Bodega Norton remains ‘fully operational’ despite major restructure

The company, which is in the midst of a court appointed administration process (a ‘concurso preventivo’),  provided a formal update on its debt restructuring process yesterday. It comes a month after it entered the legal process with debts of 64 billion pesos (US$43 million or £32 million) owed to creditors, and rumours of an internecine war.

The voluntary administration provides court protection for a company to reorganize its debts and avoid liquidation un order to guarantee the continuity of operations,  preserve jobs and “order the financial and operational structure” of the company it said at the time. The move comes during a challenging time for the wine industry as domestic consumption and wine exports have seen a sharp drop, it said.

In a statement sent to the drinks business last night, the firm reiterating its commitment to international operations, “and the trust our consumers, partners and employees have placed in our company”.  Following the formal opening of court proceedings in December, it has now transitioned to a phase that includes the appointment of a Trustee “to ensure a transparent, court-supervised reorganisation”, it said.

In the statement, CEO Tomás Lange emphasised that the restructuring process “is not a liquidation, but a legal tool to preserve the company for the future, with (the) full support of our major shareholders and owning family, who are dedicated to preserve Norton’s legacy for decades to come.”

Lange further stated that Norton “continues to operate under full control of [its] own management team, with [its] vineyards, winery, regular business, and exports operating at full capacity to serve more than 72 markets worldwide.”

Speaking to Vino-Joy this week, Bodega Norton’s president Joaquín Langes-Swarovski said that as well as continuing to produce and sell wine, the company had mapped out strategies to ensure its survival and had set “many important goals for 2026”.

He also alluded to governance failures under the previous management, citing that “the debt we have been carrying for years, [was] largely caused by the previous management.”

However, previous CEO Michael Halstrick, who was appointed to the role by his step-father Gernot Langes-Swarovski in 1991 and ran the company for over 30 years, filed a wrongful dismissal lawsuit since leaving the company in 2023, two years after his step-father’s death. He claimed that his sister, Diana Langes-Swarovski, who owns a 60% share of the holding company to Halstrick’s 40%, and his brother, the CEO of the Austrian Swarovski business, were “asset-stripping” the wine company, and that under his sister’s management the winery’s debt had jumped from US$14 million in 2023 “to US$45 million in less than two years”.