Fundador Supremo
conquers Paris

The wineries that invented Jerez brandy in 1874 organized a tasting of their highest range product last Tuesday in Paris, Fundador Supremo, aged up to 18 years. The event took place at one of the most emblematic places in the city, the Fouquet’s restaurant, on the Champs Elysées.

The bet is on a high-quality natural product, without added sugar or sulfites

The famous red awning brasserie, a meeting point for the world of cinema, was the victim of a provoked fire and vandalistic looting during the yellow vests revolt. After long months of interior works, during which the terrace was protected by a horrendous metal structure, like a bunker, Fouquet’s reopened with its always splendid appearance. Its bar L’Escadrille, full of guests, was the launch platform for Fundador, which attracted the event with the hook of its product ambassador, the French chef Romain Fornell, based in Barcelona, and the possibility of tasting Iberian ham from Enrique Tomás.

“Coming to the home of great wine spirits like cognac and armagnac, such reputed spirits, is always a responsibility –explained to Dinero Ángel Piña, worldwide commercial and marketing director of Fundador–. We do not want to be better or worse, but we believe we have a different and daring proposition. The goal is not so much to conquer the French market, which will logically come, but to understand how such a sophisticated audience welcomes this new proposal”.

Sherry barrels are a great heritage and are also used to age whisky

Fundador is in a phase of strong expansion. The companies from Spain and Mexico invoice 120 million euros net annually. Just five years ago, their brandy was present in 17 markets. Today it is in 64. The brand’s managers believe that the growth potential is considerable, especially in China and the United States. Its consumers, especially the Americans, appreciate that it is “a pleasantly sweet liquid, easy to drink but not artificial, and with a legacy of three hundred years”.

The Fundador wineries, now owned by the Filipino group Emperador, are the oldest in the Marco de Jerez, that geographical triangle with vertices in the municipalities of Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María and Sanlúcar de Barrameda. It dates back to 1730. Pedro Domecq Loustau –of French origin– created the brandy brand, a product in which the quality of the harvest is not as important as it is with still wines (white, red or rosé). The key to brandy is the art of blending and aging in Virginia oak wood barrels. Fundador has a collection of 40,000 500-liter barrels, the sherry casks (sherry barrels) in the industry jargon, distributed in 44,500 square meters of wineries. Piña highlighted to the French public the value of the heritage, unique in the world, that these boots represent and reminded that “the best whiskies are aged and refined in these barrels”. However, for eight years, Fundador has decided not to export them to Scotland anymore, “so that the jewel stays with the jewel”.

The turnover of the Bodegas Fundador companies in Spain and Mexico is 120 million euros per year

At Fundador they are aware of the growing concern for health in Western countries and the fight against alcoholism. That’s why they encourage the trend of “drink less, but better”. Hence the effort to produce a premium product, very natural, without added sugar or sulfites.

The tasting at Fouquet’s seemed light years away from the image that this drink had in Spain in the sixties, during the late Franco era, when the popular brandy was advertised on television with that catchy slogan “it’s like never before, it’s like never before, it’s like never before, Fundadooor!”. From cheering up the after-meal conversations of a modest but emerging middle class, the brand has become a luxury product, with global ambition and the audacity to wage the battle even in the realm of cognac.

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Full news: La Vanguardia