to
implement the family’s visions in the best
possible way. “There is no-one I would
rather entrust our wine to than him,” says
Tatjana Puklavec, making it clear that
Mitja Herga enjoys the family’s trust.
He has a huge task ahead of him. p&f
wineries cultivate 650 hectares of
vineyards. On top of this, there are 450
hectares of vineyards commissioned by
vintners from the region. The mostly terraced land on the hills mean that farming the vines with machines is largely impossible. All grapes are still hand
picked, which contributes to the high
quality the family is seeking. The soil
is rich in minerals, combining a lot of
chalk, calcium carbonate stone and marl
with calcium-rich sandstone, thus providing the perfect subsoil for the vines.
In terms of grape varieties, p&f
wineries build on the white wine varieties typically found in the region,
such as Welschriesling, Sauvignon
Blanc, Traminer, Riesling, Pinot Blanc
and Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, and
Furmint. In so doing, the family is highlighting its Slovenian roots. This is also
an important point in terms of sales.
Certainly, targeted demand for Slovenian wines is not particularly great. But
if the wines from p&f wineries impress
a retailer with their quality, he is often
happy that he has a special wine he can
surprise his clients with and which his
colleagues do not have in their portfolio.
“We often hear comments to the effect
that there is finally something new from
the old world,” says Tatjana Puklavec,
with a smile.
The concept of striving for optimum
quality and first class value for money
pays off. When the Puklavec started in
2009, they exported 2 per cent of their
wines to two countries. Today, 70 per
cent of their production is exported to
more than 20 export markets. And so
the family is coming closer to its target
of making Slovenia known as a country
producing top-quality wines. The people
of Slovenia are also benefiting since p&f
wineries has created 150 jobs there.
“Our priority is the achievement of
perfect quality. Our wines are our pride
and joy. They mean everything to us.
Only those who comply with our high
standards can later bear our name on
their label,” says Kristina Puklavec,
making it clear that their relationship
with their own wines is not just one of
passion, but also a family one. Snappy,
fruity and modern wines are supplied
to the food retail sector as part of the
‘puklavec & friends’ line. ‘Gomila’, in
contrast, is reserved for specialist retailers. The precise and fresh taste of the
wines is endearing, as is the moderate
alcohol content. Those who enjoy wines
love the Puklavec family’s motto: “The
best things in life should be shared with
others.”
INFO
p&f wineries
Mildred-Scheel-Straße 1
53175 Bonn
Tel: +49 228 6044884
Fax: +49 228 60448234
www.pfwineries.com
[email protected]
families of wine
65
Quinta da Plansel
Head over heels in love with Portugal
Luisa Lindemann, Kai Schierke, Dorina Lindemann, Hansjörg Böhm and Júlia Lindemann.
When his boat capsized in the port of Cascais, a
young German called Hans-Jörg Böhm became
acquainted with Portuguese wine. Today his
daughter, Dorina Lindemann, is having her own
love affair – with her vineyards in Portugal.
F
or many years, Portugal was
described as a sleeping beauty of
the wine world, often receiving
far less attention than it deserved.
Recently, however, thanks in part to
the arrival of a number of passionately
committed foreigners, this most western
edge of Europe, and the Alentejo region
in particular, have increasingly attracted
the spotlight. None of the outsiders has
done more for the Alentejo than Dorina
Lindemann at Quinta da Plansel.
The history of this estate, around 100 km
east of Lisbon, and its wines began with
an accident followed by a pair of succes-
66 families of wine
sive love stories. The first of these events
was the capsizing of a yacht belonging
to a young German called Hans-Jörg
Böhm in the port of Cascais, near Lisbon in 1961. Böhm had grown up in a
traditional wine growing family in the
German town of Neustadt an der Weinstrasse in the Rhineland Palatinate. He
knew a lot about German grape varieties and winemaking, but nothing about
their counterparts in Portugal. As soon
as he encountered them, however, it was
love at first sight. Within a few years he
had become the largest importer of Portuguese wines into Germany, before deciding
to start a commercial nursery of his own
in Portugal in which to breed that country’s native grapes. In 1975, the year of
turmoil surrounding the Portuguese revolution, he courageously bought a house
in Colares followed by the Quinta de São
Jorge (a play of words on his name Jörg)
in Montemor-o-Novo, the location of the
Quinta da Plansel today.
Having sold his family business in Germany,
Böhm devoted himself to Portugal and
its grapes. He organised two international
viticultural conferences, published dozens
of technical papers and no fewer than five
books, including two – on Portuguese and
Iberian grapevine varieties – that have been
officially recognised by the OIV (Organisation International de la Vigne). In 2006,
Jorge Böhm, as he became known in Portugal, received recognition for his efforts from
Dr Jorge Sampaio the President of Portugal,
who gave him the order of Comendador da
Ordem de Mérito Agrícola (Commander
of the Order of Merit for Agriculture).
small amount of strawberryish rosé, produced from a blend of Aragonez and
Alfrocheiro. While Dorina delights in
these blends of traditional, indigenous
Portuguese grape varieties, her passion lies
in the single-varietal wines, built on the
foundations of knowledge laid down by
her father, Jorge over three decades ago.
While pursuing his academic research,
Böhm also contributed his knowledge to
the Quinta da Plansel winery, launched by
his daughter Dorina in 1997. A graduate
of the famous Geisenheim University wine
course, Dorina had, like her father, fallen
head over heels in love with the Alentejo region. She created her first premium
wine under the Dorina Lindemann label
in 1999, with an initial production of just
2,000 bottles. Two years later, she produced the initial vintage of Plansel Selecta
Touriga Nacional from her favourite grape
variety, and pioneered the making of single-varietal wines in Southern Portugal,
where the practice had previously been
unknown. In 2003, she nervously submit-
ted samples of that wine to the Mundus
Vini competition and won a Gold medal,
the first of an annual series that has continued until the present day.
From those early days, the quinta has
grown steadily. Today, its vineyards
cover some 65 ha and produce enough
grapes to yield around 440,000 bottles
of wine every year, which are sold under
the Marquês de Montemor and Plansel
Selecta labels. The focus, as elsewhere in
most of Portugal, is on red. One fifth of
Plansel Selecta, however, is white, made
from a blend of Verdelho, Arinto and
Antão Vaz grapes and, in the case of the
Reserva, pure Verdelho. There is also a
The varieties Dorina Lindemann loves
best are Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca
and, above all, the Touriga Nacional she
used to make her first super-premium,
single-variety wine, in 2001. Her passion
for these vines and the land in which they
are grown has been passed onto a third
generation, with the arrival of her daughters, 18 year-old Luisa, who focuses on
viticulture and oenology, and 20 yearold Julia, who works in marketing and
sales. Even with these bright, enthusiastic
young women at her side, growing overseas sales and a clutch of awards from competitions such as Mundus Vini, Decanter
and the IWC, Dorina Lindemann was
still very aware of the challenges facing a
small family-owned producer. So, she was
happy to see the domaine take another
evolutionary step when her countryman,
a businessman called Karl Heinz Stock
who was already owner of the Quinta dos
Vales in the Algarve, became a partner in
Quinta da Plansel. The coming together
of these two quality-conscious German
owners and a pair of estates in two different parts of Portugal has not only
strengthened both businesses today, it
has also helped to guarantee a long-term
future for the endeavour that began when
Hans-Jörg Böhm’s boat capsized over 50
years ago.
INFO
Quinta da Plansel
Apartado 2
7054-909 Montemor-o-Novo,
Portugal
Tel.: +351 266 898 920
Fax +351 266 898 921
[email protected]
www.plansel.com
families of wine
67
Bodega Ruca Malen
Nectar of the gods
When an Indian woman
looked up to heaven, her
eyes met those of a god.
The woman’s reward was
a nectar of happiness –
Ruca Malen
T
he Uco Valley and Lujan de
Cuyo, sub-regions of Mendoza,
Argentina, nestle along the
eastern base of the Andes, away
from the cold winds of the Pacific. At an
elevation of 1,000 metres, this unique
micro-climate enjoys sunny days and
breezy nights, allowing grapes to mature
steadily. Add the unspoiled, porous soil
and pure water from melting mountain
snowpack and you have a vine region
that produces healthy and intenselyflavoured grapes.
Jacques Louis de Montalembert,
Sebastian de Montalembert,
Pablo Cuneo and Jean Pierre Thibaud
past has seen him as the Argentine
Secretary of Energy, serving the World
Bank in Washington DC, and holding
board and managerial positions at the
largest steel and cement companies in
the country, respectively. In 1988 he
entered the wine business as Chairman
of Bodegas Chandon, Argentina, a fully
owned subsidiary of Moët & Chandon,
which he ultimately left for Ruca Malen.
Jacques Louis de Montalembert is the
son of Comte Charles de Montalembert
and María Francisca Bemberg, one of
five families that form and control the
important Bemberg group, which originally owned Quilmes, Argentina’s largest
brewery. Jacques Louis arrived in Argentina
aged 21 years old, and became president of
Quilmes until it was sold in 2002. He is
now Chairman at Ruca Malen.
Seeing the region’s potential, Jean
Pierre Thibaud and Jacques Louis de
Montalembert set out to produce wines
that drew on their French heritage, while
also expressing Mendoza’s terroir. Their
vision became reality in 1999, when they
founded Bodega Ruca Malen.
Argentine-born Jean Pierre Thibaud
began as CEO, and now serves as Vice
Chairman at Ruca Malen. His illustrious
68 families of wine
They recruited oenologist Pablo Cúneo,
whose intimate knowledge of Argentinean
terroirs has made him one of Mendoza’s
most respected winemakers.
The belief at Ruca Malen is that wines
are made in the vineyards, so the team
devote themselves to understanding the
terroir. Their profound knowledge of the
micro-terroirs along the Andes Mountain
Range is evident in every sip. Hand-
crafted using traditional French techniques in a modern facility, the goal is to
produce elegant, food-friendly wines that
express the true identity of each varietal.
The name Ruca Malen is a story in itself.
As the legend popular with the indigenous
Mapuche Indians goes, a tribal woman
looked up to heaven, and when her gaze
met that of a god’s, they fell in love. Since
they could not remain together, the god
gifted the woman a house and a nectar
that, when drunk, would revive all the
happiness derived from the god’s gaze.
‘Ruca Malen’ is this ‘house of the young
girl’, and the estate and its wine are reminiscent of the legend.
While their individual careers have
been stellar, it’s the commitment of
Thibaud and de Montalembert to the
Uco Valley and Lujan de Cuyo that has
proven the most rewarding, and which
has produced wines embodying the rich
history and spirit of Mendoza.
INFO
Bodega Ruca Malen
Ruta Nacional 7 Km. 1059,
55009 Maipú, Mendoza,
Argentina
Tel: +54 9 261 454-0974
www.bodegarucamalen.com
Roqueta Origen
The Roqueta family: Committed to the territory since 1199
It can be difficult to grasp the consequences of some historical events initially.
This is the case of the Roqueta family, whose history dates back to the 12th
century. Masia Roqueta, the house belonging to the Roqueta family, is mentioned
in documents as early as 1199.
The many members of the Roqueta family
I
n 1898, Ramón Roqueta Torrentó
opened a shop in Manresa selling
products grown by his family.
This included the wine his family
had grown for many generations.
Under Ramón Roqueta Torrentó, a
true wine-growing estate was created:
Bodegas Ramón Roqueta.
It is a family tradition that fathers and
sons alternate their names between
Ramón and Valentí. Today, Valentí
is the fourth-generation president of
the company and his son Ramón is
the CEO. Both are characterized by a
particular passion for wine.
Valentí Roqueta can only be described
as a pioneer of Spanish quality
winegrowing. By studying oenology
in Montpellier, he gained international experience at a time when this
was extremely unusual. It is therefore not surprising that when Valentí
became CEO in 1982, it was the start
of a new era for the winery. He was
spurred on by his passion for wine
and his ambition. Under his lead, the
quality of the wines sharply increased.
This was also because he was careful
to respect the special characteristics
of the grape varieties and the wine’s
land of origin. In this way, Valentí
Roqueta was a major driving force in
the creation of the DO Pla de Bages
wine region and he is still Chairman of
its Supervisory Board today.
His son, Ramón Roqueta Segalés, has
inherited his ambition and passion for
wine. LaFou winery, in Terra Alta, is
his own personal project. Fascinated by
the authenticity of the area, in 2007
he started the project with the aim of
producing outstanding wines from
Terra Alta that would bring out the
magnificence of the terroir and stir its
emotions. He personally looks cares for
LaFou, despite being very busy as CEO
of Roqueta Origen.
