It was a widespread rumour and Spanish media had already published the news, but there was no official confirmation from the producer. Finally, last Monday, Pablo Álvarez, CEO of Tempos Vega Sicilia Group, announced the new €20m investment in Rías Baixas (Galicia), during the presentation of the 40th anniversary of his family’s acquisiton of Bodegas Vega Sicilia.
The new winery, which is expected to be built in time for the 2023 harvest, will be based in Crecente (Pontevedra) in the Condado do Tea subarea, where the group has 10 out of the 25 hectares purchased so far. The rest are in the Salnés area, surrounding the villages of Cambados, O Grove and Sanxenxo. The goal is to own 55-60 hectares in various sub-areas of Rías Baixas to eventually produce around 300,000 bottles. This is the sort of volume that the family feels comfortable with and which has been replicated in the rest of its wineries.
A declared white wine lover, Pablo Álvarez has previously explored the potential to produce white wines in El Quexigal, a family estate in Ávila, in Vega Sicilia and in Rioja. He also made an offer to purchase Maestro Sierra in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz). From his point of view, Albariño and Sherry are Spain’s flagship whites.
For some years now, the group championed whites at its Hungarian winery Oremus. In fact, Mandolas was the first dry Furmint in an area renowned for its sweet wines made from botrytized grapes. Petracs, a single-vineyard white sourced from their oldest, most prized plot, joined the category in the 2017 vintage. A truly terroir-driven wine, this is a serious white with lingering minerality, all the more compelling considering current market trends.
Under the name Bodegas y Viñedos Deiva, Vega Sicilia will produce two whites in Galicia: Deiva, aged for two years, and the top Arnela, aged for three years. The inspiration for the name Deiva comes from the river Deva, a tributary of the Miño, which flows close to the area where the winery is expected to be built. Arnela is a Galician term for beaches in open coastal areas, generally saddled between two mountains and where a river flows into the sea.
According to Pablo Álvarez, the land acquired so far is planted to Albariño vines of some age. All of them are trained under the area’s traditional pergola system. With regard to the style of the wines, Álvarez pointed out that, after various trials, the technical team had concluded that Albariño does not readily accept oak. Gonzalo Iturriaga, the group’s chief winemaker, oversees the wines. Kyriakos Kynigopoulos, a renowned consultant based in Burgundy, who has been working with Tempos Vega Sicilia in the development of the Oremus range of dry wines in Hungary, is also advising in Rías Baixas.
“When my father placed me at the helm of Vega Sicilia 37 years ago I knew nothing about wine,” confessed Pablo Álvarez. David Álvarez was asked to find a buyer for the legendary Spanish winery but ended up acquiring it himself. The deal was signed on 14 April 1982 in Zalacaín, a popular restaurant among politicians and businessmen in Madrid, just a few years before it was awarded its third Michelin star.
Pablo Álvarez showed his gratitude to Jesús Anadón, who managed Vega Sicilia between the 1950s and his retirement in 1985 and was a member of the Board of Directors until he passed away in 1992. “I learnt from him that the vineyards are the cornerstone of everything”.
Today the group owns 650 hectares under vine distributed among wineries in Ribera del Duero (Vega Sicilia and Alión, 1991), Toro (Pintia, 2001), Rioja (co-owned with Benjamin de Rothschild, 2009) and Tokaj in Hungary (Oremus, 1993). Deiva is the latest addition.
The ultimate goal is for all of them to be self-sufficient. Vega Sicilia already operates in this way, Pintia is about to do so, and Alión still needs some time because the company does not produce wine from vines younger than 11 years old.
The company’s growth over the last 40 years is remarkable, yet its achievements are much more than a mere numerical progression. “Vega Sicilia has progressed from being a highly respected producer to become a globally admired brand,” said Marta Álvarez, the group’s president.
According to data provided by managing director Antonio Menéndez, turnover has risen from €1.2m in 1982 to €60m in 2021, production from 200,000 to 1.2m bottles, and earnings from €400,000 to €30m. Each year, €5m are invested in the renewal and maintenance of the wineries' assets. In 1982, the company exported to just five countries; at present, 70% of its wines are shipped to 150 countries through a network of over 250 distributors.
In Spain, wines are sold to 3,700 buyers under a strict allocation system. Of those, 2,700 are private individuals representing 10% of sales, while the off-trade represents 60% and the on-trade 30%. Demand clearly exceeds supply: there is a waiting list of 2,500 applicants.
With an average ex-cellar price of €55 to €60, Tempos Vega Sicilia is undoubtedly the most profitable group in the Spanish wine business. No other company sells as many bottles at these prices.
The 40th anniversary celebrations will include three events to be held throughout the year with national and international clients and the press. The press event, which we are hoping to attend, will feature a tasting of the 40 Vega Sicilia Único magnums released to date.
In addition, a book charting the last 40 years of Vega Sicilia -the third one produced by the house so far- will be published towards the end of the year. Edited by La Fábrica, it will be written by journalist and writer Alfonso Armada with photographs by Luis de las Alas.
To round it off, a limited 100-case edition will also go on sale at the end of the year containing seven magnums of the latest vintages of Vega Sicilia Único, Vega Sicilia Reserva Especial, Valbuena, Alión, Pintia, Macán and Petracs, Oremus's new premium white. One of these cases will be auctioned for charity.
