She is the youngest CEO of DO Cava.
Meritxell Juvé (Barcelona, 1984) is part of the fourth generation of the centennial winery Juvé & Camps, belonging to the J&C Prime Brands group.
She is calm: in three months, from September to November, 50% of the turnover has been played, and Christmas sales are positive.
She toasts to it, without tasting a drop of cava - she is pregnant with her second child -, during the interview that takes place at the Zeitaku restaurant in Madrid.
Although what she most regrets about her state is not being able to eat Iberian ham.
Ask.
A family business with a century of life, are they a well-matched family?
Answer
.
We have always understood each other.
I work with my father, who is 80 years old.
I am 38. I respect his experience, as he respected my grandfather's.
He understands that the world has changed and tries to adapt, although there are days when you would not like to be at the same table as us.
My mother and my partner have asked us not to talk about the company on Sundays.
More information
Cava returns to pre-pandemic sales driven by exports
Q.
Your father was a pioneer in the way of selling cava.
R.
He went with the bottle under his arm, knocking on the doors.
Selling cava at that price was not easy.
She knew that when a customer looked twice at the bottle, it was sold.
We make the best-selling high-end sparkling wine in Spain [2.7 million bottles worldwide].
Q.
Do we Spaniards know how to drink cava?
A.
Yes, and much more in recent years, due to the great knowledge of the world of wine, which goes hand in hand with gastronomy.
I have clients who know more than me.
Fewer and fewer people link it to dessert, it is now understood more as a wine than as a bubble.
Q.
There are producers who have slammed the DO Cava door.
R.
_
We've had our stuff.
Being in the DO helped us, when we were not what we are now.
Things have to be improved, but from within, and we have worked to take historic and rapid steps.
Now you take a bottle and see the origin of the grapes, the plot, all the information that the client demands.
This explanation benefits us, that everything is certified, that the cava bears the disgorging date [when the aging process is finished and the yeasts from the second fermentation are extracted].
Q.
Will the wayward winemakers return?
R.
_
I am confident that we will find the synergies to make the sparkling wines very strong.
In any negotiation you have to leave feathers on the road, says my father.
We will understand each other again.
Meritxell Juvé, during the interview.
Juvé is the youngest CEO of DO Cava.JUAN BARBOSA
Q.
Champagne is becoming scarce in the world, does this benefit cava producers?
R.
_
It benefits us, although we are distributors of a champagne brand and we notice that shortage.
With cava, depending on the range, we have quota.
There is an explosion in the world of bubbles, due to the need to share and socialize, coming from two hard years of pandemic.
And the good cava, the top-of-the-range, is becoming scarce.
In Spain, the customer pays for a good sparkling wine, which costs 20 euros.
There is a desire to drink cava.
Q.
Do people know the difference between champagne and cava?
R.
There is a tendency to think that they are the same, and it is not so.
They are separated by a
terroir
and a different climate, in addition to 1,000 kilometers.
It is like comparing a Rioja wine with one from Ribera del Duero.
They are not the same.
Cava has a virtue.
Q.
Explain it, please.
R.
Pairs with everything.
He is still a great unknown, although there are people who do not know that he can accompany a meal with cava, not just toast and have it with cake.
We come from that culture, from the dessert culture.
Q.
She is the youngest CEO of DO Cava.
R.
There are great professional women in wine.
For many years I have been the girl, even my father called me that.
It's hard.
It takes character and determination.
It costs more to have your opinion valued, although the family factor influences as much as being a woman and young.
Is not easy.
Q.
You are suspected of everything.
R.
What matters to me is that those who have to value me value me, who are the partners of the company, and for the rest, it is what it is.
What matters to me is having a competent team, with which to work at ease.
I am very demanding, I am quality control.
Q.
And your father demands you?
R.
Without a doubt, no one puts me in front of the mirror like my father.
It's hard for me to make changes because it puts a brake on me, although sometimes I appreciate it.
I try to take the best of their experience and mine.
I risk the bread of 200 people who work with us.
Before, I was very impulsive.
Experience is a degree.
Q.
Is it your turn to lay the foundations for the next century?
R.
_
The objective is to go for another 100 years, betting on the highest range and increasing our international presence.
I would like my children to continue in the future because they like it.
And I hope to be there for a long time.
Q.
How do you experience the political tensions and the rise in prices?
R.
_
We are not oblivious to what happens around us, although we have loyal customers.
As regards inflation, we assume a part of the margin so that the price increase of between 10 and 20% of raw materials is not reflected in the price.
Sooner or later we will have to reflect it, because glass and cardboard has risen to double digits.
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