In 2009, Valentí and Ramón changed the
structure of the company and founded
Roqueta Origen. The new company
combines four wineries: Bodegas Ramón
Roqueta, in the DO Catalunya; LaFou
Celler, in the DO Terra Alta; Bodegas
Abadal, in the DO Pla de Bages; and
Bodegas Crin Roja, that produces wine
from Tierra de Castilla.
Each winery has its own individual qualities and aims to showcase the
characteristics of the region, particularly
with the use of local grape varieties. A
crucial factor is the Roqueta family’s
passion for wine, which is reflected in
their philosophy of preserving the clarity
and authenticity of their wines.
INFO
Roqueta Origen S.L.
Carretera de Vic, 81
08241 Manresa
Barcelona
Tel: +34 93 874 35 11
Fax: +34 93 873 72 04
www.roquetaorigen.com
[email protected]
families of wine
69
Cantine Sgarzi Luigi
In the heart of Emilia-Romagna
Luigi Leonardo, the second son of
Stefano and Nadia, says the best gift he
ever received was the toy tractor he got
when he was five; at just 19 he set up a
grape business. Today he is the company’s
agronomist and has introduced innovative technologies, including a system
of irrigation and fertilization that can
coordinate itself through a sophisticated
weather station.
Stefano Sgarzi still plays a pivotal role, as
he visits each production region to check
on the vineyards, and works closely with
grape growers.
The Sgarzi family
The Sgarzi family are a perfect embodiment of the
northern Italian love of good food, good living and fine
craftsmanship.
T
he Sgarzi family have been
making wine from their own
grapes for many generations in
Castel San Pietro Terme, a city
that sits at the point at which Emilia
becomes Romagna, one of the wealthiest
and most developed areas in all Europe,
and the heart of the slow food movement.
The modern Sgarzi wine business began
in 1933 with Liugi Sgarzi, who used
to deliver his own wines to the inns
of Bologna. Demand for his wines
grew, and Luigi reinvested back into
the winery and the vineyards. His son
Vincenzo eventually took over, and then
his nephew Stefano.
Today, the Sgarzi winery is a striking
piece of modern architecture, with a
70 families of wine
vaulted roof covered with photovoltaic
panels, in keeping with the desire to
work with nature and not against it. And
while the company is still proudly part
of Castel San Pietro Terme, and has 80
ha of vineyards, it also has wines from
across Italy in its portfolio.
The family has grown as well, and
multiple Sgarzis are involved in what is
now a major international business.
Multi-lingual Anna Sgarzi, the eldest daughter of Stefano and Nadia,
studied accounting and now works in
the international side of the business.
When she’s at home, she works with her
mother Nadia, the export manager, and
aunt Mariagarzia Sgarzi, chief financial
officer.
Cantine Sgarzi Liuigi produces a full
range of Italian wines, from bulk to
premium bottled wine, under hundreds
of labels, from Sangiovese, Nero
D’Avola, Montepulciano, Primitivo and
Lambrusco through to Glera, Pinot
Grigio, Moscato and Trebbiano, as well
as the important international varietals.
The Sgarzi winery was certified organic
in Europe in 2006, and then later in
Canada and the USA, and the company uses solar energy and purified wastewater. In 2014, the company invested
more than €1 million in an Italian-made
bottling line that can fill 30 different
types of bottles, with any type of closure,
so customers have the ultimate choice if
how their wine is to be packaged.
Every summer, crowds gather around
Castel San Pietro Terme and its mediaeval
rampart, to enjoy a wide variety of culinary and cultural events. Today, customers in more than 80 countries can be part
of that culture, by opening a bottle of
Sgarzi wine.
INFO
Via Bernarda, 40024
Castel San Pietro Terme
Bologna, Italy
Tel: +39 051 940962
www.cantinesgarzi.com
Rodriguez Sanzo
A successful husband and wife team
Amaya, Javier Rodríguez
and María Sanzo , with
Alvaro, Dugal the dog and Lucía.
Reds such as Damalisco Crianza, Terras de Javier Rodríguez Toro, Nassos
from Priorat, Terras de Javier Rodríguez
Bierzo and Lacrimus, Lacrimus Miura and La Senoba from Rioja, have all
helped earned Rodriguez recognition as
The Best Winery of Spain in 2013 from
media group Vivir el Vino.
The dynamic duo of Javier Rodríguez and Maria Sanzo
have created wines from the Iberian peninsula that are
renowned for their quality.
J
avier Rodríguez and his wife Maria
Sanzo embody one of the biggest
developments in modern winemaking. While others focus on
their own individual estates or on big
commercial blends with little regional
identity, Rodriguez and Sanzo – under
their company name of Rodriguez Sanzo
– strive to produce characterful wines
from a wide range of specific Iberian areas. At last count, there are no fewer than
25 labels from eight Spanish denominations of origin, including Rueda, Rioja,
Toro, Ribera del Duero, Priorat, Vinos
de la Tierra de Castilla y León, as well as
Douro in Portugal.
Part of the paradox – and an essential
element in his business model – is that
Javier Rodriguez is a winemaker without
a winery. His passion and skill lie in seeking out vineyards with the potential to
produce much finer wine than they currently deliver – and grape growers who,
with the right training and facilities, can
help him to develop that potential. To
achieve this, he invests in giving the vines
the care they need and rents traditional
wineries in which he installs appropriate
equipment and barrels.
In every case, he works with small growers who share his philosophy and desire
to combine regional character with quality
and value for money, and spends much
of his life at the wheel of his car driving
between these regions. He is obsessed by
every detail of wine production. Naturally, this includes the specific nature of
the soils and the grapes and the way they
are grown. This has not only drawn him
towards biodynamic farming, but also to
working on a project in conjunction with
University of California, Davis, to obtain
accurate data about soils and subsoils,
which is essential for classifying vineyards. Another Rodriguez hallmark is his
understanding of the importance of using
the right amount of the right kind of oak.
So, depending on the wine, it might go
into barrels produced from wood grown
in France, Spain, Romania or Hungary.
Quality white winemaking has been
less of a focus in Spain than red historically, but Rodriguez Sanzo has also
made a speciality of its whites. These
include a Rias Baixas Albariño called
María Sanzo, and an impressive range
of oaked and unoaked Verdejos from
Rueda – like Viña Sanzo Viñas Viejas,
made with grapes from pre-phylloxera
vines. But perhaps the most distinctive and revolutionary white is Parajes,
a blend of Verdejo and Viognier from
Castilla y León. In 2013, the bodega’s wines won 26 medals from competitions in Germany, Spain, Great
Britain, France and Belgium.
In a very few years, the Rodriguez
Sanzo brand – now sold in countries
from China to the USA – has shown
just how effective a youthful, dynamic,
quality-focused approach can be. And
how it is possible for a husband-andwife business to operate successfully
on an international scale.
INFO
Rodriguez Sanzo
Manuel Azaña, 9. 47014
Valladolid
Spain
Tel: +34 983 150 150
www.rodriguezsanzo.com
families of wine
71
Schenk
Swiss Europeans
Isolationism, a trait often attributed to the Swiss, holds no sway with the Schenk
family. The Schenks are Swiss and Europeans at one and the same time.
T
he Schenk family cannot and
will not deny its Swiss origin.
And so, it is characteristic of the
family that they do not speak
about their own business very much,
despite being involved in wine-growing on more than 3,500 hectares of land
throughout the world.
in 1850 through his role as a manufacturer of wine barrels. In 1893, his son
Arnold founded the wine-trading business in Rolle, on Lake Geneva. One of
the 235-hectolitre wooden barrels made
by his father is still in use today.
The Schenk family’s businesses operate in
a way that is a little similar to the Swiss
cantons which, under the umbrella of the
state, enjoy a great deal of independence.
Consequently, the company is able to
attract highly qualified staff who are well
suited to the tasks required of them and
committed to high quality work.
It was Arnold Schenk who took the
development of the family business
forward. Rather than just trade wine, he
also wanted to produce it himself. The
acquisition of several renowned vineyards in the cantons of Vaud and Valais ensured rapid growth from 1920
onwards. The Château de Châtagneréaz
in Mont-sur-Rolle and the Château de
Vinzel in Vinzel were the first.
Thanks to this open approach, the
family has been able to continuously
expand its sphere of activity. It all began
with Charles Schenk, who became associated with the wine-growing business
But Arnold Schenk didn’t stop with
Switzerland. He had already established
the company’s first branch operation in
Sète in the south of France in 1915. In
1927, Schenk moved into Spain and
Francois Schenk
72 families of wine
Philippe Schenk
founded Bodegas Schenk in Valencia,
which is known today as Bodegas Murviedro in Utiel-Requina, a subsidiary of
the family holding. In response to the
high demand for wine in France, Schenk
set up a vineyard in Algeria in 1933
which quickly grew to more than 1,000
hectares, thus providing for the international market.
The family also continued to expand
after the second world war and, in 1956,
established the Schenk Italia subsidiary, which has developed into an important jewel in the family’s treasure chest.
More than 50 million bottles of wine
are produced at the Schenk Italia headquarters in Auer and the company is not
only a distributor, supplying wine to
Italian food retailers, but also an exporter.
Castello di Querceto in Tuscany, where
the Schenk Group is a co-owner, and the
latest acquisition, the Bacio della Luna
Jaques de Simone
Olivier de Simone
Arnold Schenk
Prosecco winery, are the best known vineyards on the Italian side of the business.
Schenk is also strengthening its role as
a wine producer in other countries. The
prestigious Burgundy vineyard of Henri
de Villamont was acquired in 1964. In
addition, the Château d’Aigueville was
purchased in 2010, when the Rhône
estate was sold by a supplier of many years’
standing. The family is also very proud of
the Badoux winery in Aigle, which was
acquired in 2008. The small green lizard
on the Aigle les Murailles is one of the best
known icons of Swiss wine.
The combination of production and trading makes Schenk one of the first panEuropean wine businesses to achieve vertical integration from vintner through to
customer. An important cornerstone of
this concept was the acquisition of Obrist
in 1961. Obrist specialises in direct marketing and supplying the gastronomy sector. This newly acquired competence has
brought Schenk even closer to wine lovers.
Today, the fourth generation of the
family dynasty is represented by François
and Philippe Schenk, while Jacques and
Olivier de Simone represent the fifth
generation, although all four are virtually
the same age. François Schenk and
Olivier de Simone represent the interests of the family on the Schenk Holding
SA Board of Directors. Philippe Schenk
holds a leading position in the company
in his role as Chief Executive of the Swiss
Wineries and Jacques de Simone will take
over responsibility for finance at Schenk
SA in Rolle from January 2015.
The Swiss domestic market remains a
building block which is just as important
for Schenk’s business model as the Swiss
approach to trading. Every year, 16 million
bottles of wine are produced in Rolle.
Even if the family spend most of their
time at the head office or in Swiss
Winery Henri de Villamont in Burgundy
subsidiaries, they have never lost sight of
the company’s international perspective.
Switzerland’s position at the heart of the
European wine world means that the
most important wine-producing countries are just a matter of hours away. A
part of Schenk’s philosophy, however, is
to be represented as effectively as possible in international markets by largely
independent companies. And thus, it is
not only wines produced by Schenk that
are sold by the international companies,
but also those of other producers.
In 1964, the family founded Schenk
GmbH in Baden-Baden, which has
grown into one of the largest and most
efficient wine distributors in Germany.
When it established a distribution business in Brussels, Schenk’s plan was to sell
more of its wines in the Benelux countries. The company’s subsidiary in the
United Kingdom, Buckingham-Schenk,
has an annual turnover of more than 15
million bottles. Back in 1972, Schenk
took over the Bordeaux trading house
Veyret Latour, a first class location for
the worldwide distribution of the very
best Grands Crus Classés.
Arnold Schenk’s vision of creating a
Europe-wide business has long been
reality, but the family is showing no
signs of fatigue or of losing sight of the
company’s global perspectives. It will
be interesting to see which markets the
family penetrates in the future with
the help of its astute Swiss business
acumen.
INFO
Schenk Holding SA
Avenue de la Gare 18
1180 Rolle Schweiz
Tel.: +41 21 822 02 02
Fax: +41 21 822 03 09
www.schenk-wine.com
[email protected]
families of wine
73
Schug Estate
German craftsmanship with California flair
wife, Kristine, the winery chef, has
created hundreds of recipes to pair with
Schug wines. Kristine’s brother, Scott
Stone, manages the financial affairs.
Sales and marketing director Axel Schug,
winemaster Walter Schug (centre) and
winemaker Michael Cox
Walter Schug trained as a winemaker in Germany
before heading to California, where he made a name
for himself as a pioneer of fine Pinot Noir.
N
estled between California’s
San Pablo Bay and the winegrowing regions of Napa and
Sonoma is a rolling landscape
draped in morning fog, until the afternoon marine winds clear the air and reveal
one of the world’s unique appellations:
Carneros, home of Schug Carneros Estate.
