Interviews Archives

COVID-19: ‘Family-run wine companies are well-suited to face crises’

April 9, 2020

In part 2 of the interview with members of Primum Familiae Vini on COVID-19, the world’s most famous family-owned wine companies speak on how strength lies in unity, and how their past will show them how to handle the future with fortitude

How do you think this pandemic (COVID-19) will affect the future of the world wine industry in the long term? And your region in particular?

What changes, if any, in your company philosophy/marketing strategy will you making for the future?

Miguel Torres Jr, Familia Torres, Catalunya, Spain

As mentioned before, this year we are 150 years old as a winery, and all 5 generations have had to work hard and adapt to very tough situations and events at some time in the past.

For example, the bombardment of our winery which took place on 20th January 1939, towards the end of the Civil War. This destroyed an important part of our cellar and meant the loss of a great amount of wine that was ageing in barrels and big wooden vats. At the time my grandfather suddenly found himself with two big problems: he had less capacity to make and store wine and at the same time, he needed money to finance the reconstruction of the winery.

This was when both my grandparents went on a long trip to Cuba, Mexico, the United States and Canada to look for new markets and clients. They travelled by ship to Havana where they arrived in November 1939, and they returned in April 1941; so they were away from home for one year and a half! After that, there were shorter trips and one of them brought the great news of an important order in the form of a telegram sent from Havana on the 28th of December 1942, in which my grandfather wrote: “Problem continuity of service of our wines solved. First important guaranteed order. Activate works reconstruction winery. Miguel Torres”. (“Resuelto continuidad servicio de nuestros vinos. Primer importante pedido garantizado. Activen obra reconstrucion bodega. Miguel Torres”).

‘I can only wish everyone to stay strong and positive’

Miguel Torres Jr.

Familia Torres

So I hope that soon in time, I will be able to send a mail to our entire team, that a solution for COVID-19 has been found, that the world is recovering, our team is recovering, our teams’ families are recovering and that our bodega is recovering. And in this same mail, I would thank each and everyone for all their impressive work, sacrifice and care during this exceptional period of time.

But for the moment I can only wish everyone to stay strong and positive.

Nicolò Incisa della Rocchetta, Tenuta San Guido, Bolgheri, Italy

Today’s situation is different, of course, but we are trying to deal with this unprecedented challenge by looking at the possible positive outcomes of this crisis. Wine, like agriculture, has existed for thousands of years as the basis of our life and for this reason, it has survived many catastrophes.

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 emergency, people will be looking forward to going back to their normal lives and will look for occasions to be together, possibly even more than before. They might discover new opportunities and situations more centred around values that had got forgotten in the past. We expect that wine and food will be central to people’s lives, creating occasions for conviviality and sharing. We all are looking forward to celebrating with our family and friends for the rebirth of the world after a dark moment in history.

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The uncompromised quest for quality and the strong connection to our territory has always been the basis of our production philosophy. We hope that the difficult times we are enduring today will make us grow stronger, more aware and united. Our commitment to the family business and attachment to the land is a real strength of our business. Equally important are the dedication and engagement of the people with whom we work. It is necessary to invest and support them as much as possible.

‘We will stay united and uphold our strongest principles…’

Nicolò Incisa della Rocchetta

Tenuta San Guido

This moment of great difficulties may also increase the “human” value to our company because we will eventually learn how to overcome this period united while upholding our deepest and strongest principles, as we have always done in the past. Hopefully, this will ultimately translate into positive results on the commercial side, as consumers will also recognize these values and qualities in our family business and identify them with our wines.

Paul Symington, Symington Family Estates, Porto, Portugal

It is hard to say at this stage how this will impact our industry, but it is likely to be a long period before full recovery occurs. Wine is very dependent on travel, tourism and enjoyment, eating out, etc. People will not be doing this for a while. But eventually, they will and we will be ready with good wines.
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As a family, we think long-term so we will not make radical changes to our philosophy. It has served us well for many generations. Family wine companies are well-suited to face crises; we tighten our belts, focus on our vineyards and our wines and we wait for better times. This does not always occur in publicly listed companies with impatient shareholders.

‘We will focus on our vineyards and wines and wait for better times’

Paul Symington

Symington Family Estates

Albiera Antinori, Marchesi Antinori, Tuscany, Italy.

