Sue and I recently spent more than two weeks in Andalusia, Spain, about half of the time exploring the wine scene and the other half enjoying the region’s history and culture.
We covered a lot of territory and were a little surprised that the dominant feature of the landscape was not grape vines as you might expect, but olive trees! As far as the eye can see. Olives everywhere! We even visited an olive oil cooperative and learned that the main factors that lead an olive oil cooperative to either success or failure are much the same as those we observe in wine cooperatives.
But we came for wine. We tried to pick wineries that were very different from one another and so would together give us a more complete picture of this fascinating wine region. Let us tell you a bit about each one over the next two weeks.
Bodegas Alvear
Our first stop was Bodegas Alvear in the Montilla-Moriles region near Cordoba. The wines made here are much like Sherry but of course cannot be called Sherry because they are not in the Jerez D.O. (Confusingly, Pedro Ximenez grapes from Montilla can be made into Sherry wine by producers located in Jerez. PX grows really well in Montilla but struggles in Jerez.)
Alvear makes up for the absence of a famous appellation by having a famous brand. Indeed, Alvear is both the oldest winery in this area and one of the most respected in all of Spain. I haven’t seen many Montilla wines at local shops, but I have seen the Alvear PX Reserva, which I remember as the very first Robert Parker 100-point wine we tried (the current release is rated 98 points).
We had an excellent tour and tasting at Alvear and were impressed with the combination of tradition and innovation that we found there. The tradition is obviously the classic wine styles such as Fino and the PX. The innovation takes many forms. Important today is the development of non-fortified wines such as the refreshingly light El Rebate we sampled at the tasting and the complex red Palacio Quemado shown here that we were served a couple of nights before at La Montillana restaurant in Cordoba.
But maybe the most important innovation is the Alvear Vermut. Alvear is one of the pioneers in making Vermouth from Sherry-style wines. Alvear’s Vermut is popular (it was listed as “The Classic” at a Vermut bar we visited in Madrid) and has opened up opportunities for other producers in the region.
Bodegas Williams & Humbert
Bodegas Williams & Humbert occupies a vast industrial space on the edge of Jerez. The barrel room sort of takes your breath away. This is the home of famous brands such as Dry Sack (the go-to aprétif of White House dinners in the 1950s) and Canasta Cream Sherry among others.
We were there because of the memory of a dinner we had 20 years ago at a restaurant called La Madonnina del Pescatore in Senegalia, Italy. At the end of a fabulous seafood dinner we were served glasses of Don Zoilo PX. This was probably our first PX and it simply blew us away. You know how some wines are impossible to forget? That was the Don Zoilo PX and it is made by Williams & Humbert. We had to visit.
(Aside: According to their website, La Madoninna del Pescatore no longer serves the Don Zoilo PX. They offer a Williams & Humbert PX instead. The PX seems to have stood the test of time!)
We toured the winery and tasted through the wines. It was quite an experience because each of the many brands and styles and different aging treatments. Every time we thought we’d found our favorite we encountered something new and delicious. This is not a bad problem to have.
It was at Williams & Humbert that we first saw the light wood barrels surrounded by traditional black barrels. The black casks age Sherry (many of them were signed by celebrities including all four Beatles when they visited the winery years ago). The light wood barrels also contained Sherry, but the point was to condition the wood for eventual use in production of Sherry-barrel-aged Whiskey.
It was also at Williams & Humbert that we first realized the significance of Brandy to many Sherry producers. Sherry is a fortified wine, so stills are a common sight. Brandy is often produced in addition to the spirits that fortify Sherry. This Brandy is popular in Spain and other countries including Mexico and the Philippines. The Brandy market is so important for Williams & Humbert that the company is actually co-owned by a Spanish family and a Philippine firm that markets the Brandy there.
It is interesting to consider how a sip of PX at a restaurant on the Adriatic coast could lead us to such an interesting experience.
Bodegas Lustau
It wasn’t hard to convince us to visit Bodegas Lustau, which is a well-known brand in the United States. The bottles and labels are attractive, the wines are full of character, and the products are well-priced and widely available. Lustau was always on our list and our Jerez friends encouraged us as well because a visit to Lustau gives a glimpse of Sherry history and tradition. Our tour started in a conference room overlooking the big barrel cathedral. That’s got to be one of the best office views in the world.
Originally a family business, Lustau has weathered the booms and busts of the Sherry game. In 1990 it was acquired by the Luis Caballero Group, a Spanish family-owned company specializing in wine and spirits. With strong backing, Lustau has both expanded its Sherry business and also ventured into Vermut, Brandy de Jerez, vinegar, and Sherry casks for spirits.
The Lustau wines are impressive and we spent a very happy hour barrel-tasting with our host. But what I remember best is the importance of branding. Building the Lustau brand was important right from the start, especially in the export market. Indeed, Lustau was better known abroad than in Spain until recently. The advent of Sherry-based Lustau Vermut, wildly popular in Spain and now available in the U.S., too, brought the brand to the attention of the Spanish market.
I guess the success of Lustau Vermut shows that the company hasn’t lost its ability to create and develop successful brands. The winery hosts about 10,000 visitors a year, 40 percent from Spain and 60 percent from abroad.
Last week we analyzed the strategies that Andalusian wineries use to broaden and deepen their businesses while avoiding the boom-bust cycle. It is interesting to see these strategies at work at Alvear, Williams & Humbert, and Lustau. It is even more interesting to see the power of brands in this industry. Each of these wineries has succeeded in part by creating and maintaining powerful brand identities, some with global reach.