The cooling effect of the unique weather
and topography allows the grapes to
ripen slowly while retaining acidity, making it the perfect place for Pinot Noir. No
one knows this better than Walter Schug,
owner and Winemaster Emeritus. Not
only has he made Pinot Noir for 60 years,
but the variety is in his blood; he grew up
in the Rheingau in Germany, where his
father, Ewald Schug, served from 1922
to 1959 as director at the Staatsweingut
Assmannshausen, planted to Pinot Noir
since the twelfth century. So Pinot Noir
production has been a Schug family
tradition for nearly 100 years.
74 families of wine
After Walter Schug completed his studies at
Geisenheim University, he worked at several wineries in Germany before moving to
California in 1959. He was the first winemaker at Joseph Phelps in 1973, where
he became known for Cabernet Sauvignon
and Riesling. But his dedication to Pinot
Noir is so great that when Phelps decided
in 1980 to cease production of the grape,
Schug negotiated to continue producing
Pinot Noir under his own name.
Despite tremendous success at Phelps,
Schug’s devotion to Pinot Noir saw him
lease land in Napa to develop his own
brand. In 1989, Walter and his wife
Gertrud purchased their own land in
Carneros. Today, Schug Carneros Estate
remains a family endeavor, although
Gertrud passed away in 2007.
Son Axel, with the company since 1989,
is a joint owner and managing partner,
responsible for worldwide sales. Axel’s
Claudia Schug-Schuetz, Walter’s daughter,
is European Sales Director, as well as an
MW candidate and the German ambassador for the California Wine Institute.
Michael Cox, winemaker since 1995, is
a de facto family member. A Northern
California native, Michael grew up in the
town of Sonoma and spent time in the
Sonoma Valley wine region as a student.
Originally, Mike studied chemical engineering at the University of California at
Los Angeles, before realizing his heart was
in wine; he transferred to the U.C. Davis
campus and graduated with a degree in
Enology in 1991. Mike will celebrate
20 years as winemaker in 2015, the year
Walter officially retires from winery duties.
The Schug family may have had a shoemaking past, with “Schug” likely derived
from “schuh”, the German word for shoe;
indeed, there’s a man holding a shoe in the
family crest. But with almost 100 years
of working with wine and a family that
is entirely devoted to the grape, Schug
has already come to mean something else
entirely: Excellence in winemaking.
INFO
Schug Carneros Estate
Winery
602 Bonneau Road
Sonoma CA 95476
USA
Tel: +1 (707) 939 9363
[email protected]
www.schugwinery.com
families of wine
75
Sileni Estates
A business that anticipates tomorrow
Simon, Lady Gabrielle, Sir Graeme,
Monique and Nigel Avery
Sir Graeme Avery is a man who can’t help but look
to the future. The hands-on chief executive of Sileni
Estates winery and his family have developed a wine
business which is anything but traditional. Success,
according to the Avery family, is based on anticipating
tomorrow.
S
ileni Estates did not develop
from a conventional wine
background – free from the
shackles of tradition, the family-owned company has cultivated a
unique identity. Constant innovation and an emphasis on delivering
business solutions for its customers
has ensured the company stays at the
forefront of the changing global wine
business landscape.
Entrepreneur Sir Graeme Avery spent
76 families of wine
more than 33 years as a leading international medical publisher. Seeking a
change he founded Sileni Estates in
1997, motivated by a passion he and
his wife Lady Gabrielle developed for
wine and food during regular business
visits to the Old World wine regions
of Italy, France and Spain. A favourite
destination was Milan, the home of an
important office hub for Sir Graeme’s
medical publishing company Adis
International, and the inspiration for
the name Sileni. Featuring alongside
the demigods of Bacchus, the god
of wine and the vineyard in Roman
mythology, and Dionysus, the god
of wine, the vineyard and theatre in
Greek mythology, the Sileni celebrated the end of harvest with good wine,
good food and good company. This is
the setting for which Sileni wines are
created.
The winery’s first vintage was in 1998.
Since then, the business has grown
from a production of 2,000 cases, to
a remarkable 750,000 cases today,
making it one of the fastest growing wineries, counted among the top
ten New Zealand wine producers by
production volume. The company
distributes wine to 78 global markets
across Europe, the Americas, Asia and
Oceania from its New Zealand
headquarters.
Nigel Avery
Simon Avery
Its home base is in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand’s oldest wine region. The area enjoys
warm, dry temperatures and a varied viticultural climate. The hotter plains at sea
level are well suited for Merlot-dominant
Bordeaux blends, a Northern Rhônestyle Syrah, and Semillon. In the cooler,
higher altitude, foothills and coastal sites
the Burgundy varieties of Chardonnay
and Pinot Noir, along with Pinot Gris
and a ripe-style Sauvignon Blanc, are
grown. Sileni also produces worldrenowned Marlborough Sauvignon
Blanc from its own vineyards, and by
working alongside local growers in the
Marlborough region.
The Avery family have a proud sporting and business history. Family patriarch Sir Graeme was an athlete and
long-serving athletics administrator, and
was instrumental in establishing New
Zealand’s national training centre for
high-performance sport. He was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall
of Fame and recognised with a knighthood by her Majesty the Queen of England in the 2014 Honours List for his
contribution to business, sport and food
and wine tourism. He is ably assisted by his wife, and family matriarch,
Lady Gabrielle. The family’s enjoyment
of, and contribution to, top-level sport
is evident in their two sons Nigel and
Simon, whose experience and competitive drive now serve them well within
the commercial environment.
Nigel, a trained accountant, has been
with the organisation from its inception.
He is also an accomplished and mul-
ti-talented sportsman, representing New
Zealand in track and field, bobsleigh and
weightlifting, in which sport he competed with distinction at the 2000 Olympic Games. He also won two Gold and
a Silver medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Nigel is now General
Manager, Sileni USA Inc. and based in
Minneapolis, from where he manages
the USA, Canada, Central and South
American markets.
Simon represented New Zealand in
surfing and was a professional surfer
for more than 15 years, before joining
the Sileni team in 2013. Prior to that
he was a surfboard manufacturer and
operated a successful surf retail business and surf school at Pauanui, on
the scenically beautiful Coromandel
Coast of New Zealand. Simon works as
Executive Brand Manager, responsible
for his home region of the Coromandel
and the North Asian markets of Japan,
China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan,
South Korea and Vietnam. Daughter
Monique is one of Sileni’s biggest
supporters, as an avid consumer and
outstanding cook, creating a variety of
local and ethnic dishes to enjoy with the
company’s food-friendly wines.
His family’s commitment and contribution to the business is a great source of
pride for Sir Graeme. He cites ProWein
2014 as an historic moment, the first
time the family involved in the business
had all been together representing Sileni.
The family are also naturally proud of
the growth of the company, including
the development of the staff within it.
Sir Graeme says it has taken more than
15 years to begin to fully understand
the business of wine, just as it did the
business of healthcare during his former
medical publishing career. “You only
learn if you recognise your ignorance,”
he says. A commitment to constantly
learning and developing, and a focus on
export development has been key to the
company’s growth.
Sileni focuses on strategic partnerships with its distributors and importers, developing business solutions
for its customers, rather than a wine
product solution. Sir Graeme sees this
as a key difference for the organisation, something that has allowed the
company to thrive in changing economic conditions. Sir Graeme says, “You
have to constantly be thinking – what
are the needs of the consumer going to
be in five, 10 or 20 years’ time?”
Investment into regular market visits,
market research and observations of
differences in lifestyle, consumption
habits and consumer trends have
allowed the Avery family to gain essential
insights into changes in the global wine
business landscape. “To succeed you
need to have a sense of where the future
might go.”
INFO
2016 Maraekakaho Road,
Hastings,
New Zealand
Tel: +64 6 879 8768
www.sileni.co.nz/
[email protected]
families of wine
77
Félix Solís avantis
Spain’s modest giant
Juan Antonio, Felix, Pedro
and Manuel Solís-Yañez
Félix Solís avantis has always been an outward looking business, thanks to the
vision of its founder and his sons. It hasn’t just weathered the economic crisis,
but has flourished, bringing the best of Spain to the world.
I
t all started when Félix Solís
Fernández moved with his wife
Leonor and their children to
Valdepeñas in 1952, because it was
clearly a good place for grapes: not only
had the Romans made wine there, but
winemaking had even flourished during
the Moorish occupation.
Today the Félix Solís winery is one of the
largest wineries in the world, with a production capacity that exceeds 300m bottles, and the company owns more than
1,000 ha of vineyards. Among its many
brands is Viña Albali, one of the bestselling Spanish brands throughout the world.
Along with wineries in Valdepeñas and La
Mancha, the company operates another
four wineries under the name Pagos del
78 families of wine
Rey, in Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Toro and
Rueda; its brand Blume is the largest Rueda brand in Spanish retail. It has a subsidiary in China, the Shanghai Félix Solís
Winery Corporation, plus operations in
seven other countries, which serve to the
more than 100 countries where the wines
are sold. Yet throughout the expansion, it
has remained a tightly held family business, with a strong emphasis on relationships.
Six family members are part of the company, beginning with the four Solís-Yañez
brothers: Pedro, Felix, Manuel and Juan
Antonio. All sit on the board of directors and participate in company decision making, with Felix Solís-Yañez as the
President and CEO. His son, Felix Solís-
Ramos, is international and marketing
director, while Virginia Solís-Ramirez,
daughter of Juan Antonio, works in the
marketing department where she’s responsible for advertising and packaging.
The company has always been very outward looking. It became one of the first
Spanish wineries to export in the late
1960s, and in 1998 it formed a winery
in Shanghai, China. In 2002 it moved
into northern Spain, with a winery in
Ribera del Duero, due to family bonds
in the region (Mr Félix Solís’ wife comes
from here). In a region known for its
small estates, the company decided to
take a different tack, creating an 8m-litre
capacity winery, and producing a supermarket brand called Altos de Tamaron
that Félix Solís Ramos is “a very determined, single-minded person and very
loyal to employees as well as to clients.”
and Condado de Oriza for the on- trade.
The Rueda winery was next, in 2004,
and then Rioja in 2006. In 2008, the
company bought Vina Bajoz, the largest cooperative in Toro, and completely
refurbished it, making it the largest and
most modern facility in Castilla y Leon,
with a 20m-litre capacity.
As well as producing branded wines in
volume for the export market, the company has also been forward thinking when it
comes to packaging, supplying wines in
tetra pak and prisma pak to supermarkets, in small formats as well as the more
usual size.
In 2013, Felix Solís-Ramos, International Sales Manager, was named Meininger’s
International Wine Entrepeneur of the
Year, for his role in expanding the company so rapidly during a period of economic
crisis. For his part, Felix Solís-Ramos says
that he knew from when he was a child
that he was going to work in the family
business. “All my life has been directed to
the business side, since the beginning,” he
said. “My background and studies have
been directed to have an important role
in the winery, and in the commercial and
sales part of the business.”
Those who are capable of making bold
business decisions often have brash personalities. And yet those who know
Félix Solís Ramos say that he’s quiet
and modest, and embodies the values of
the company. He is often described as a
good listener. One person said that said
He himself says that he is very proud
of the current international size of
the company, given that it started as
a small family business in the 1950s.
“This family has maintained the family
character in the company, along with a
professional philosophy,” he says. “This
combination of family values and professionalism has been the key to success.”
Félix Solís avantis has a new project to
be proud of – the creation of a wine
museum located in Morales de Toro
(Zamora). The Pagos del Rey Museo del
Vino, founded with a private investment
of more than €2m, offers visitors a high
tech and immersive journey through
wine culture. Light tables, touch screens
and other modern forms of storytelling
come together to bring to life the history
of wine, from ancient times to the present. The family hopes that Pagos del Rey
Museo del Vino is the first step into an
ambitious wine tourism development.
And, of course, when a future historian
writes the history of Spanish wine, Félix
Solís will no doubt feature prominently.
Virginia
Solís-Ramirez
INFO
Felix
Solís-Ramos
Félix Solís avantis
Autovia del sur km 199
Valdepenas, Ciudad Real, Spain
www.felixsolisavantis.com
families of wine
79
Cantine Tinazzi
A very modern Italian company
In less than 50 years, the Tinazzi family have grown
from being a small wine business to an internationally
respected name, thanks to knowing which vineyards to
invest in.
E
ugenio Tinazzi launched
his small winegrowing and
distribution business, Cantine
Tinazzi, in Italy’s picturesque
Lake Garda region in 1968.
Based in Cavaion Veronese, he began
making and selling local Verona wines
within the province. Eugenio Tinazzi’s
passion and commitment, however,
would soon extend his new company
past borders near and far.
