In the early 1700s of man by the name of Mark Jacobs began a wine manufacturing firm in Edinburgh Scotland. This despite being over 700 miles away from the nearest vineyard, and well over 1000 miles away from the grapes that he had decided to use in his range of wines.
Remember, the 18th century was also just before the industrial revolution, and transporting products around the world was a precarious and uncertain business. But nevertheless Mr Jacobs decided that he wanted to produce his own brand of wines and obviously he was a very determined man.
His initial action when setting up his wine firm, was to charter two sailing ships. They were to journey around the western coast of France, into the Mediterranean to southern France. There his friend and colleague Andr? Philippe owned 400 acres of prime vineyard.
It was a marriage of convenience between the two men, and although nowadays it may appear a strange arrangement, it need to be remembered that at the time the French government were very strict. The tax on all alcohol was close to 90%, there was simply no profit in making wine to sell to the French. On the other hand the English would pay a premium, and also the crown would take a quite little percentage leaving the entrepreneurs with an excellent deal of profit.
The two sailing vessels sailed from Edinburgh to the south of France continuously for the next 75 years. Jacobs of Edinburgh produced an estimated 1.8 million bottles of wine in that time. Although this may possibly not seem significantly by modern industrial standards, given the logistics involved in this fantastic procedure, it was a fantastic achievement.
During the 1760s, the wine business employed virtually 150 staff and apprentices. The organization also expanded, selling whiskey and even spiced confectionary. In case you had been to travel to Edinburgh you can still see a plaque commemorating the factory on Bridge Street. A fashionable brasserie now stands where the factory once was.
Marc Jacobs passed away in 1768, his only son was a devout Catholic and simply because of this declined to turn into the manager and owner of the company. Nevertheless Jacobs had a grandson known as Isaac who successfully ran the company and kept it inside the family until the 1960s when it was sold to Stoppard and Son, a major worldwide alcohol distributor at that time.
It is interesting to note that Andr? Philippe ran the French vineyards for the whole 76 years that the arrangement between the two countries was in existence. Philippe died just several days before his 103rd birthday, a very rich and wealthy man. The vineyards that bear his name are still considered some of the finest inside the world to this day.
As an aside, in 1981 a 104-year-old bottle of Jacobs red wine fetched ?4.2 million at auction. This would be about ?12 million today or $18 million. It's unlikely that the wine was even drinkable after that time, it was not an especially long lasting vintage. It is thought that the value was inside the rarity and maybe even the original Jacob's label on the bottle.
The industrial revolution in Europe has several tales like this, perhaps this 1 is lesser recognized than many, but as a study in human determination to overcome the odds it's 1 worth retelling.
Author Resource:-
The Jacob's wine company formed during the 1700's still produces great red wine and other fantastic vintages in the form of Everton's Wines.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.articlemarketinghome.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites