Quinta da Boavista bought by Sogevinus
Posted: 14:36 Tue 30 Jun 2020
Quite an interesting article about the acquisition and Sogevinus in general in The Buyer
A few thoughts, in no particular order:Local brand recognition has doubtless been helped by the huge, un-missable Calem lodge in Ribeira, the most visited of all the historic lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia, and also the most prominent, looking across the Douro to Porto on the other side.
By contrast, in terms of international sales Sogevinus has been something of an ‘also ran’ compared to the other big port houses, despite exporting to some 60 countries. Only Kopke and Calem have serious brand recognition, whilst Burmester and Barros in particular are barely known.
A big part of the problem is that whilst other producers have moved away from port (where sales have been falling for years) into table wine, at Sogevinus, port, especially tawny, still dominates output accounting for 7.8 million bottles of the 8.8 million bottles produced each year.
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There have been other exciting developments recently including a new brand-promoting al fresco restaurant on the quayside outside Calem with delicious food produced by a leading Portuguese chef. Meanwhile the group opened the 125 hectare Quinta de S. Luiz to the public last year having converted it into a state of the art winery for still DOC Douro wines, which should help the move upmarket.
When the group opens its long-planned 150-room, €30m five star Kopke Hotel within the next two years, this should also boost international recognition of the Kopke brand, and maybe by extension some of the others too.
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This morning’s announcement (June 30) of the further acquisition of Quinta da Boavista from Lima Smith, then, will allow Sogevinus to strengthen its position in the still wine market, as part of the decision to focus on this category, and bring to its portfolio two new highly-respected wines Boa-Vista and Quinta da Boavista.
- I am very sad that there don’t appear to be any plans for a SQVP from Boavista: a property once owned by Barron Forrester and Offley Vintage Ports were called “Offley Boavista” for years because they thought it was so important to their brand.
- I am amazed that Sogevinus is not concentrating on its strengths: tawnies and colheitas, not least because they have the advantage of being able to be sold old and at a premium.
- The group obviously has access to loads of cash or credit to do all of these projects. I wonder how many other properties or labels they are going to buy?