Cardenal Mendoza, the iconic, award-winning brandy from Jerez, celebrates the 5th Golden Week virtually in a new format, with record attendance.

05 January 2021
The traditional Spanish brand demonstrated to its followers a remarkable capacity for rapid transformation, by adapting successfully to the current exceptional circumstances. This year, brandy-lovers experienced the iconic brandy de Jerez in a virtual way, reaching an even wider international audience.

golden week 2020

Cardenal Mendoza, the award-winning Solera Gran Reserva Sherry brandy from the Sánchez Romate bodegas, celebrated the 5th edition of Golden Week on October 25th - 31st with a series of online events including seminars, cocktail competitions, tasting sessions, and illustrative video broadcasts around the world, adapted to the current situation, with a reach of more than one million people.

Cardenal Mendoza, the famous brandy de Jerez, is made using a selection of the finest holandas de alquitaras (spirit made in pot stills), and is aged for at least 15 years in the traditional system of soleras and criaderas. Cardenal Mendoza's casks, previously used to age Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez sherry wines, make up one of the largest wineries of Solera Gran Reserva in Jerez, guaranteeing the age and quality of this iconic brandy.

 

The C Factors

This year, the famous brand with more than 200 years of experience in the market celebrated Golden Week in a novel and innovative way - with a series of online events based on its C Factors. These are ways of enjoying Cardenal Mendoza by pairing it with the right accompaniment, such as chocolate, a good cigar, coffee in a carajillo, or in a cocktail - all starting with 'C', hence the C Factors.

For these virtual events, a series of activities took place in more than 10 countries, from food and wine tasting sessions, seminars, and cocktail competitions to illustrated videos, in order to show the wide variety of ways in which the brand is consumed around the world. Cardenal Mendoza’s rapid adjustment to the limitations caused by the pandemic has seen excellent results: high engagement levels, reaching more than 1 million people; more than 500 stories shared on Instagram; and a large number of new followers gained on social networks.

In this most unusual of years, Cardenal Mendoza demonstrated to brandy-lovers the brand’s ability to adjust quickly to adverse situations, in this case the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, transforming this edition of Golden Week through online events with the collaboration of various entities. Among these was the C Factor Experience from We Love Cocktails in Germany. Cigar influencer Ken Stemler was joined by André Camacho, a renowned bartender from We Love Cocktails, each presenting his own C Factor.

The C Factor Virtual Tasting in the United States saw a tour of the producer’s premises in Jerez, and an expert from each C Factor explained their role in ensuring the perfect pairing with Cardenal Mendoza. Tasting in The Cloud was an international live-streamed tasting where the brandy was smoked with three different types of wood; the aim was to show which special characteristics this process brings to the brandy. A pack was sent to each guest with instructions for how to carry out the activity.

As every year, Cardenal Mendoza held its famous Cocktail Competition during Golden Week, awarding a prize to the best brandy-based cocktail. Multiple mixologists from different parts of the world participated, and the winner was Jonathan Stanyard, a prestigious mixologist from Seattle, USA, renowned for his original and innovative cocktails, with his creation 'C MARKS THE SPOT'.

 

International recognition

Cardenal Mendoza proved once again its position as the leading brandy used by numerous mixologists all over the world, with its award at the Drinks International Awards 2020 in the categories of Top Five Trending Brandies and Top Five Best-Selling Brandies. The bartenders of the World’s 50 Best Bars, as well as members of the jury of the Class Bar Awards, Tales of Cocktail Competition, and the Australian Bartender Awards, voted for these awards.

Cardinal Mendoza is the result of 200 years of effort, passion, knowledge, and experience. This sherry brandy is recognised as one of the most exceptional brandies in terms of nuances, and the highly pleasurable experience of sharing it in good company will hopefully be enjoyed again very soon.