Hubert J. E. s.r.o., Slovakia
Number one for wine and sparkling wine
A beautiful tale lives on
Even today, a lovely legend is associated with the foundation of the company Hubert J. E. According to this story, Frenchman Johann Evangelist Hubert, a soldier in Napoleon’s army, settles in Bratislava when he fell in love with a nurse called Pauline. Having learned the secret of making champagne in his native country, he is said to have founded the first sparkling wine company outside France to use original French methods to make the highly prized drink. A nice anecdote maybe, but the real story has long been known. Two citizens of the city, a merchant for wine and colonial goods called Johann Fischer and a doctor called Michael Schönbauer, who knows the French method of making champagne, are the original producers of sparkling wine in Bratislava.
Hubert J. E. supplies the court in Vienna
The fine sparkling wines made from locally produced vintages are soon in great demand from people at home and abroad and win numrous prizes. The Hubert family does not become part owner of the company until 1875, but it goes on to take it over entirely in 1877. After the death of Johann Evangelist Hubert, his wife Pauline runs the company as of 1882, and she shows her talent for business by stepping up output and increasing the profile of the products. Hubert J. E. gets “knighted” when emperor Franz Joseph I visits the 1896 millennial exhibition in Budapest and has a glass of the company’s Gentry Club sparkling wine. Calling it an “excellent champagne”, he makes Hubert J. E. the supplier to the court. By the turn of the century, the company’s various products are exported around the world.
From state ownership to private enterprise
From 1945, Hubert J. E.’s operations are overseen by the Czechoslovakian state, and three years later, the company becomes fully state-owned. It moves to the town of Sered’ east of Bratislava, where there are skilled viticulture workers and which is closer to the vineyards that produce wines in the surrounding Carpathians. In January 2000, the company is bought by Henkell & Co. and produces a wide range of sparkling wines for the Hubert brand to meet all tastes. In 2008, it fuses with Slovakia’s largest wine producer Vitis Pezinok, which counts popular spirits such as Karpatské Brandy Speciál among its products, and today Hubert J. E. is the Slovakian market leader for wines and sparkling wines alike.