Son GianAndrea joined the business at a fresh 18 years old, and his
lively, independent and proactive spirit
helped his father spread their reach to
Lombardy and, later, throughout all of
Northern Italy.
A mere decade after its inception, Cantine Tinazzi moved to a larger site in
Cavaion Veronese. For the next 20 years,
this served as the home of production,
bottling and administration. In 1986,
the Tinazzi family purchased Tenuta
Valleselle from the Camaldolese Order,
which included 12 hectares of beautiful
vineyards and olive groves near Bardolino in the hills of Lake Garda.
The next decade saw a rapid development
of their export capabilities, with Tinazzi
wines becoming available throughout
all of Europe. In 1998, GianAndrea’s son
Giorgio – now Commercial Director –
joined the company, and was instrumental in launching their presence across the
Atlantic, with exports to the US.
In 2001 the Tinazzi family purchased
the 15 ha Feudo di Santa Croce in
Apulia, a region with a strong vocation
for wine. The year 2002 saw Cantine
Tinazzi move again, to a much larger
facility in Lazise, also in the Lake
Garda area. The new facility houses all
elements of the winemaking process –
crushing, fermentation, bottling, and
the corporate sales and commercial
offices.
In 2009, GianAndrea’s daughter
Francesca joined the company, and has
worked hard to publicize the company’s
values and boost transparency in its dialogue with the public. She now heads
Tinazzi’s Business Control.
That same year also saw more export
success, with Tinazzi wines reaching
Russia and China. By 2011 the
company was expanding once again,
this time in Apulia, with Cantine San
Giorgio and 45 hectares of vineyards
in Manduria. The company now owns
72 hectares of vineyards over the four
estates in Veneto and Apulia.
The Tinazzi philosophy is that “a company that continues to evolve, expand
and improve, and knows how to meet
the needs of international and national
80 families of wine
Giorgio Tinazzi,
GianAndrea Tinazzi,
Francesca Tinazzi
clientele,” and their success is proof that
they live out these values. In less than 50
years the company has expanded from
being a regional winemaker to having
a presence on markets throughout
Europe, the Americas, Asia, Southeast
Asia and Australia.
The evolution continues — the Tinazzis
refer to their brand as “a mosaic of Italian
passions,” exemplified by a new project
that has paired a collection of exclusive
wines and Italian handcrafted leather
bags. At Tenuta Valleselle, consumers
can adopt a vineyard row and follow its
cultivation through to the bottles they
will consume. There are cooking classes
and even “team cooking,” an employee
collaboration exercise available to
companies that want to encourage and
develop team cohesion and leadership
skills.
In only three generations, the family
behind Cantine Tinazzi has not just
made their mark on the wine world,
they have proved that it’s possible to
combine tradition with innovation and
modernity.
INFO
Via delle Torbiere, 13,
37017 Lazise VR
Italy
Tel: +39 045 647 0697
www.tinazzi.it
Champagne Thiénot
A remarkable rise in Champagne
Apart from the quality of the grapes –
from 27 hectares of the company’s own
vineyards, and also from carefully selected growers - the Thienot wines benefit from a modern, glass-walled winery
on the outskirts of Reims. Today, there
are seven Champagnes to choose from,
including a Vintage Brut made from
equal proportions of Chardonnay and
Pinot Noir and a pale Brut Rosé which
was awarded the 2010 trophy for the
finest pink Champagne of the year at the
Decanter World Wine Awards.
Alain Thiénot with his children
Garance and Stanislas
The business of Champagne can feel like an 18th
century club that’s closed to outsiders. Yet Alain
Thiénot not only joined the club, he became a major
presence.
W
hen Alain Thiénot decided to start his own Champagne house in 1985, he had
valuable skills on his side.
For 17 years, he had worked as a courtier –
a broker – helping established companies
buy the grapes they needed. His daily visits to vineyards across the region had given
him a rare insight into where to find Pinot
Noir and Chardonnay of the highest quality – and invaluable relationships with the
men and women who grew them.
From the outset, Thiénot knew his wines
had to be of the finest quality. Everybody
working for his company was left in no
doubt about its focus: “One passion:
wine. One imperative: excellence.” For
Thiénot, wines bearing his name would
be recognizable for their finesse, fruit
and freshness.
Next, Thiénot introduced his wines to
connoisseurs who could appreciate what
he was trying to do. He not only turned
to wine experts but also to the chefs and
sommeliers who understood that great
Champagne could be a perfect accompaniment to a wide range of dishes. This
strategy paid off handsomely. Within a
few years, Thienot’s Champagne had
made its way into the cellars of some of
the finest restaurants in the world.
In 2003, Thiénot’s children, Garance and
Stanislas, joined the firm, bringing with
them experience gained in France and
internationally. Alain Thiénot remains
CEO, with his son and daughter sharing the roles of joint managing directors.
To mark their arrival, the name of the
brand changed too, from Alain Thiénot
to Thiénot.
Each of the Thiénots has a cuvée. The
Cuvée Alain Thiénot is a rich blend that’s
slightly dominated by Pinot Noir, while
the Cuvée Stanislas is a pure Chardonnay
Blanc de Blancs. As Tom Stevenson and
Essi Avellan MW point out in the latest Christie’s World Encyclopedia of
Champagne & Sparkling Wine, Garance
Thiénot’s unusual first name refers to a
shade of the colour red. This, they suggest, may explain why the wine that bears
her name is a Blanc de Noirs.
Both children are also referenced in the
Thiénot single-vineyard prestige cuvée,
the La Vigne au Gamins – literally, the
‘kids’ vine – a plot of old Chardonnay vines Alain Thiénot was happy to
discover on a hillside on the Côte des
Blancs in the Grand Cru village of Avize.
The Thiénot group now also includes
the Canard-Duchêne, Marie Stuart and
Joseph Perrier Champagne houses. In
just over 30 years, Thiénot has become
one of the leading members of the
Champagne club.
INFO
Champagne Thiénot
4&6 rue Joseph Cugnot51500 Taissy
France
Tel : +33 3 26 77 50 10
www.thienot.com
[email protected]
families of wine
81
Evangelos Tsantalis
Determined visionary
The Tsantali family has been cultivating vineyards, making wines and distilling
ouzo and tsipouro since 1890.
Ioanna Tsantalis, President,
Angelos Dimitriadis, CEO,
and Dr George Tsantalis,
Vice-President
Y
et the charisma and the larger than life personality of
Evangelos Tsantalis, second
generation producer, left a profound mark on the family business and
played a definitive role in the development of the Greek winemaking industry
in general. Today, the third and fourth
generation continue this longstanding
tradition with true respect to Evangelos
Tsantalis’ vision and innovative entrepreneurship.
Growing up among the vines and in the
family’s distillery, Evangelos Tsantalis was
soon to take over the business. In 1938,
he managed to create a small production
unit in Serres and, a few years later, the
first distillery in Thessaloniki. Quality and
consistency had always been the trademark
of the Evangelos Tsantalis name, leading
to a rising demand. Despite the commercial success, he remained humble
and hardworking, focused on his goal to
promote the unique identity of wines and
distillates from Greece. In the early 50s, the
82 families of wine
Evangelos Tsantalis
during harvest at Mount Athos
cultivation of Xinomavro grapes in
Naoussa attracted Evangelos Tsantalis’
attention and led to the development of
the privately owned Estate Strantza. This
investment inaugurated the family’s ongoing dedication to the preservation of indigenous Greek varieties and biodiversity.
The 1960s was a milestone decade for
the Tsantali family, offering outstanding
opportunities to turn Evangelos’ vision
into action. On the one hand, exports
had started, based on innovative infrastructure able to meet the expectations
of an extroverted business strategy; on
the other hand, the rejuvenation of the
unique vineyard in Mount Athos set the
pace for the development of the Tsantali
brand.
As far as the exports were concerned, the
penetration had as a starting point markets
with a significant Greek population, like
Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium
and the USA. Today Germany remains
the major export market for the Tsantali
family, yet the strategically enhanced product portfolio (e.g. organic wines) gained a
place in restaurants, special retailers and
supermarkets. Business has been developing rapidly supported by a commercial network in 55 countries and an extraordinary
record of success stories. It was in 2007
that Tsantali was given the Honorary Title
of the “Official Purveyor of Kremlin” for
the limited production Kormilitsa Gold
wine from Mount Athos. Following a three
year-period of in-depth vineyard inspections by Russian experts, the Tsantali family became the first winery ever to acquire
the prestigious distinction, which has
worked as an advantage for business development in Russia and the neighbouring
markets. Three years later (2010), Tsantali
Asia was founded in Hong Kong, aiming at a strategic entrance in the Chinese
market. Taking into consideration the
highly demanding business environment,
the Tsantali family has adapted a
long-term plan, focusing on creating
awareness regarding the wines of North
Greece, building up a connection with
culture and history, and offering tasting
opportunities through a chain of Tsantali
corner shops.
The rejuvenation of the Mount Athos
vineyard in 1969 was indeed a landmark,
the most tangible evidence of Evangelos Tsantalis’ passion and insight. On a
usual hunting day, a sudden storm made
him seek refuge at the Monastery of Saint
Panteleimon. While he was there, the
dilapidated vines attracted his attention;
soon he came back with a team of experts
in order to examine the vineyards’ potential. It is said that when an expert stated
that the rejuvenation of a secluded monastic community would be very expensive,
Evangelos Tsantalis replied tersely: “I did
not ask about the cost, I asked if it was
feasible or not.” The agreement with the
Monastery was signed in 1971 and since
then a huge investment has been implemented leading to the revival of the breath
taking vineyard in Metochi Chromitsa
and a from-the-ground-up renovation of
the winery, a fine example of traditional
athonite architecture. The ideal microclimate and the artisanal winemaking offer
today some of the most eclectic wines
from Greece. Mount Athos presented the
opportunity to the Tsantali family to introduce to the Greek consumers the sense of
“terroir”, the importance of geographical
indication. Six years after its official launch,
Agioritikos, a wine produced in Metochi
Chromitsa, was acknowledged in 1981 as
the first Regional Wine from Greece.
The Mount Athos project was just the
beginning, establishing Evangelos Tsantalis
and his family as the masterminds behind
the preservation of outstanding vineyards,
with the consequent support of local communities.
Rapsani has been yet another success
story: A wine region nestled under Mount
Olympus that produces the acclaimed
homonymous PDO wine. Winemaking
has been the main source of income
for the locals for centuries; however, in
the 1980s a dramatic decline was witnessed and the vineyards were almost
abandoned. Persuaded of the distinctive character of the wine, the intriguing
correlation to Greek culture and mythology, and the consequent export dynamics, the Tsantali family has undertaken a
huge investment plan, standing by the
local farmers, channeling expert knowhow as far as cultivation is concerned, and
offering the ideal conditions for the redevelopment of viticulture. Today, Rapsani
PDO wine, a red blend of three indigenous varieties – Xinomavro, Krassato
and Stavroto – is established as one of
the most renowned wine brands from
Greece; furthermore the Tsantali family
has recently introduced the Rapsani Wine
Adventure, a concept aiming at promoting the region as an alternative wine destination, combining exceptional natural
beauty, history, winemaking tradition
and gastronomy.
“The natural way is the only way”– perfectly sums up the dedication towards
sustainable development.
What would have been an impressive life’s
work for other people was only part of
the story of Evangelos Tsantalis. In 1974,
the construction of the new winery and
distillery was finally completed at the
company’s current headquarters in Agios
Pavlos on the first leg of Chalkidiki peninsula. In 1995, Tsantali became one of
the first winemakers to be certified as
organic. Today, it is by far the largest producer of organic wines in Greece, with
ongoing investments in green farming
and integrated crop management. One
of the mottos of the Tsantali family –
It will surely be exciting to see in which
direction the fusion between the experience of the third generation and the
fresh ideas of the fourth generation will
lead the family.
Currently under the Tsantali brand name,
there are five wineries: Agios Pavlos
Chalkidiki, Metochi Chromitsa in the
secluded monastic community of Mount
Athos, Rapsani in Mount Olympus,
Naoussa, the land of Xinomavro, and
Maronia Thrace, one of the oldest vineyards in Europe. Ioanna Tsantalis,
Evangelos’ daughter, is the President of
the company, while her brother-in-law
Angelos Dimitriadis took over the reins
as CEO. Dr George Tsantalis, Evangelos’
nephew, represents the family on the
German-speaking markets and at the
National Inter-Professional Organization of Vine and Wine of Greece. At the
same time, the fourth generation of the
family, Katrina and Maria, offsprings of
Haido Tsantalis – Evangelos’ daughter –
and Angelos Dimitriadis, are working in
the marketing and new product development departments bringing in fresh ideas
and an out-of-the-box perspective. They
seem to be as restless as their grandfather
Evangelos.
