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Posted
1 hour ago, bundwallah said:

Hoyo de Monterrey de what!?!!?!  ? OK. No one's asked but I'll bite.  What is the story behind HdM Chateau Yquem?  No reference of it in CCW as regular/discontinued/special release.  Is this some sort of errata that  MRN got a hold of?  From the photo it does look like the Davidoff release in terms of size/vitola.  Is this an old example of "Cuba being Cuba"? 

No.

27 minutes ago, 99call said:

Didn't HdM run a Chateau series before Davidoff? 

Yes.

17 minutes ago, Trevor2118 said:

Never heard of this (or any HdM Chateau series for that matter), but considering the providence of the cigars...they are genuine.

You never stop learning. :wacko:

No one doesn't.
Alex was in HK just a bit before me - he might have some answers ... ?

11 minutes ago, Fugu said:

Nope. that's the original Hoyo Château series by importer/merchant A. Dürr & Co. The same who created the Series Le Hoyo (as early as in the 1940s). It was just a bit later that Zino Davidoff was given exclusiveness to that line.

There is some historical dispute about who actually "invented" the series (while keeping in mind Zino having been a particularly 'strong' character.... ;)). One of the best and in-depth accounts I have seen can be found in an early CA-article by JS (from a time when CA was very well worth its money....).

https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/cuban-davidoffs-7798
 

The Château bit:

"There's always been some mystery around the chateaux series of Davidoff anyway. Both the Cubans and Davidoff agree that the line began just after the war. The Cubans were finding it difficult to sell their cigars, and they decided to ask the Swiss to help Zino come up with a new marketing concept. Cubatabaco claims that the cigar producer first asked the Zurich-based cigar merchant, Dürr, who came up with the idea and later gave it to Davidoff. The cigars were then sold as Hoyo de Monterrey, Specially Selected by Zino Davidoff. However, Zino Davidoff strongly disagrees with the Cubans' story. He takes all the credit for what remains the most prestigious line of Cuban cigars ever produced.

"I created the chateaux [series] in 1946--an extraordinary innovation," Davidoff says. "It was me. They came to see me in Geneva as they knew me [from] when I had been over in Havana at the time. I had opened the shop in Geneva, and they told me that the war had ruined them as they hadn't been able to export their goods. They wanted to make a new start and wondered how they should go about it. We were in a French restaurant and the idea struck me as I was looking at the wine list. France had its grand crus. Why shouldn't Havana?"

According to Rudolf Wey, a Zurich-based business consultant who worked for Dürr for many years, the Cubans' version of the creation of the chateaux series is closer to the truth. In a telephone interview this summer, Wey said that the English agent for Hoyo de Monterrey, Tobacco Torceido Trade Limited in London (now defunct), Dürr and Davidoff met just after the war and decided to start the chateaux series together. "I recently watched Zino Davidoff on French television take full credit for the chateaux series but it wasn't like that," Wey said. "All three companies were present at the meeting. A Mr. Hart from England, Mr. Vogel from Dürr, and Zino Davidoff." At the outset, Dürr imported the cigars from Hoyo de Monterrey, keeping the chateaux series for itself in Zurich while selling them to Davidoff in Geneva. Later, Dürr decided to give Davidoff exclusivity for the range, said Wey."

Thank you @Fugu for digging the archives !!

I believe this was developed way before Zino got involved. He might have gotten the idea and started his own line ...

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