Control of the wine industry Before the eighteenth century, the wine trade was in the hands of smaller individual traders and institutions across modern cellars were completely unknown, there was no continuity and no name records individual traders have survived. Only a modern enterprise, JM Rivero can trace its ancestry directly to an earlier period. This house has been negotiating since at least 1653.
Its trademark is CZ, and the initials mean y Cabeza Zarco, the name of Don Pedro Alonso Cabeza de Zarco y Aranda, who was its founder. One of his descendants, Don Antonio Cabeza de Aranda (which was created Brands of Montana by royal decree in 1775) to Don Francisco Antonio Shall fix the partnership. Don Francisco granddaughter married Don Pedro Agustin Rivero, whose descendants still own the company.
Many valuable records have been preserved, including marble coasters ( http://www.thirstycoasters.com/servlet/-strse-Cats-&-Dogs/Categories ), letter books dating from 1734, and books Accounts 1802, which record the names of several British merchants trading in Andalusia. Sales records from this period are rare, so the business was done by word of mouth, to avoid the royal tax.
The oldest established wineries seems many founded by immigrants from the British Isles that Rafael O'Neale. O'Neale's family fled persecution in the troubles in Ireland during the seventeenth century, and entered the army of France and Spain, to follow the only profession open to them.
In 1724, Timothy O'Neale, who had married one of the best families in the region, has established his winery in Jerez, and is now run by the widow of Don Enrique O'Neale, a descendant. Until now, however, no detailed records of the company history came to light. It is a small auction house on export markets, but very few wines, stone coasters ( http://www.thirstycoasters.com/servlet/-strse-Garden-Accents/ categories ), and a wine cellar that includes some of the Moorish city walls and is designated "Monumento Nacional.
The oldest settlements of the great wineries is undoubtedly that of Pedro Domecq. The Domecq family home in the Lower Pyrenees, and their history has been traced in detail by a private investigator, apparently to satisfy his own curiosity, as he remains in his possession and is not published. It is, however, a remarkable document and makes fascinating reading.
Inevitably, there are elements of comedy, as when the dowry of a noble lady had two cows (with bells) and a feather bed. But it is essentially the recording of a great aristocratic family who had the rare privilege to bow to each successive king of France and him having a pair of white gloves.
Like many other French aristocrats, some family members thought it prudent to leave their native country during the eighteenth century, and their arrival in Andalusia had a profound effect on the history of the sherry trade. But Domecq bodegas trace their origin to the year 1730, when the family was still Domecq in France, with white gloves held the French sovereigns.
The House of Domecq was founded either by a French or a Spanish, but by IRI.
Posted on March 16, 2010.