INFO
Evangelos Tsantalis AG
63080 Agios Pavlos
Chalkidiki
Greece
Tel: +30 23990 76100
Fax: +30 23990 51180
www.tsantali.com
[email protected]
families of wine
83
Miguel Torres
A Spanish family
The Torres Family
The name Torres is very closely connected with
Spanish wine, not only because of its very successful
brands, but also because of its efforts to promote and
maintain the diversity of the Iberian wine culture.
H
aving royal visitors is rare for a
winery. Over the course of its
almost 150-year history, the
Torres house can look back
to three such highlights. In 1904, King
Alfonso XIII honoured the vineyard
with a visit, in 1993 the Infanta Cristina
came to call, and in 1995, Juan Carlos
attended the vineyard’s 125th anniversary. That alone shows that Torres is not a
vineyard like all the others, but that it
has made a special contribution to its
country. It is hardly surprising that the
winery, its wines, and its different family members, were often decorated with
prizes and awards, the latest being the
number one position in the World’s
Most Admired Wine Brand ranking.
84 families of wine
Although the Torres surname had been
linked to wine for more than three
centuries, the company’s history started
in 1870, when Jaime and Miguel Torres
Vendrell founded a wine cellar across the
railway station in the small Penedès village
of Vilafranca, about 45 minutes south of
Barcelona. Since its foundation, Bodegas
Torres has always tried to combine tradition
and innovation with the utmost respect for
the environment. The latter is clearly reflected in Torres’ winegrowing philosophy:
“The more we care for the earth, the better
our wine” and its sustainability program
called Torres & Earth, which covers projects such as renewable energies, ecoefficiency in transport, optimization of
water use and CO² reduction.
One of the latest investments is an
electric-solar train used for the sightseeing tour through the Torres vineyards
and cellars, which reduces CO² emissions
by 50% compared to the emissions
generated by the diesel train. “Climate
change is a challenge for everyone: for
people in Spain, in Europe, for everyone
in the world,” says Miguel A. Torres. “We
are really standing at a crossroad and it’s
a crossroad about our future; the future
of the next generations. The model of our
world economy seems to tick too many
times in terms of ‘profit at any cost’: today
many of us act taking only today’s generation into account; but we should really start acting, taking several generations
into account.”
Today, the fourth generation of the family –
represented by the company‘s President,
Miguel A. Torres, and its Vice Presidents,
Juan M. Torres and Marimar Torres –
heads the company alongside the fifth
generation, made up of Miguel Torres
Castle of Milmanda
Maczassek (General Manager of the Torres
Group since September 2012), Mireia
Torres Maczassek (General Manager of
Torres Priorat and Jean Leon and also
responsible for the premium cava project),
Arnau Torres Rosselló and Cristina
Torres. Furthermore two other fifth
generation family members – Anna Torres
Maczassek and Marta Torres Rosselló –
are members of the Board of Directors.
Right from the beginning, internationalization and exports have been one of the
main pillars of the company, and nowadays
Torres wines can be found in more than
150 countries. Miguel Torres Maczassek
comments: “Where we stand today as a
company is the result of the extraordinary work and effort of several generations of our family and our outstanding
team of professionals who share the
values of the company. But I would like
to especially highlight my grandfather
who developed most of the export markets and my father who has been crucial
during the past decades guiding the winery towards higher levels of quality, as well
as developing our single-vineyard wines.”
This year Torres actually celebrates the
40th ‘vintage birthday’ of Mas La Plana,
whose first vintage – the legendary 1970
Gran Coronas Black Label – won the
famous blind Gault Millau tasting in Paris
in 1979 and put it on the world map.
Torres’ main goal is to produce top quality
wines, but also to reflect the region and
Bodega Waltraud with electric-solar train
ultimately the characteristics of a particular
vineyard itself. That is why Torres has been
expanding during the last 15 years to
almost all top wine regions of Spain, the
latest being the DO of Rueda. Miguel
Torres Maczassek says: “We still believe that
Spain has regions and wines yet to be fully discovered. The same can be said about
Chile, where we’ve grown wine since 1979
and where we have been working lately on
the recovery of old Chilean varieties like,
for example, País: we asked the vinegrowers to improve the quality and to get the
Swiss IMO Fair Trade/Fair for Life certification. This includes paying them higher prices than the market and guaranteeing that a part of the profits go back to the
vine growers to invest in their community.
Chile is discovering its own roots and I have
no doubt that the Chilean wines will have a
lot to say now and in the future.”
In Spain, Bodegas Torres is present in
the following Appellations of Origin:
Catalunya, Conca de Barberà, Costers
del Segre, Penedès, Priorat, Terra Alta,
Rías Baixas, Ribera del Duero, Rioja
and Rueda. Internationally, Torres has
vineyards and a winery in Chile (producing wines under the appellations
Central Valley, Secano Interior, Limarí
Valley, Maule Valley, Maipo Valley, Itata
Valley, Colchagua Valley and Curicó
Valley) and in California (Russian River
Valley, Sonoma County). The California
winery, Marimar Estate, is managed
by Marimar Torres and is owned by
Marimar and Cristina Torres.
Torres owns more than 2,400 hectares of
vineyards in Spain, Chile and California.
The most renowned ‘Single Vineyard’
wines are Mas La Plana, Reserva Real,
Grans Muralles, Perpetual, Milmanda,
Fransola (Spain), Manso de Velasco
(Chile), the wines from the Don Miguel
and
Doña
Margarita
vineyards
(California), and those made at the
Jean Leon winery. The Torres family’s
Spanish ‘Single Vineyard’ wines
age in the Waltraud Cellar, named
after the German wife of Miguel
A. Torres – Waltraud Maczassek –
who initiated and directed exports to
Germany 25 years ago. Nowadays,
Waltraud Maczassek is the President of
the Miguel Torres Foundation.
Torres is a member of PFV (Primum Familiae Vini), an association of 11
wine families who are among the most
prestigious wine producers of their region.
Torres has been a member since the
association’s founding in 1991, along with
Vega Sicilia, Egon Müller, Symington,
Pol Roger, Perrin, Joseph Drouhin,
Tenuta San Guido, Hugel, Antinori and
Mouton Rothschild.
INFO
Miguel Torres S.A.
C/ Miquel Torres i Carbó 6
08720 Vilafranca del Penedès
(Barcelona) Spain
Tel: +34 93 8177400
Fax: +34 93 8177444
www.torreswines.com
www.torresearth.com
families of wine
85
Valdo Spumanti
An early pioneer of Prosecco
Sergio Bolla with Pieroluigi Bolla
The Bolla family have made a name for themselves
both as winemakers and as sportspeople. This family
knack for winning shows in their early decision to
invest in Prosecco.
C
ompetitiveness comes naturally to the Bolla family. Pierluigi
Bolla, the president of Valdo, has
walked off with several Italian
skiing trophies, while Gianluca Bolla has
shown prowess at a similar level with his
golf clubs. Andrea Bolla, the 46-yearold Valdo Spumanti board member and
CEO of the energy provider Vivigas, was
a highly skilled and successful equestrian.
Not surprisingly, the Bollas have taken a
similar approach to their wine business.
The first member of the family to make a
living from wine was Albano, Pierluigi’s
great-grandfather, an innkeeper in
Soave, close to Verona. Not surprisingly
for someone living in a region where
86 families of wine
almost all of the land is covered with
vines, Bolla senior took the decision
in 1883 to offer his customers wines
produced from his own grapes. By 1939,
the Bolla reds and whites had gained a
local reputation for their quality and
Albano’s son, Sergio, decided that it was
time to branch out in sparkling wines,
and bought a small producer called
Valdo Spumanti.
The business was situated in
Valdobbiadene, in the heart of the
traditional Prosecco region, around
50km north of Venice. Today, Prosecco
is so popular and widely available that it
is hard to imagine a time when this style
was almost unknown outside Italy: Valdo
Spumanti, which was founded in 1926,
was, in fact, one of the region’s first serious
commercial wineries. Sergio Bolla, however, fully appreciated the potential of this
region of around 7,000 hectares nestled
between the Dolomites and the Adriatic
Sea. The combination of the hilly landscape and excellent south-west sun exposure make it the perfect place to grow the
Glera grapes from which Prosecco is produced, which have been cultivated here
since the days of the Roman empire.
Prosecco has become wildly popular in
recent years, as consumers the world over
have discovered what the Bolla family have
always known – that Prosecco is more than
a sparkling wine. It’s easy to drink, yet stylish and versatile enough to match with a
wide variety of foods, or even used in cocktails. In 2010, the quality of Conegliano
Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore was
recognised with the awarding of a DOCG;
Valdo Spumanti’s vineyards lie at the heart
of the DOCG area, making the compa-
ny an acknowledged leader of Prosecco
production.
Using the winemaking and marketing expertise honed in the development
of their highly successful range of Bolla
wines, the family developed several different styles of Prosecco. Apart from the
classic Prosecco Brut which was developed
for overseas markets, Valdo is served in the
most prestigious restaurants and hotel bars
in New York, the first of which was the
restaurant of the Plaza Hotel, overlooking Central Park. The Marca Oro Valdo
Spumanti has also gained an international following, as well as the more premium
Oro Puro – Pure Gold – that was launched
in 2010. A DOCG, made exclusively from
hand-harvested grapes, and packaged in a
striking dark satin glass bottle, this wine is
a perfect choice for special occasions, while
the Extra Dry is often served as an aperitif
and for more casual drinking. Other
styles include the Cuveè del Fondatore, a
Prosecco which is matured in 24 months,
including a brief period in barrel, and
Valdo N°10, a sparkling wine made with
Prosecco grapes, but using metodo classico techniques, which spends 12 months in
bottle. A special product, it’s a reinvention
of Prosecco that underlines the desire of
Valdo Spumante to keep surprising wine
lovers.
The diversity and quality of the Valdo
wines has helped to make this Italy’s
most successful producer of both Prosecco and dry sparkling wine, with an
annual production of 15m bottles, of
which approximately 50% is exported to countries such as Germany and
the UK – the leading markets – Brazil,
China, Canada, Mexico and the United
States. A 2009 distribution agreement
in the latter market with the Château
Lafite Rothschild Group has helped
the brand to develop a wide following at a time when Prosecco is among
the most popular and fastest-growing
styles of wine.
The quality of the Valdo wines has
been recognized by the award of over
100 international medals since 2002,
including more than 25 for the Cuveè
del Fondatore which has been named
Italy’s best Prosecco on several occasions.
Looking forward, Pierluigi Bolla says
that he is proud of the everything his
family has achieved since 1883, both
within Italy and internationally. The
foundations have been laid for based
Sergio – the fifth generation of winemaking in the Bolla family, who is based
in Germany – to develop the business
from the inside. Of course, competition
both in Prosecco and in the wine world
in general is more fierce than it has ever
been, but that is unlikely to worry the
Bolla family. Quite to the contrary, as
they have shown on the ski slopes, the
golf links and in the equestrian ring, they
relish the opportunity to show what they
can do. And how well they can do it.
INFO
Valdo Spumanti,
Via Foro Boario 20,
Valdobbiadene (Treviso),
Italy
Tel: +39 0432 9090
www.valdo.com
families of wine
87
Sektmanufaktur Schloss Vaux
Unique sparkling wine production
Schloss VAUX forms a strong familiy
Anyone who counts on the fingers of one hand the German producers who focus
on the production of top quality sparkling wine will surely have fingers to spare.
Schloss Vaux, however, has earned the right to be called an outstanding producer.
S
chloss Vaux stands out in
the German sparkling wine
industry through its history alone. Its headquarters was
founded in 1868 in Berlin, a city not
exactly known for its wine production. A German sparkling wine house
was established during the founding
years at Château Vaux, not far from
Metz, in Lorraine. The company was re-
88 families of wine
established in 1919 after the war and
moved to Eltville in Rheingau. Today,
Schloss Vaux is the last privately-owned
company of vintage provenance producing only sparkling wine and is wellestablished on the wine scene.
This worked in the company’s favour
when a group of friends took over
Schloss Vaux in 1982, founding probably the only wine company where family
members are able to choose their family.
Their enthusiasm for this sparkling wine
enterprise with a picturesque villa for its
home helped Schloss Vaux through some
difficult times, when other sparkling wine
houses had to give up and bow to competition from the high-volume producers.
Since Nikolaus, Count of Plettenberg
became Chief Executive in 1998, much
has changed. Plettenberg, who himself
comes from a vintner family, is well
attuned to how the industry works. He
recognised that Schloss Vaux had to
reposition in order to distinguish itself
from the big sparkling wine producers.