It is difficult to say at the moment, it will depend on how long the pandemic lasts. If we can get back to reasonable business by August/ September, we forecast a strong lowering of our turnover and margins, but we believe we can face that, also because we do not have any shareholders who will want their dividends. If the pandemic will last six months longer, it will become very difficult.
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We will see when we will have a clearer idea of where we are heading. What is sure is that the HORECA, especially of our domestic market, is the one that will suffer most, also in the long term as it will take time before tourism will be back to normal.

Pablo Alvarez, Vega Sicilia, Ribera del Duero, Spain

I think no one can imagine what we are going through, something so terrible and something that we have undoubtedly never experienced, at least in our lifetime. Spain is being impacted exceptionally hard and many people are suffering. This proves how vulnerable we are as human beings and we must keep in mind that a similar event or an even worse situation can occur in the future. I hope we are able to learn from this, although people tend to easily forget their misfortunes. I hope we don’t forget. This time, what we call the welfare state has been shaken by a pandemic and since it has reached all developed countries we are lost and distressed with such a disaster. Please allow me to say that thousands of children are dying in the world each day from starvation, but little do we know or are willing to do for them… as if this has nothing to do with us. Will we learn?

‘People are suffering terribly and we must be by their side’

Pablo Alvarez

Vega Sicilia

I feel wineries are facing many challenges, especially those whose sales rely on bars and restaurants. But this is a matter of withstanding, and we will all come through. Many are working at a slower pace, but the work in the vineyards cannot stop and it is essential for this to continue. It’s hard to say what the future will hold for the wine industry after this pandemic, but something must change from a sales perspective. We export 70% of our production to 150 countries. Asia starts to awaken, it seems.
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Our strategy is focused on how we will help our customers in Spain and all of our importers so they can recover their markets. We will travel more in the future to give them support. But what is most important at this moment is to help our employees anyway we can. People are suffering terribly, and we must be by their side and preserve their jobs above all.

It’s time for sacrifice and we are willing to do so.

The PFV (www.PFV.org) consists of 12 member families:

Marchesi Antinori (Italy)

Joseph Drouhin (Bourgogne, France)

Egon Muller Scharzhof (Germany)

Famille Hugel (Alsace, France)

Familia Torres (Spain)

Château Mouton Rothschild (Bordeaux, France)

Château de Beaucastel (Rhône Valley, France)

Vega Sicilia (Spain)

Tenuta San Guido – Sassicaia (Italy)

Symington Family Estates (Portugal)

Champagne Pol Roger (France)

Château Haut Brion (Bordeaux, France)

Main image: Geert Teuwen. Pablo Alvarez: Mickael Boudot

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Interviews / News & Views

Covid-19: ‘We can’t abandon our vines and our wines’

March 28, 2020

Primum Familiae Vini, or PFV as it is known is the international high-powered international association of 12 leading wine families of the world. The families, as members, have been at the forefront of the world wine industry for decades, sometimes centuries.

As the Covid-19 virus brings the world to a grinding halt, the wine industry all over the world has also been severely affected, along with many other businesses.

In this series of articles, members of PFV, whose motto is ‘Family is Sustainability’ and believe in supporting one another, address the issue of this lethal pandemic facing them, reflect as well as look ahead to the future, uncertain as it is today.

The articles will be posted in two parts as members of the PFV discuss, advise and recall devastatingly troubling times in their past, from which they have survived and emerged stronger.

What has been your reaction to the pandemic which has affected all, including the wine industries around the world? Do you recall facing any similar challenge earlier in your life? Could you tell us about crises from the past that former generations of your family had to face?

Albeira Antinori, Marchesi Antinori, Tuscany, Italy

At first, being Italian and being the first European country to face the epidemic, we were worried but had not really understood the size and importance of what was happening. At this moment we are into the second week of our ‘lockdown’ and about three weeks into the time since all businesses, especially restaurants and tourism, have slowed down and now totally stopped. The only activities that are still on are the ones in the vineyards and shipping. We cannot do much more for the moment; this is for the health of our workers and for our own. We hope that the measures our government has put in place will slow down and eventually terminate the pandemic.

Our generation has never seen anything as rapid and threatening as this. Nor my father’s generation, as he was born in 1938, though he experienced the challenges of rebuilding the economy. My grandfather saw and lived through two World Wars, so he would have had some very good advice… For sure, ‘resilience’ would be a good word we should mention.

