BODEGAS ELVARA

The Company

Elvara is a Barcelona registered company founded in 2001 by Derek Simes and Murray Marr, dedicated to helping importers, distributors and major retail chains source a diverse range of quality Spanish wines. Our twin aim is to secure national agencies for the wineries with whom we work, thus creating long-term benefits for both producer and importer.

We are compact team, with a strategy of focusing exclusively on Spanish wines, becoming specialists in our field, and concentrating on core markets such as the UK and Ireland where we are familiar with the geography and culture. We currently have two offices, Barcelona where Derek is based, and Edinburgh from where Murray operates. With the benefit of a foot in both camps, this enables us to be close to our source bodegas as well as customers in principal end markets.

We work across a range of trade channels and are currently sourcing wines from some 14 producers covering  20 Spanish D.O. regions. Our business is strictly ex-cellar with our importer clients buying directly from our partner bodegas. Most of our producers also offer tailor made wines for importers.

We are committed to sourcing the authentic taste of Spain, through a broad portfolio of carefully selected wines using mainly indigenous grape varieties. Many of our partner bodegas have been with us from the start, whilst one of our fundamental objectives is to constantly seek out new and interesting bodegas where quality and commercial value stand out. To date, our travels across the vineyards of Spain have taken us to a multitude of bodegas of all shapes and sizes.

In Bierzo with bodega oenologist Marta

The Founders

Derek's previous life before Elvara involved a variety of international sales and marketing roles in the tobacco and drinks sectors based in Spain, Chile, Colombia, USA, Poland and Switzerland. This extensive experience in Hispanic markets included twelve years in Latin America and ten years in Spain where he specialised in establishing distribution structures for major multinationals.

His love of wine and Spain in particular lead him to withdraw from the corporate multinational life and settle in Barcelona, at which time he formed Bodegas Elvara with ex multinational colleague, Murray. Derek has lived in Spain for twenty years; his local knowledge of the culture, language and general way of things strongly supports his prime role in Elvara of working closely with our partner bodegas and sniffing out new potential suppliers.

Following a short career in the Royal Navy post graduation, Murray's twenty-five years international experience with blue-chip multinationals in the consumer goods field demonstrates a balance of operational and strategic activity. This ranges from classic brand marketing through a variety of new business development assignments to joint ventures in emerging markets. In particular, during 12 years with a leading UK brewer, a comprehensive understanding of the drinks trade in UK and Ireland was established with extensive knowledge of the trading channels and regions. Geographical scope has centred on Switzerland, France and the UK, complemented by new business ventures in Russia, Central Asia and Latin America.

During his multinational career, Murray lived in mainland Europe for 15 years, eventually settling back in his home country of Scotland from where he continues the Elvara mission of promoting the unique attributes of Spanish wine, whilst drawing inspiration from a new found love of Spain and its many facets.