Plettenberg made sure that the terms
Secco, Lohnversektung (contract winemaking for other brands) and retail
brands were not part of the vocabulary
at Schloss Vaux.
Instead, he put all his efforts into
strengthening the Schloss Vaux brand.
This included dispensing with tank
fermentation and transvasement (the
process of removing lees by filtration),
which was tantamount to revolution in
the highly technical German sparkling
wine industry. Each individual bottle
of sparkling wine is developed using the
traditional bottle fermentation process.
The flavour also caused a stir because
brut sparkling wine was and still is more
the exception than the rule in Germany,
whereas with Schloss Vaux, every sparkling wine is produced brut. Some of the
investors doubted such drastic measures
would meet with success, but the large
majority believed in their chosen family
head and in the Schloss Vaux brand.
Initially, some of the sceptics felt
vindicated, as not every retailer complied with the consistent application
of quality standards. Some customers at the time even left Schloss Vaux.
However, this also offered the opportunity to gain new customers. From a
brand in the Rhine-Main area of Germany, Schloss Vaux has progressed to
become a sparkling wine sold throughout the country. From Sylt to Garmisch,
you can find Schloss Vaux on the wine
lists of popular and haute cuisine establishments. The return to the classic bottle fermentation process fitted in perfectly with the Schloss Vaux tradition.
Since then, the wine has been allowed
to age on the lees for 20 months,
resulting in very fine perlage. Each bottle is handled up to nine times in the
process. Despite the focus on top quality sparkling wine, Schloss Vaux offers
a wide range of 10 different sparkling
wines. Not to be missed are the Cuveé
VAUX white, the Rosé and a Blanc de
Noirs. The regional Rheingau spar-
kling wine is an illustration of the winery‘s commitment to its origins; the
sparkling wine consists of 100 per cent
Rheingau Riesling. With this vintage
sparkling wine, the bottle design of
the range changes significantly. Whilst
the colour of the bottleneck has always
been important – thus, on account of
Cuvée Vaux, many consumers associate
the colour orange with Schloss Vaux –
the absence of a front label begins with
the Rheingau Riesling. In its place, a
vineyard plaque on a cord attached with
a deep red Schloss Vaux seal adorns the
sparkling wine.
Innovative products in the portfolio are
a very aromatic sparkling wine made
from Sauvignon Blanc and a sparkling
wine made from organically grown
Weissburgunder grapes. Completely
new is a Grüner Veltliner, the product
of a successful sparkling wine experiment in the Rheingau vineyards. A
very particular base wine is required
for special products like these, which is
why it is necessary to work very closely
with the vintners. The Weissburgunder
grape used for the organic sparkling
wine, for example, comes exclusively
from the Neumer Ecovin vineyard in
Rheinhessen. Good relations with the
large VDP vintners are also critical for
the limited regional sparkling wines
from the renowned Rheingau locations
of Erbacher Marcobrunn, Rüdesheimer
Berg Schlossberg and Steinberg. Schloss
Vaux’s suppliers are often amongst the
crème de la crème of Rheingau viticulture. Whenever possible, Schloss Vaux
works with one partner for each of its
sparkling wines.
Since January 2014, Schloss Vaux
has become even more involved with
its grape production. The long-term
lease of seven hectares of vineyard in
Geisenheim means that the sparkling
wine producer has become its own base
wine supplier. Now, the entire produc-
tion chain from pruning through to
harvest, and initial fermentation through
to liqueur de tirage, can be accompanied
and monitored. Many of the discerning
customers are curious to see how this
brings further quality improvements. In
the medium term, the plan is to extend
the vine growing area to 10 hectares,
with a view to providing one-third of the
required base wine themselves. Schloss
Vaux is thus underlining its claim to a
special position in the German sparkling
wine market and once again breaking
new ground.
“It is not easy to sell high quality
sparkling wine at a reasonable price in
Germany,” says Count Plettenberg of
the many obstacles encountered on the
company‘s journey. However, he and his
team have succeeded in increasing turnover from 190,000 to 350,000 bottles
per year since the beginning of the
century. This is also down to selective
distribution which concentrates on
specialist retailers and gastronomy,
thus reflecting the value of the product
through its outlets as well. Christoph
Graf (sales director) and Clementine
Perlitt (marketing) are optimistic for
the future. The strategy has not only
paid off in terms of sales – for ten years,
liquidity has been so good that investors
no longer receive their family dividends
in liquid form.
INFO
Sektmanufaktur
Schloss Vaux AG
Kiedricher Straße 18a
65343 Eltville im Rheingau
Germany
Tel.: +49 6123 620 60
[email protected]
www.schloss-vaux.de
families of wine
89
Villa Maria
A New Zealand pioneer
celebrated an extraordinary run of 35
years of earning this title.
Sir George Fistonich
In 1961 the young George Fistonich leased a half
hectare of vines to make some wine. Fifty-three years
later, Villa Maria is a New Zealand institution.
V
ery few people have received
official recognition for the contribution they have personally
made to their nation’s wine
industry. Villa Maria founder Sir
George Fistonich, who was awarded a
knighthood in 2009, is one of that select
group. His journey began more than 50
years earlier, in 1961 when, at the age
of 21, he leased five hectares of land
from his father in Mangere, Auckland. It
included less than half a hectare of vines,
from which he made a small batch of
wine the following year under the name
Villa Maria.
Fistonich’s first steps into the wine
industry were not done to please his
parents, Croatian immigrants who
had planned a career in carpentry and
joinery for him. But his Balkan roots
were not irrelevant to his interest in
wine; it was the Croatians, many of
whom came to New Zealand to tap
Kauri trees, who first began to produce
wines for their own consumption.
As Sir George says, “I grew up in an
environment with wine and always
90 families of wine
enjoyed the taste of it. Being Croatian,
making wine was in my blood.”
In the 1960s, the New Zealand wine
industry looked totally unlike the global
success story of today. Indeed, it was too
small to be described as an industry at
all, although it was changing quickly.
Young New Zealanders were travelling
overseas and discovering unfamiliar lifestyles, and then bringing them home
and opening restaurants and wineries.
During Villa Maria’s early years,
Sir George and his wife Gail did
everything themselves, without staff,
and used grapes bought from farmers
in the region. In the 1970s, sales took
off, employees were taken on, and
an increasing focus was applied to
signing contracts with grape growers
and rewarding them for growing better
quality grapes, often with the advice of
professional viticulturists. These efforts
were rewarded by an impressive tally of
medals at wine competitions. In 1979,
Villa Maria became New Zealand’s most
awarded winery. In 2014, the company
Despite this success, sales were more
or less restricted to New Zealand until
1988, when bottles began to appear on
international shelves, especially in the
UK. Seven years later, Villa Maria became an early pioneer of the sustainable
wine movement, reflecting this move in
the environmentally friendly design of
the Marlborough winery that opened in
2000 and even more so in the Auckland
facility that opened in 2005.
Perhaps most significantly, in 2001
Villa Maria became the first major
winery in the world to switch totally
to screwcaps, in the early days of the
awareness of the quality advantages of
those closures. Unlike its competitors,
the winery took the trouble to explain
its decision on the capsules of its bottles.
Today, Villa Maria is not only one of the
largest and most successful wineries in
New Zealand, its four tiers of wine – Villa
Maria Reserve, Single Vineyard, Cellar
Selection and Private Bin – are sold in
over 50 countries across the world and are
doing particularly well in Asia. Inevitably
associated with New Zealand’s most
widely-planted grapes, Sauvignon Blanc
and Pinot Noir, Villa Maria is also now
known for innovative styles including
Arneis, Verdelho and Grenache. None
of this would have been imaginable back
in 1961, and the fact that it has all been
achieved by one man makes the story
all the more remarkable. And decidedly
worthy of official recognition.
INFO
Villa Maria
118 Montgomerie Road
Mangere, Manukau
New Zealand
Tel: +64 9255 0660
Fax: +64 9 255 0661
[email protected]
www.villamaria.co.nz
Velenosi Vini
Revolution through tradition
the other producers in the region.
Angela Velenosi was
just 20 years old when
she founded Velenosi
Vini with her husband,
Ercole. Maybe she
needed to be young
to believe in such a
seemingly impossible
undertaking.
T
he Velenosis have transformed the world of wine in the
Marche region. When they
established their vineyard in the
city of Ascoli Piceno, the wine-growing
region was one of wine cooperatives
and simple table wines. At the time the
Velenosis’ plan to produce high quality
wines appeared to be somewhat crazy.
Added to this, the wine growing business in the Marche region at that time
was very much a man‘s world.
But it was Angela Velenosi’s get-up-andgo which drove her young company
forward. Her motto, “Wine is the art of
making the world dream,” has spurred the
company on. In the beginning, she had
only five hectares of vineyard available,
which she devoted to local specialities:
Rosso Piceno DOC and the white wine
Falerio DOC. Having decided to strive
for top quality wine, the young Velenosi
Vini vineyard became a role model for
The vineyard grew quickly and, by
1995, there were already 35 hectares of
vineyard under cultivation. At the same
time, the Velenosis invested in modern
wine-growing technology and became
trailblazers in this respect too. Today,
grapes from 145 hectares are gathered
in their cellars and 2.3 million bottles
of wine produced. Most of the wines are
exported to many countries of the world,
including Germany, the USA and China.
The company has increased its staff and
now has 20 full-time employees. One
special employee is Angela’s son, Matteo, who qualified as an oenologist in
Tuscany and supports his father Ercole in
the cellar. However, the driving force is
still Angela Velenosi. She is not only the
face of her own vineyard, but also that of
the wine-growing region. In 2013, she
was elected president of the Vini Piceni consortium, having previously been
awarded the title of Cavaliere del lavoro.
Her services are very much respected
not least because Velenosi Vini
has always worked hard for local
Marche specialities. The indigenous grape varieties of Passerina, Pecorino and
Lacrima di Morra d’Alba have important parts to play in the product portfolio. Even the Vino di Visciola wild cherry wine speciality, a wine which is hardly
known in the region itself, is included
in the range. In contrast, international grape varieties such as Chardonnay,
Angela Velenosi
Pinot Nero or Merlot are only used to
a limited degree, primarily in Ludi.
Nevertheless, the latter and Il Roggio
del Filare are the vineyard‘s jewels in the
crown for red wine. However, as a Rosso
Piceno Superiore DOC, Il Roggio del
Filare again highlights the traditions of
the Marche region.
Despite the comprehensive range and the
enormous growth, Angela Velenosi is far
from fatigued: “All in all, we have done
a lot of work, but a lot more is possible.”
She is certain that, through serious effort
and talent, the professionalism of the
vineyard can be further increased, thus
advancing her own development, as well
as that of the vineyard and the region.
INFO
Velenosi srl
Via dei brancospini 11
63100 Ascoli Piceno
Italy
Tel: +39 0736 341218
Fax: +39 0736 346706
www.velenosivini.com
[email protected]
families of wine
91
Avelino Vegas
One big family
Anyone visiting Avelino Vegas should think carefully beforehand about what type of
wine they are interested in. Rarely in the wine industry do you find such a strict
separation between the production of white wine and red wine. And there is a
distance of over 100 km between the two wineries in Rueda and Ribera del Duero.
The Vegas Family
T
his allows the employees to
focus on creating the best red
wines from the Ribera del
Duero and the best white wines
from Rueda like Circe and Montespina. In particular, the short distances
between the vineyards and the wineries
ensure that the quality of the grapes is
preserved.
This demonstrates the philosophy of
the company‘s founder Avelino Vegas:
“Look to the future, work in the present and never forget your roots.” In the
present, they are focussing on producing special wines to be enjoyed in the
future, and 600 hectares of vineyards in
the Rueda region show that their roots
are not being forgotten. Here, or to be
more precise, in Santiuste de San Juan
Bautista, Avelino Vegas, the youngest of six children, took over the small
wine producing company owned by
his brother in 1950, thereby laying the
foundations for this remarkable winery.
He quickly recognised the potential of
the Verdejo grape variety and began to
produce varietal wines. As the business
grew, he began to produce bottled wine.
92 families of wine
Avelino Vegas Senior
His children now manage the entire family business. Avelino Vegas Junior is the
President of the company, Fernando Vegas is
the CEO and Maria Isabel Vegas is responsible for the administration and accounting.
The third generation is already involved in
the company. Maribel Garcia Vegas, the
daughter of Maria Isabel Vegas, was responsible for the construction of the white wine
winery in 2008 and has managed it since
then. This modernisation lead to even more
quality in the famous brands Montespina
and Circe as the varietal Verdejo wines can
be handled with more care in the cellar.