Albeira Antinori (left) with her father, Piero and her sisters, Allegra and Alessia.
Main image of PFV: Michael Boudot

As our family has a long history in Florence, we can recall one very strong epidemic, the Black Plague of 1348, which came after the bankruptcy of the major Florentine banking families (Peruzzi and Bardi) in 1343 as the English King Edward III did not honour his debt to them. Florence’s population was reduced to 60% by 1350. After this terrible period, although there was strong political unrest for many decades, the base for a cultural movement, the Humanism movement (inspired by Petrarca, known in English as Petrarch) was put in place. And after that, the Renaissance began in 1400.
Our family was ‘forced’ to abandon its trading activities of silk, wool, and banking due to the Black Plague and bankruptcy, and concentrated all its energy in managing the country estates they had around Florence. In 1385 Giovanni di Piero Antinori inscribed himself in the Vintners’ Guild and made wine and vineyard growing our only activity.
So, there is a good example of positivity after terrible times.

Paul Symington, Symington Family Estates, Portugal

Our number one priority is the health and well-being of our staff. So our first reaction has been to care for them. Then we have been adapting to the fast-changing situation of many restaurants and hotels closing and people being obliged to stay at home. But we are continuing to work in our vineyards and in our cellars. We cannot abandon our vines and our wines.I have never faced such a crisis, but my parents and grandparents certainly did with the Great Depression, the First World War and the Second World War. So in a way, we are being measured up against how they performed and we are determined to do as well as they did.

Robert Drouhin , Maison Joseph Drouhin, Bourgogne, France

My son Frédéric passed me on your interesting question: How did our family businesses react to the crisis they went through over generations?

Two wars -1914 and 1939 and our own personal experience at Joseph Drouhin: in 1973 our winery was destroyed by fire including some 200,000 bottles. And in 1993, an internal financial crisis.

‘We came out stronger, better organised…’

Robert Drouhin

Maison Joseph Drouhin

We came out stronger, better organised, the common lessons of these crises are now cited as examples to our children. During those troubled time we saw:

The cohesion of the family

The physical and moral help from the women

Faithfulness of customers

The local support from our colleagues

The importance of moral values

All reflected the reputation, the respect that everyone had for our family and its moral integrity.

Coronavirus is dramatic from a human point of view but for a company, it is a temporary problem we have to solve thanks to strict planning, the contribution of our employees and their confidence in the company.

All our PFV friends have wonderful assets, large estates, worldwide distribution, long-term vision as shareholders who share the same values. For sure, some wine merchants or distributors will disappear who have been only motivated by short-term profit and unreasonable confidence in the glorious economic growth of the world.

Miguel Torres Jr, Familia Torres, Spain

This is a very complex and exceptional situation for everyone and the consequences of Covid-19 are having an enormous impact on every aspect of life. First and foremost, on the health of ten thousands of people around the world, which is putting the health services in all countries to the test. It is also having an enormous economic impact on many companies and sectors. In Spain, we have been living under a national lock-down for more than a week now and of course, everyone has been adapting as much as we can: at Torres, the majority of our team now work from home and those team members working in viticulture and the production departments follow very strict security and protection measures to minimize the risk of infection and to ensure the continuity of our winery.

It is an exceptional situation and I thank our whole team for their professionalism and sense of responsibility. Unfortunately, we had to stop all our wine tourism activities and had to close-down our visitor centre and restaurants temporarily. Of course, we have also postponed our 150th Anniversary event until next year. The developments around Covid-19 are moving very fast and we cannot yet know what impact this will have on our activity, but it will be significant. We are facing a global crisis and it is inevitable that in most markets wine sales will decrease. In any case, we must maintain optimism, as this situation is beyond anything my generation has experienced, but it won’t last indefinitely. China is already recovering from the onslaught of the virus and we all will overcome it sooner or later.

‘We must maintain optimism, as this situation is beyond anything my generation has experienced’

Miguel Torres Jr

Familia Torres

Nicolò Incisa della Rocchetta, Tenuta San Guido, Tuscany, Italy

We could say that we have been lucky in the past century. A crisis like this one we are experiencing in these days has never really occurred in Bolgheri. Life seems to be easier in the countryside even during difficult periods such as wars or pandemics. This area somehow is, and always was, quite protected. Our family estate has managed to survive during World War II when agricultural activities have continued as usual even during those hard times. In fact, it is precisely around those years that my father Mario Incisa had started with his experiments around Cabernet Sauvignon in the Bolgheri area. This can be seen as a positive and encouraging example of how passion and perseverance, even during tough times, can eventually turn out into something extraordinary. Like the genesis of our wine Sassicaia and the subsequent developments of our family estate, Tenuta San Guido.

In Part II of this article, the PFV members discuss how they feel the world has changed after Covid-19, and how it affects their philosophy for the future.

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