INTERVIEW | Wednesday, 21 November 2007

Sitting on the dock of the bay

Tony Cassar, former Chairman of Marsovin, speaks to David Darmanin about his new life after moving out of the fast lane.

Tony Cassar proves to us that championing breakthroughs in the wine industry does not only require solid entrepreneurial skills. Sensitivity to the correctness of winemaking, passion, creativity and a strong Mediterranean temperament are key to this industry.
In his 30 year winemaking career, he was one of the pioneers in setting winemaking standards in Malta, through which he launched an award winning Methode Traditionelle Brut, worked on an experimental vineyard that took ten years of research to develop, introduced unprecedented quality wines like Cheval Franc and creating a concept of marketing a cellar wine that is now sold on e-Bay by Americans to the Japanese at U$700 a pop. Rightly so, his efforts have been rewarded with considerable wealth, but everything comes at a cost. Two years ago, in his early fifties, the Grand-Maitre decides to call it a day and start living.

What do you remember of your first days at work? Did you imagine yourself doing what you have done?
I never imagined myself going into the wine industry. I would say that my career in business was formed slowly and followed a long string of coincidences. I appreciate the initial process of my career immensely since I was allowed enough time to learn the ropes. My first real contact with the business world was when I was 16 years of age, in the 1960s. My late father, Joseph Cassar - who I was very close to, was a keen industrialist whose investments lied mainly in property – very much like any other businessman in a post-independent Malta. Regardless of the fact that I was too young to have a driving license, my job was to drive around looking for properties with my father, seeing that he suffered from a bad neck and could rarely drive. Besides of course my father, who I owe a lot to, one person I shall never forget was my mentor, ex-British Army officer Ing. Joe Saliba who I also spent a lot of time driving around with back in the early days.
People who have known or come across my father, will tell you what a wise man he was. The way he could tackle difficult situations was spectacular. Above all, he was a resolute man with a strong social conscience. Towards 1975, he was approached to join the Malta Development Corporation. This was when he handed over the keys of his office to me. I was only in my twenties back then, so you can imagine how challenging this prospect was. Luckily enough, I was always surrounded by people with strong expertise who supported me in the day-to-day operation of the company. Nobody does anything alone, and whenever I got stuck I asked. I still do till this very day.

What do you consider as being your greatest achievement?
I’m a perfectionist by nature. People of my type never have a greatest achievement because they’re never 100% happy with what they do. I always strive to keep on improving on my results.

Would you have done anything differently?
I would have spent more time with my family. Running a business successfully comes at a considerable cost. I haven’t seen my children grow, and I deeply regret this. I fondly treasure those days when in Summer I’d take my family sailing around the Mediterranean. Sometimes we sailed for a whole month. This was pretty much the only time I could afford spending with my children, otherwise all of my time was completely dedicated to the business. If I could go back in time, I would be more moderate and work towards a healthier work-life balance.

What’s different now?
I’m retired now, everything’s different. For once, I have time for myself. The business environment at Marsovin is extremely fast, and this is probably because the wine industry is very intricate and extremely competitive. At a certain point I needed to slow down. But how can you slow down when you are entrusted to drive a winning Formula 1 car? This reasoning led me to my decision on the prospect of retirement. I was lucky enough to have taken this decision at a point when my children were old enough and prepared to take over. I’m having the time of my life now. I walk around wearing casual clothing, and where before the order of the day would be to meet Ministers or prominent individuals now it is to meet the attendant at the grocery store. Believe it or not I had very rarely done my own shopping before, and it’s these little simplicities that I appreciate most now. I also take MCAST evening courses, I allow myself time to paint, I attend motorbike rallies with my friends - this is one of my greatest passions.
In fact, I have a collection of vintage motorbikes – on which I personally did most of the restoration. Carpentry is another one of my favourite pastimes. On a more humane front, quite recently we lost a close friend of the family – who I spent time with before his demise. Having the opportunity to do so is a great privilege.

Now that you are retired, I am quite sure you are in a position to observe the running of Marsovin from a more objective viewpoint. Is there anything you would like your children to do in the same way you did, or perhaps differently?
I don’t interfere in any of the business affairs at the winery, whose running has been taken over by my eldest son Jeremy as one of the directors in my stead. Laragh, my daughter, is a capable 29 year old lawyer who is being trained into directorship of the property section of the company. By all means, I offer advice to my children, but as a father and not as an entrepreneur. I know my children well enough to be convinced that they will do very well. Jeremy has quickly learnt the ins and outs of business, he loves wine with a passion, is artistic, has a good memory, and more importantly he’s sensitive and correct. I have always propagated correctness in business. I believe that one stands to gain more when strong values are applied to leadership. Laragh is very bright, kind hearted and resolved. She has been wanting to become a lawyer since she was 15. Seeing that she wanted to build her own career, I always did my best to encourage her to do so. Since I retired, I have been trying to teach my children to do their best in opting for being plainly shareholders of a business, without necessarily being employed with their own company. I have no say in what they decide, and I am ready to support them in any decision they make for themselves. I am more than happy to see Laragh in employment with a leading law firm while being responsible for parts of the family business, I think this is very wise.

Are you still somehow involved in business affairs of some sort or have you cut off completely?
I have a few financial interests in property and otherwise. Really and truly, I can never cut off completely, even though I make sure not to be very busy. I have some business interests in Gozo and I have in mind of developing a large enough construction in the heart of Bu_ibba.

Where do you see the wine industry going in the next ten years?
I stick to what I have been saying over the past years. Malta has huge potential in the wine industry. We have so far proved ourselves in this respect. Objectively, we can produce some excellent wines. What we cannot, and can probably never produce is cheap, voluminous wines. I compare the wine industry to tourism. We are now facing reality, realising that we can hardly benefit from mass tourism. Malta is restricted by its size, and I am sure that it will be better off once we fully understand that our real wine industry lies in profiting from good, expensive wines.