The history of our cooperative is full of moments in which it has demonstrated its enormous capacity to become strong in the face of difficulties; and it is that – perhaps – his fighting spirit comes from his cradle, if we take into account his own origins.
The story is well known: Bodega Cuatro Rayas was born as Bodega Cooperativa de La Seca in 1935, in a Spain immersed in the uncertainty of a political instability that only one year later would lead to a Civil War. The wine-growing families that had their vineyards in the surroundings of the small Valladolid town of La Seca – encouraged by the town’s doctor, Fermín Bedoya – decided to group together and form a cooperative that would allow them to get the most out of their work in the vineyards. The concept was simple: united, they would not only be bigger, but much stronger.
Just three years later, immersed in the national conflict, the parents and grandparents of our partners made a daring bet: they unified the wines produced in their homes in large concrete vats to put the wine from everybody. The legend of this founding vintage tells that the highest quality blend turned out to be that of tank number 61, and that – precisely for this reason – they took the name of their first brand in the wine market from it: the ‘Fino 61’ that has come to our days as ’61 Gold ‘ . The ’61’ family has grown in recent years and currently brings together references not only of fortified wines (Dorado and Golden in Rama ), but also Frizzante Y two varieties of Vermouth based on Verdejo and Tempranillo grapes.
At that time the wine was put on sale in bulk – the first bottling would not take place until the 1950s – both for direct sale and for distribution: the neighbors came with glass jugs to buy the wine from the house and bocoyes – large wooden barrels – loaded with the cooperative’s produce traveled by train to other regions to deliver La Seca’s fortified wine to many other places.
Until today we had evidence of the commercialization of our wines at this time mainly with the north of Spain, but sometimes coincidences reserve us surprises that reveal much more about the intrahistory of our winery.
Recently a neighbor of our town, fond of stamp collecting, found a very special envelope at a philatelic fair.
The postmark refers to 1943 – the turning point of World War II – and was sent to the attention of a postal address in Geneva, Switzerland. It bears the emblem of the cooperative as well as that of its brand: ’61 Amontillado Fino ‘.
We do not know if the package would successfully reach its destination, since the numerous stamps and visas in this document tell us that it was intervened by the Nazi authorities, but it does allow us to have proof of the daring and entrepreneurial force of our cooperatives even in moments of enormous political and economic instability.
One more argument to encourage us to keep our spirit of work and effort alive in the less sweet stages to continue delivering our products to customers in the best conditions as always.
Another reason to be able to affirm with confidence that # todoirábien.
