For The Love Of Port

Frederick Blais wrote:Would Johnny Graham's at Churchill's Graham count?

I would say no that doesn't count because Graham isn't the brand name on the label. They sold "Graham." On the other hand, the brand name comes from his wife, Caroline Churchill.

Will be exciting to see what he produces in the next decade.

We saw Carlos Raposo last week at their stunning Dao property with a new winery in the middle stage of being built. Given that Dirk has new projects going in Vinho Verde, Bairrada, Dao as well as Douro ... it is hard to fathom what the other family members were thinking. That being said, Carlos was "optimistic" that something positive will be worked out.

Roy Hersh wrote:We saw Carlos Raposo last week at their stunning Dao property with a new winery in the middle stage of being built. Given that Dirk has new projects going in Vinho Verde, Bairrada, Dao as well as Douro ... it is hard to fathom what the other family members were thinking. That being said, Carlos was "optimistic" that something positive will be worked out.

It appears that Dirk is still somewhat involved and it wasn't an immediate walk away (Rune seeing him at a tasting and other social media "sightings" of him). To what degree that involvement is and where it will go in the more immediate future who knows. Hopefully things can be resolved, if not it will be interesting to see what direction the company takes. If Dirk and his son leave who would run the company on the wine making and marketing end? I don't think Rolf is in any physical condition to do so anymore. Despite what is often believed Niepoort is by no means a small company. They are a rather large company with lots of interests in other regions, as mentioned. You need someone with a lot of energy and skills to keep it all running at the same top level. A position that isn't for the faint of heart.

I'll be at Niepoort's Napoles again this year. I'll have the chance to talk with Dirk one on one and try to get some information that we can share publicly. There are probably many of us who have some info from chat with different people who chat with different people who heard this and that. I'll try to find what is of public interest that can be shared.

By that time also, I'm pretty sure some dust will settle and more info will be precised for the next steps in the company. And if Niepoort's agrees maybe we could even do a Q&A with the poeple from this forum for them.

Andy, Niepoort is about 70 employees(double during harvest). Not so big. there are key players in each winery. Dirk acts more like a chief winemaker as all the wineries have their permanent winemakers. Carlos, Sergio and Nick are all very talented, indeed without Dirk it won't be the same, but it won't be rubbish :) As you pointed, Dirk has many hats beside being the president and he is so good with all those hats that it will take more than one person to replace him in my opinion. The majority of the employees do not work in the office, it is very small.

Beside that, the main problem I can see is the knowledge. Just like Michael Brodbent, there are knowledge only him knows about and no one other than him in the company come close to have this knowledge he collected with passion about his family company over the last 50 years.

Another thought. How much leverage does the company have? Will the banks want Dirk in charge?

Eric Ifune wrote:Another thought. How much leverage does the company have? Will the banks want Dirk in charge?

Oh, didn't think about that and way out of my league. Any financial folks care to dive in?

Andy Velebil wrote:

Eric Ifune wrote:Another thought. How much leverage does the company have? Will the banks want Dirk in charge?

Oh, didn't think about that and way out of my league. Any financial folks care to dive in?

They should be able to borrow against their stock as a secured loan? I know there must be some fat cats who'd do that and hope they default

From what I've seen, at least in Canada, if a bank does not have 1 share in a company, they don't have anything to say.

But if a bank loans a substantial amount of money to a company, they can put specific conditions to get the loan and conditions to make sure the company will refund it. It has to be in a contract, they can't just jump in when they want.

I would doubt this scenario would apply to Niepoort.

Frederick Blais wrote:From what I've seen, at least in Canada, if a bank does not have 1 share in a company, they don't have anything to say.

But if a bank loans a substantial amount of money to a company, they can put specific conditions to get the loan and conditions to make sure the company will refund it. It has to be in a contract, they can't just jump in when they want.

I would doubt this scenario would apply to Niepoort.

In my experience, if a bank lends to a business, they usually seek to use the broadest language possible to allow them to recall the loan whenever a major event occurs, including substantive changes to the leadership, direction of the company, etc. Usually, the bank stays out of it provided the loan continues to be paid and looks like it will continue to be paid, but if they sense it might not be, they'll use any of those very broad clauses for recall to cajole the business into doing/not doing what the bank is concerned about.


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Came across this on facebook. Seems like all is well in the end

Very good!

Yes, during my last flight from PT, I saw that same FB post from Verena's hand but also with Dirk too. Very good news for those that are supporters of Niepoort and all that Dirk and his wines represent.

Wonderful news.

I'm happy!