The Argentine winery Bodegas Norton – one of the largest in the country – is insolvent. This is reported by the wine magazine Wine-Searcher citing Argentine media. The debts amount to around 38 million euros and include unpaid wages, supplier invoices, and international liabilities. The claims of former managing director Michael Halstrick alone range from 530,000 to twelve million euros, depending on the source.
Halstrick was the stepson of the former managing partner of the globally active Austrian crystal group Swarowski, Gernot Langes-Swarowski, who bought the winery in 1989. After his death in 2021, the company passed to his children Diana and Markus. Bodegas Norton is managed by a private foundation, which is 60 percent owned by Diana Langes-Swarowski and 40 percent by her stepbrother Michael Halstrick. This imbalance is said to have led Halstrick to be forced to leave the company in 2023 after over 30 years in management. He stated that his siblings had attempted to take complete control and had “plundered” Bodegas Norton. The debts were only twelve million euros in 2023. Under his sister’s management, they increased to over 38 million euros in less than two years. Among the creditors is also the husband of Diana Langes-Swarowski, the US-Spanish businessman Joaquín Fernández de Córdova Hohenlohe. Their joint son is the chairman of the board of Norton.
However, the financial plight of Norton is not solely attributed to family disputes, as Argentine media report. The winery, like the entire industry, suffers from the structural problems of the Argentine wine economy: declining wine consumption domestically, weaker exports, high inflation, and sharply increased production costs.
(al; Image: Bodega Norton)
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