Adorable Story #7: José Ignacio Domecq

"El Nariz" of the Sherry industry

Jose Ignacio Domecq, “El Nariz”, enjoying a post-polo cigar in Tuscany, Italy, 1991 Photo by Slim Aarons, © Gettyimages

In the whirlwind world of sherry, one man's name raised above all others like a fine Amontillado over a sea of bland wines: José Ignacio Domecq.

Don José Ignacio Domecq (born in Jerez, Spain on 31 July 1914) was the acknowledged king of sherry tasters and known as El Nariz, "The Nose", for his astonishing ability to sniff out the nuances in the creation of his family's wonderful sherries.

Tall and lean, he earned this name for literal as well as figurative reasons. His hawk-like nose was memorably large. It was also his great good fortune — an indispensible gift in the blending necessary for creating the best of all sherries.

Since he was a young child, he could memorise aromas and tastes ranging from the freshly pressed must of Palomino grapes to the rich, old dry sherries called Olorosos dating from the 1730s when the company was founded by an Irish farmer Patrick Murphy and one Juan Haurie.

Latin version of Al- Idrisi map (1154) showing the city of Seris (Jerez), the name from which the world ´Sherry´derives.

The company rose to fame and fortune in the early 19th century when Ruskin, Telford, and Domecq were leaders in the British sherry trade. However the senior partner Ruskin's son, John, decided to make a life writing on art and architecture — which he did with famous effect.

John Ruskin (1819-1900) © National Gallery London

It was left to another partner, Pedro Domecq Lembaye, a relative of the Haurie family which had owned the firm since 1791, to expand the business.

In 1816 Pedro Domecq quarrelled with the Haurie family, bought the business and renamed it Domecq after himself.

José Domecq married in 1934 Angelea Fernandez de Bobadilla y Gonzalez (they had seven sons and five daughters) and he joined Domecq in 1939. He subsequently became a member of the board in 1957 and from 1994 until December 1996 was on the main board of Allied Lyons Domecq.

A group of British MPs meets El Nariz

In 1992, the British Heritage Group of peers and members of the House of Commons, travelled to Spain: highlights of the trip included a two-hour meeting with King Juan Carlos, and meetings with members of the government and the opposition, the Mayor of Seville in Expo year, and, finally, with Don Jose Ignacio Domecq.