Despite its considerable size of 1,100
hectares, Avelino Vegas remains a real
family business. Fernando’s wife Ana
Isabel Gómez is in charge of communications and marketing at the company. Her daughter, Cristina Vegas,
recently completed her oenology course
in Bordeaux and will further strengthen the family company. The export in 35
countries provides enough work for the
family members.
An important milestone for Avelino
Vegas was the purchase of the Bodega
Fuentespina in the town of the same
name in 1993. He had previously traded
wines from the DO Ribera del Duero,
but could now devote his full attention
to wine production. Today, over 3,000
barriques made of French and American
oak are stored in the cellar. Here they
serve the elaboration of Fuentespina.
Avelino Vegas still strives to please his
customers by constantly increasing the
quality. The philosophy of Avelino Vegas
is also evident in the confidence he has
in his employees, whose professionalism is the basis for the high standard
of quality and customer service. This is
because, for Avelino Vegas, employees
and customers are one big family under
the name Vegas.
INFO
Bodegas Avelino Vegas S.A.
Calle Grupo
Calvo Sotelo, no. 8 40460 Santiuste de San Juan
Bautista (Segovia)
Tel: +34 921 596002
Fax: +34 921 596035
www.avelinovegas.com
[email protected]
Weingut Weegmüller
Palatinate roots
al for a vineyard in the central Haardt
district, Riesling is a major player, whilst
red wine varieties play almost no part at
all. The Weegmüller winery sees itself as
a white wine estate, where the red wine
varieties are made into Rosé or Blanc de
Noir. Considerably more prominent are
Steffi Weegmüller‘s favourite varieties of
Scheurebe, Gewürztraminer and Grüner
Veltliner. She is understandably extremely
proud that the Grüner Veltliner, which the
winery has produced since 2009, won first
place at the Laurenz V international blind
tasting event.
Stefanie
Weegmüller-Scherr
Anyone meeting the
Weegmüller family
would find it hard to
believe that they hadn‘t
always lived in the
Palatinate region of
Germany. Indeed their
migration dates back a
very long time.
H
ans Wegmüller emigrated to
the Palatinate from Switzerland in 1657. His son, Hans
Nikolaus, felt so at home there
that he bought the family’s first vineyard in the Haardt district in 1685. With
this, he laid the foundation stone for the
Weegmüller winery; the second ‘e’ in the
name was first added in the 18th century.
The winery is now the oldest winery in
the Palatinate to have been owned continuously by one family. After three and
a half centuries, the Palatinate roots
of the current eleventh generation of
Weegmüllers are as deep as they can be.
Steffi Weegmüller-Scherr is very wellknown in the world of wine. She wears her
heart on her sleeve and says exactly what
she thinks in her Palatinate dialect. This
sometimes offends people, but is valued by
most because this honest, direct approach
is so rare in the modern world of business.
She radiates an unbelievable level of energy. She has broken through some barriers
in the male-dominated wine industry
in a totally resolute fashion, as if it were
a matter of course. In 1984, she became
the first German female vintner with sole
responsibility for the cellar. It is typical
of Steffi Weegmüller that she sees this as
nothing special. Instead, she says that
earlier generations of Weegmüller women
also had to run the estate when the men
were at war.
She and her sister Gabriele Weegmüller
make a highly committed team. While
Steffi heads up the business and devotes
herself to the cellar, Gabriele takes care of
sales, export and the office. Teamwork is
also required on the many occasions in the
year that the Weegmüllers open up their
winery to events, creating a typical Palatinate atmosphere. The two Weegmüller
ladies are supported by four permanent
employees as well as temporary staff.
Their jobs include cultivating the winery’s 15 hectares of vineyard. As is usu-
The constant challenge which the
Weegmüllers have set themselves is to
express the character of the landscape, the
soil and the vintage in their wine, so that
lovers of good wine are able to taste its
Palatinate origins. The Alte Reben trocken
range, whose wines impress with their
high-volume mineral content and extreme
longevity, is a particularly successful
example of this. It helps the wine when its
grapes are deeply-rooted in the landscape –
just like the Weegmüllers.
INFO
Weingut Weegmüller
Mandelring23
67433 Neustadt/Haardt
an der Weinstraße
Germany
Tel: +49 6321 83772
Fax: +49 6321 480772
[email protected]
www.weegmueller.de
families of wine
93
Holz-Weisbrodt
Where you and your taste feel at home
is both a challenge and an endorsement for
Sebastian Weisbrodt year after year. The
winery therefore attracts connoisseurs of all
persuasions and generations to its tastings.
Willibald, Christian, Helga
and Sebastian Weisbrodt
As social beings, people – especially those from
Germany‘s Palatinate region! – do not like to sit
at the table alone. Things taste even better with
others, and it‘s just nice to chat over a glass of
wine and some good food.
A
nyone who has ever visited a
Palatinate wine bar could tell
you a thing or two about that.
For the Weisbrodt family, whose
fourth generation now operates the HolzWeisbrodt wine estate in Weisenheim am
Berg, this is a key aspect of their identity.
They are not only wine-growers who
cultivate their vines in northern Palatinate
with care and expertise — earlier generations having made their living as farmers
and coopers like the company‘s founder
Karl Holz (1908) — but also hosts. Hosts
and family. The idea is that anyone who
appreciates good wine and good food is
naturally part of the family. So, welcome!
94 families of wine
It is therefore only fitting that customers
should become guests, quite literally. The
winery has no less than three hospitality
areas: The Stammhaus (main house), a
traditional Palatinate wine bar which has
been part of the family right from the
beginning; the Atrium, a chic Tuscan-style
wine bar with panoramic views, opened
in 2005, which is home to enjoyment
and cosmopolitan savoir vivre; and the
Secco-Hütte, built in 2011, where the
dominant atmosphere is one of simple
Palatinate zest for life. Each location
corresponds to a wine range from the
estate (which also produces some notable
sparkling wines), from tasty and down-toearth to sophisticated, high-quality and
elegant. The top range is named after the
winemaker Sebastian Weisbrodt and bears
his hallmarks of international experience,
creativity and perfection. Teasing out varietal, characterful, multifaceted wines which
are unmistakably marked by the vintage
and the conditions of the Palatinate from
the integrated, naturally cultivated terroir
This ‘family’ of bon viveurs has grown
considerably in size, as demonstrated
by the large number of regulars at their
numerous events. For the Weisbrodt
family — namely Willibald and Helga
Weisbrodt, their son Sebastian, who is
responsible for the winery and the wines
and his brother Christian (who takes care
of sales and marketing), as well as his wife
Simone and other members of the family
— having a large extended family brings
its own joie de vivre and is of real value in
itself. The secret? See above. It is just fun
to share one’s passion for good things with
others. Vintages change, but this remains
the same. And, as the Weisbrodts know,
every bottle contains, “the energy, creativity
and passion of all the generations working
in the company.”
The team behind Holz Weisbrodt
INFO
Weingut Holz Weisbrodt
Leistadter Straße 25
67273 Weisenheim am Berg
Tel: +49 6353/93610
Fax: +49 6353/936161
[email protected]
www.holz-weisbrodt.de
De Wetshof
Champions for South Africa
The De Wets maintain meticulous
records for each vineyard regarding
the plants’ reaction to soil-types,
irrigation and the vagaries of climate,
year after year. Each vineyard is vinified
separately during the winemaking process, and the winemakers have a clear
understanding of what each vineyard’s
fruit is going to deliver during a specific
year. This commitment to site-specific
vineyard management has been an integral part of the De Wetshof ethos from
the outset.
Johann, Danie and Peter de Wet
The De Wet family are world-renowned as pioneers
of European noble grape varieties in South Africa,
winning multiple local and international awards for
their wines.
I
n the folds of the Riviersonderend
and Langeberg mountains 160
kilometres east of Cape Town lies
the Robertson Valley, one of South
Africa’s most sought-after wine regions.
This is where three generations of De
Wets have worked the loamy soils and
the richest deposits of limestone in
South Africa, to pioneer the production
of award-winning Chardonnay and serve
as a champion for the growing capabilities of not only their region, but also an
entire country.
The De Wets’ wine heritage stretches
back to 1693, when Johann de Wet
arrived in Cape Town to serve as bookkeeper and cellar master for Governor Simon van de Stel. The De Wet
family has been involved with the production of wine since, migrating from
the Liesbeeck River near Cape Town
to Stellenbosch to Franschhoek. In
1949, Johann de Wet Snr purchased De
Wetshof Estate in the Robertson Valley,
a region where the De Wet family had
produced wines for more than a century.
It became the first registered wine estate
in the Robertson region.
Danie de Wet, the second-generation
owner of De Wetshof Estate (with his
wife, Lesca), studied at the Geisenheim
Institute in Germany in the early 1970s,
where he was exposed to a diversity of
cultivars, the latest technologies and a
scientific approach to winemaking. He
returned to South Africa with a desire to
introduce improved plant material and
show the world that the country was
capable of making premier white wines.
In 1981, after exhaustive experimentation and plant selection, De Wetshof
became the first winery in South Africa
to market both Chardonnay and
Sauvignon Blanc commercially. Both
have gone on to win numerous awards,
but it is Chardonnay that is truly De
Wetshof ’s signature offering.
Son Peter has followed his father’s
winemaking footsteps, also studying at
Geisenheim. He further honed his skills
in the vineyards of Burgundy, Bordeaux,
Chablis, Champagne and America —
with fantastic results, winning local
and international accolades for De
Wetshof ’s Chardonnays and Methode
Cap Classique sparkling wines.
Son Johann has worked in the marketing
departments of wine businesses on both
sides of the Atlantic, bringing that experience to his role at the Estate. He’s also
responsible for vineyard management,
and is credited with helping establish
the Bordeaux cultivars Merlot, Cabernet
Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit
Verdot.
As legend has it, when Johann and Peter
were asked to sit for scholastic aptitude
tests, they refused. They said they knew
all along that Peter would be making the
wine and Johann would be selling it. Of
course they knew what they’d be doing
— they’re De Wets.
INFO
De Wetshof Estate
PO Box 31
Robertson 6705
South Africa
Tel: +2723 615 1853
Fax: + 2723 615 1915
www.dewetshof.com
families of wine
95
Casa Vinicola Zonin
Vintners since 1821
Domenico, Michele, Gianni and
Francesco Zonin.
Seven generations of the Zonin family have built their
wine business into one of the best-known and most
respected in the world.
T
he second child of ten, Domenico
Zonin was born in Gambellara
in 1899 into a family of smallscale vine-growers, who had
been working with vines since 1821. In
1921, Domenico planted his family’s
land with vines. He sold the wines
he made from them and founded Casa
Vinicola Zonin. At the end of the 1960s,
he was joined by his nephew Gianni
Zonin who, at the age of just 29, took
on the Presidency of the company, with
his sights fixed on a goal of producing
the finest Italian wines and introducing
them to the world.
He started with the purchase in 1970 of
the Ca’ Bolani Estate in Friuli. Gianni
Zonin recalls: “There were some doubts
96 families of wine
in my family as to the wisdom of leaving
the confines of our home region of the
Veneto. But I was convinced of my idea:
to produce really fine wines one has to
own vineyards, selecting the best terroirs
and the most typical grape varieties.”
Six years later, he startled the wine world
by buying the Barboursville Vineyards
estate in Virginia in the USA, to pursue
the dream of American President Thomas
Jefferson of producing world-class wines
in that state. It was a dream that Jefferson
was unable to realise – but which Gianni
Zonin could and did. Today, Virginia is
one of North America’s most dynamic
wine regions; the Barbousville Octagon
wine, a Bordeaux blend, has become one
of the best-known wines of the region.
The next Zonin acquisition was in the
more classic area of Chianti Classico,
where the company acquired a gem
of an estate called called the Castello
d’Albola, in 1979. Then, the following
year came Abbazia Monte Oliveto, in
San Gimignano, the homeland of Tuscan white wine, Vernaccia. Moving west,
in the 1980s, the Zonins bought the
Castello del Poggio in the finest part of
the Asti and Barbera region, and then
Tenuta Il Bosco in the Pinot Noir country of Oltrepò Pavese. In 1999, Zonin was
seduced by an enchanting spot lying in the
the Maremma, close to the Mediterranean
scrubland and lapped by the waves of the
Tirrenian Sea. He returned for the third
time to Tuscany in order to purchase the
Rocca di Montemassi.
The Maremma is one of Italy’s newer
quality wine regions, and far from the
only such area to have caught Zonin’s
attention. In 1997, he showed his understanding of the potential of the south of
Castello d‘Albola
the country by buying Feudo Principi
di Butera on the island of Sicily and, in
2000, Masseria Altemura in the Salento
Peninsula, in Puglia.
The Zonin family’s nine Italian estates
now cover a total of over 4000 ha of land
in Italy’s seven finest wine-producing
regions: the Veneto, Friuli, Piedmont,
Lombardy, Tuscany, Sicily and Puglia.
