Velier

The Velier story

Velier is an Italian company, more precisely from Genoa, from which it inherited its talent as a great merchant... Read more

The Velier story

Velier is an Italian company, more precisely from Genoa, from which it inherited its talent as a great merchant... Read more

The Velier story

Velier is an Italian company, more precisely Genoa, the city from which it inherited its talent as a great merchant. A certain Casimir Chaix founded the company in 1947, then developed it until 1953, when it began to assert itself as an importer of wines, spirits and delicatessen products.

The company continued to thrive until 1983, when the young Luca Gargano (27) made his debut.

This businessman, photographer, world traveler and rum lover began his career as a brand ambassador for Saint-James rums in the 1970s. It was at this time that he made his first trip to the West Indies, and fell in love with rum and, more broadly, Caribbean culture. It was also during his early travels that he discovered a reserve of Saint James 1885 rum, bottled in 1952. He then decided to store part of what would become one of the jewels of the rum world.

In 1983, while marketing director of Spirit Spa, Italy's largest importer of spirits, he became a majority shareholder in Velier. In 1985, he decided to focus on quality products first and foremost, and began targeting high-end restaurants and wine bars. At the same time, Velier began distributing Billecart-Salmon champagne, which was still little known at the time.

Velier was the first Italian company to import "new world wines" (Chile, California, New Zealand...) in 1988. This worldwide quest for quality continued with the introduction of cachaças, mezcals and piscos to the Italian market in 1991.

Passing on the passion for rum

When the El Dorado brand in 1992, she became its first distributor in Europe. It was also at this time that Luca Gargano purchased his first barrels of rums from the Caribbeanas well as Scottish single maltsto offer its first independent bottlings in 1995.

Velier maintains a taste for fine, exclusive products, and in 1999 became the sole importer of Cuban cigars in Italy.

Lhe passion that Luca Gargano for authenticity was expressed in 2001, when he wrote the manifesto Triple A (Farmer, Craftsman, Artist) manifesto in favor of natural wines. Then, in 2002, came the first bottling of brut de fût rum, a Damoiseau 1980the first of a series of upheavals in the rum world.

Another milestone for rum lovers is 2003, when Mr Gargano met Yesu Persaud, director of DDL in Guyana. Guyana. Their friendship gave rise to a series of Demerara raw from barrel that remainhave in the annals. It was also during these selections that Luca discovered the difference between tropical and continental ageing, a point he would go on to emphasize.

Velier made its mark at the beginning of the 21st century, with the launch in 2005 of the first Caroni "original" brut de fût. This marked the beginning of a long series of highly coveted bottlings, destined for an inevitable end, as the Trinidad distillery closed its doors in 2002.

Luca Gargano's first dream comes true

In 2008, Luca Gargano and Vittorio Capovilla, in collaboration with Bielle, set up their stills on the island of Marie-Galante to create the Rhum Rhum brand. These agricultural rums would later give rise to the Libération series. In the same purist approach to rums made from pure cane juice, Velier bottled Clairins d'Haïti in 2012. These traditional cane brandies, then totally unknown, are endowed with a unique character and offer enthusiasts a new vision of the category.

2015 sees the end of the partnership between Velier and DDLfollowing the retirement of Yesu Persaud. At the same time, the Habitation Velier range was born, highlighting traditional distillation techniques. This project, which is partly educational in nature, also includes the idea of rum classificationwith the aim of elevating this spirit to the rank of the greatest, in the same way as Scotch Whisky.

One of Luca Gargano 's partners in this rum-enhancing project is Mr Richard Seale, boss of Barbados' Foursquare distillery, with whom he starts a series of bottlings in 2016. Velier then celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2017, and offers a series of landmark whisky rums.

The new era of La Maison & Velier

In 2017, Velier joined forces with La Maison du Whisky, in a joint venture called La Maison & Velier. One of the ambitions of this project was to market Velier's imported products in the United States. This was achieved in 2018, when the first clairins arrived on American shelves.

2018 will be a rich year for the Italian house, with the release of its first Cape Verde grogue, the creation of the "Palenqueros" mezcal series and the purchase of the Hampden distillery's stock, which presents its first official bottlings at the "Tasting of the century" in London.

In the same year, Luca Gargano and Velier continue our rum exploration, offering vintage styles from Jamaica's Long Pond and Clarendon distilleries.

In 2019, the Caroni Ceremony ", where Caroni enthusiasts gathered in Cognac to taste the last Caroni casks freshly repatriated to Europe. Indeed, while Luca Gargano is a fervent advocate of ageing in tropical climates, he had to face up to the fact that maturing for more than 20 years there was complicatede. He therefore decided to stop aging, placing the rums in dame-jeanne and stainless steel tanks, for future and final bottlings of Caroni.

2020 also brought its share of firsts, with Velier bottlingNeisson, Appleton and River Antoine rums under its banner for the first time. It is also in this complicated year that the first drops of Providence rum come out of the still at Gargano et Capovilla's brand-new distillery in Haiti. Read less

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