Cardenal Mendoza, the award-winning Solera Gran Reserva brandy from Jerez by Sánchez Romate, celebrates the 5th edition of its Golden Week with a series of online events, including seminars, cocktail competitions, tasting pairings, and illustrative videos around the world, adapting to the current situation and achieving successful results with a reach of over 1 million people.
Cardenal Mendoza, the famous brandy from Jerez, is made from a selection of the finest distillates, aged using the traditional solera and criadera system. The collection of Cardenal Mendoza casks, previously filled with Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez wines, forms one of the largest Solera Gran Reserva cellars, a guarantee of the age and quality of this iconic brandy.
In 2020, the renowned brand with over 200 years of history in the market, Cardenal Mendoza, celebrates its first-ever Golden Week with a series of online events based on its C Factors—those factors or ways to enjoy Cardenal Mendoza, such as: chocolate, a fine cigar, or paired with a café carajillo or a cocktail—all of which begin with ‘C,’ hence the name C Factors. These virtual events featured a series of activities involving more than 10 countries, ranging from pairing tastings, seminars, and cocktail competitions to illustrated videos, with the aim of showcasing the different ways the brand is enjoyed around the world. All of this has yielded successful results.
In the face of an unusual year, Cardenal Mendoza has demonstrated to brandy fans its ability to adapt to adverse situations, such as the global COVID-19 situation we are currently facing, by transforming its Golden Week edition into a series of online events in collaboration with various organizations that made this unique edition possible, including: the C Factor experience from We Love Cocktails in Germany, where participants enjoyed various pairings and were joined on stage by Ken Stemler, a well-known cigar influencer, alongside André Camacho, a renowned bartender from the German company We Love Cocktails, each of whom presented their own C Factor; C Factor Virtual Tasting in the U.S., where attendees took a tour of the winery’s cellars and an expert from each C Factor explained what makes each pairing of these factors unique when paired with Cardenal Mendoza; and Cata En La Nube on an international level, in which a live-streamed tasting was held where Cardenal Mendoza brandy was smoked with three different types of wood, in order to verify the characteristics imparted to the brandy through this process; to this end, kits containing the necessary instructions were sent to each guest to carry out the activity.
Cardenal Mendoza’s transformation, driven by the pandemic, has been a pleasant surprise, yielding excellent results reflected in the number of people reached and interactions, which have exceeded 1 million. Furthermore, the success on social media was evident in the more than 500 stories shared on Instagram and the large number of new followers on social media.
And, as it does every year, Cardenal Mendoza launched its famous Cocktail Competition during Golden Week, awarding a prize for the best cocktail featuring the brandy, in which a large number of mixologists from around the world participated, and the winner was Jonathan Stanyard with his cocktail ‘C MARKS THE SPOT,’ a prestigious mixologist from Seattle, USA, known for his innovative and original cocktails.
Likewise, Cardenal Mendoza proves once again that it is the go-to brandy for numerous mixologists around the world, with its nomination and award at the 2020 Drinks International Awards in the categories of Top Five Trending Brandies and Top Five Best-Selling Brandies (Top Five Trending Brandy and Top Five Best-Selling Brandy, respectively). The voting for the 2020 Drinks International Awards involves bartenders from the World’s 50 Best Bars, as well as jury members from the Class Bar Awards, Tales of Cocktail Competition, and the Australian Bartender Awards.
Without a doubt, Cardenal Mendoza is reaping this year the rewards of 200 years of effort, passion, knowledge, and experience in brandy. After all, Cardenal Mendoza is recognized as one of the most flavorful spirits, and the pleasure of sharing it in good company is a tradition we hope to resume very soon.