Of this total landholding, around 2000
ha are planted with vines, while a further
500 ha, of which 90 are under vine, are
to be found in Virginia.
Gianni Zonin remains president of the
company which now has 550 employees, including a team of 32 oenologists
and agronomists, consultation with
renowned oenologist Denis Dubourdieu,
and a 2013 turnover of €154m.
More than a decade ago, Domenico
Zonin became the first son to join
Gianni, and gained experience in both
Napa and Bordeaux that he put in service
of the company. He was joined by his
two brothers, who between them represent the seventh generation of the company’s history: Francesco Zonin is in charge
of sales and marketing, while Michele
Zonin controls the firm’s finances. The
company has grown so much in recent
years, particularly in the export markets,
that a reorganization became called for.
In September 2014, Domenico Zonin
was appointed Chief Executive Officer
(Amministratore Delegato) of Casa
Vinicola Zonin, while also holding the
position of president of Unione Italiana
Vini. The dynamic Massimo Tuzzi has
become Chief Operating Officer. The
new company identity – ‘Zonin 1821’
– was created by award-winning agency
RobilantAssociati, to express the strength
of a contemporary company that stands
on the strong beginnings of 1821.
Apart from its portfolio of great regional
estate wines, Zonin is well known for the
wide selection of wines sold under its own
brand. Leading these are the sparkling
wines, like the famous Zonin Prosecco.
Anyone wanting an introduction
to Italian wine can follow their way
around the country using a range of
‘Zonin Regions’ – premium-priced
native varietals including examples of
Pinot Grigio, Chianti and Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. They can then move
upwards to the Zonin ‘Classics’, the
super-premium priced range and the
‘Jewels’, such as the traditional Amarone
della Valpolicella and Ripasso.
Zonin is a keen supporter of wine
tourism, offering tours of the vineyards and wineries, visits to the company’s museums, and professional and
detailed tutored tastings that match
wines with typical local food products.
An innovative event that’s been created
by the company is the Sommeliers’
Themed Lunches, where top sommeliers are brought together in prestigious
restaurants – such as Nobu Berkeley in
London, where the first event was held –
so they can network. Another initiative
is the ‘Gastronomy Experience’, where
international press and leading sommeliers are brought together for a ‘menu
trip’ that takes them to meet butchers,
fishermen and chocolatiers, among other
artisan producers. Zonin USA’s first TV
show ‘From Italy With Love’ (FIWL) was
first broadcast on the Cooking Channel
in October 2014, the month when the
company won the award for Best Social
Media Communication of the Year.
After nearly two centuries of family winemaking, president Gianni Zonin says
that the family wants “to be closer and
closer to our clients and, by promoting
high-quality Italian wine, we are endeavouring to spread our country’s culture.”
INFO
Casa Vinicola Zonin Spa
Via Borgolecco, 9
36053 Gambellara
Vicenza, Italy
Tel: +39 0444 640111
[email protected]
www.casavinicolazonin.it
families of wine
97
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GetränkeZeitung
EINE MEININGER PUBLIKATION
Ausgabe 12 | 5.6.2014 | www.getraenke-zeitung.de
DIE FÜHRENDEN Verbundgruppen des deutschen Getränkemarktes, Geva und GES,
melden für das abgelaufene
Geschäftsjahr deutliche Ergebnisverbesserungen. Die Geva
konnte ihr Zentralregulierungsvolumen um 2,8 Prozent auf
nun 654,2 Mio. Euro steigern.
Die GES meldet ein Ergebnis
nach Steuern von 11 Mio. Euro
und damit den höchsten Wert
seit der Gründung 1950.
om
! Seite 3
Sales Director
Ralf Clemens, Tel. +49 6321 8908-81, [email protected]
Project Manager
Jörg Sievers, Tel. +49 6321 8908-67, [email protected]
International
Sales
Representatives
France: Ute Schalberger, Gladbacher Str. 44, 56072 Köln, Germany,
Tel. +49 221 58919393, [email protected]
Italy: Ediconsult Internazionale, Piazza Fontane Marose 3, 16123 Genova,
Tel. +39 010 583684, Fax +39 010 566578, [email protected]
Spain: Anna Granqvist, Sierra & Leth S.L, C/Antonio Maura, 12 – 4D,
28014 Madrid, Spain, Tel. +34 91 435 13 84, [email protected]
Production
Horst Emmert
Cover image
Jaboulet Aîné – Caroline and Jean Jaques Frey
Images
company photos
Printing
PVA
BIERABSATZ
9,061
Foto: stockphoto-graf - Fotolia.com
Für manche
das Aus?
April 2013
April 2014
Absatz in Mio. hl
Quelle: Deutscher Brauer-Bund
DIE ZAHL
195
Karim Rashid über schlimme Gestaltungssünden, die Bedeutung
von Trends und den Unterschied
zwischen Style und Design.
Mrd. Euro
MINDESTLOHN Lappalie oder
Existenzgefährdung: Wie sich
der gesetzliche Mindestlohn auf
den Getränkehandel auswirkt
nimmt der Staat jährlich durch
die Mehrwertsteuer ein.
Neuester Vorschlag aus Berlin:
ein einheitlicher Mehrwertsteuersatz auf alles von 16 Prozent.
DER LINK
GET-IN-KONGRESS.DE
Die Für Sie meldet das erfolgreichste Geschäftsjahr in ihrer Firmengeschichte. Personelle Veränderungen soll es ab 2015 geben:
Die GVG-Geschäftsführerin Silke
Rösler wird dann im Für Sie-Vorstand die Nachfolge von Artur Rogoszynski antreten, der sich nach
30 Jahren aus der Handelsgenossenschaft verabschiedet.
Mit einem Gruppenumsatz von
2,3 Mrd. Euro kann das Kölner
Unternehmen einen Zuwachs um
136 Mio. Euro melden. Die Sparte
Getränkefachhandel habe sich mit
einem deutlichen Plus von 11,5
Prozent klar über dem Branchenschnitt entwickelt, heißt es aus
Köln.
So seien die Umsätze des Tochterunternehmens LHV, das die Belieferung von Märkten der ReweGruppe mit Mehrweggetränken
organisiert, um drei Prozent angestiegen. Die Getränkevermarktungsgesellschaft GVG bündele
mittlerweile die Vermarktungskraft von 1.444 Getränkemärkten
mit 270 Mio. Euro mandatiertem
Einkaufsumsatz.
Die Berufung Röslers in den
Vorstand ist laut Vorstandsspreher Frank Morgenstern eine wichtige personelle Weichenstellung
des Unternehmens. Silke Rösler
ist seit März 2009 Geschäftsführerin der Für Sie-Vermarktungsgesellschaft GVG.
les
www.bushmills.com
Titelthema Seite 6
GVG-Chefin berufen
FÜR SIE mit Rekordumsatz / Rösler 2015 im Vorstand
The Bushmills word, the Pot Still device and associated logos are trade marks. © The Old Bushmills Distillery Co. Limited 2014.
Bitte trinken Sie verantwortungsvoll. www.drinkiq.com
! Seite 5
Wachstum ohne Ende
Andrea Meininger, Christoph Meininger
8,360
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Barzone mit Rekord
Publishers
DER MARKT
Branche weist
NDR-Bericht zurück
EINEN REKORD bei Ausstellern und Fachbesuchern kann
die BARZONE für 2014 melden.
Rund 6.200 Besucher kamen
zur führenden Messe für die
Szenen- und Trendgastronomie nach Köln.
les
Lingo24
EUR 4,90
KOMPAKT
Allgäuer Alpenwasser
stellt Produktion ein
DER BRUNNEN Allgäuer Alpenwasser bei Oberstaufen wird
seine Produktion zum Jahresende einstellen. Dies teilten
Vorstand Gerd Berger und
Hauptaktionär Franken Brunnen mit. Das Mineralwasserunternehmen aus Neustadt/Aisch
hatte die Aktiengesellschaft Allgäuer Alpenwasser 2004 übernommen und 2011 die Kleinaktiönäre herausgekauft. Die
Schließung wird mit einer
„dramatisch verschärften Wettbewerbssituation“ begründet.
2013 machte die Franken Brunnen-Tochter knapp drei Mio.
Euro Verlust.
les
DER NDR hat in einem am vergangenen Montag ausgestrahlten Beitrag in dem Verbrauchermagazin „Markt“ über angebliche Verunreinigungen von
mikroskopisch kleinen Fasern
aus Plastik in Mineralwässern
und Bieren berichtet. Laut
NDR hätte es sich bei den untersuchten Getränken um die
in Deutschland meistverkauften Marken gehandelt, alle
hätten solches Mikroplastik
enthalten. Der Deutsche Brauer-Bund verweist in diesem Zusammenhang auf eigene Untersuchungen, die nachweisen
würden, dass sich kein Mikroplastik im Bier und in dem zum
Brauen verwendeten Wasser
finden lasse. Zu ähnlichen Ergebnissen ist auch die Mineralwasserbranche nach eigenen
Angaben gekommen.
les
Translation
27. Juni 2014 | P 7101 | EUR 6,60
» ICH BIN
EINE
REIZFIGUR!
Wie Star-Winzer
Leo Hillinger
die Weinbranche
aufmischt
Clemens Gerke, Tel. +49 6321 8908-83, [email protected]
Felicity Carter, Tel. +49 6321 8908-790, [email protected]
13 | 2014
BEST OF RIESLING Die Gewinner | INTERVIEW Stefan Gerner
1
Heiß & sexy
Der neue
Glühwein-Kult
Editorial
Department
Aus bestem Whiskey
und sanftem Honig
Edler Whiskey aus der ältesten Destillerie Irlands ist
Hauptbestandteil des Bushmills Irish Honey. Dennoch
wird er nicht als Whiskey betitelt. Grund dafür ist seine
Anreicherung mit zahlreichen natürlichen Zutaten:
Der echte Honig von irischen Bienen und viele weitere
natürliche, teilweise überraschende Aromen berühren
weich und geschmeidig traditionell verwöhnte, aber
auch ungeübte Sinne bis in die letzte Zelle.
PLUS City Special Rio / WM-Cocktails / Haya Molcho / Biermarkt / Gastro-Scoring
Diversa Spezialitäten GmbH/TeamSpirit Internationale Markengetränke GmbH
Volume IX · Issue 2 · May 2014
20 €
MEININGER’S
www.wine-business-international.com
THE ARISTOCRATIC
APPROACH
DEATH AMONG
THE VINES
Christophe Salin, president and CEO
of Domaines Barons de Rothschild
(Lafite), oversees a wine company
that trades in some of the greatest
wines of the world, along with wines
made for everybody to enjoy. He
offers a global view of wine. Page 30
Dr Richard Smart, one of the world's
Rising prosperity at home, plus the
most renowned viticulturalists is
upcoming World Cup and then the next
sounding a warning about a grave
Olympics to look forward to, mean
new threat to vines that may prove
Brazilian wine producers have plenty to
more disastrous to vineyards than
be optimistic about. But the path isn't
Phylloxera.
Page 9 all smooth.
Page 27
NEW ROUTES
TO CHINA
IT'S PARTY TIME
IN BRAZIL
POWER LISTS:
AUSTRALIAN BUYERS
Volume IX · Issue 2 · May 2014
Getting reliable distribution into
Thanks to a still-buoyant economy, a
China is difficult and costly. So some
local wine culture, and a high value
enterprising wine traders have taken
currency, Australia is a booming
matters into their own hands. A look at market for international wines. Here
three businesses who are doing it their we identify the key buyers you need to
own way.
Page 27 know.
Page 54
Publishing House Meininger Verlag GmbH
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www.zwiesel-1872.com
Wine Classics Champagner.
Ein Fest der Sinne.
Champagner steht für Hochgenuss und
anspruchsvolle Lebensart. WINE CLASSICS aus
der Manufaktur von ZWIESEL 1872 bietet
exklusive mundgeblasene Champagnergläser
zur sensorisch abgestimmten Begleitung
exquisiter Menüs.
Wine Classics champagne.
A festival of the senses.
Champagne stands for great pleasure and a
demanding way of life. WINE CLASSICS of
the manufactory of ZWIESEL 1872 offers
exclusive mouth-blown champagne glasses
for sensory balanced accompaniment of
exquisite menus.
Besuchen Sie unseren Onlineshop:
Visit us at our onlineshop:
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ZWIESEL 1872 | GOURMET COLLECTION.
FÜR DIE SEELE DES WEINES.
TOUCHING THE SOUL OF FINE WINES.
NEW LABEL,
NEW LOOK
450 YEARS ACQUA PANNA
From Tuscany for the Art of Dining
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