Cayetano del Pino

The origins of Cayetano del Pino lie in the activity begun by Cayetano del Pino y Vázquez in Jerez during the early 1880s. In 1883, he began working independently as an extractor and selector of wines, and after a short-lived partnership the following year he associated with Manuel de la Calzada. On 19 November 1886, they formally registered Cayetano del Pino & Compañía as a wine-exporting firm.

The company developed into an important commercial Sherry house before gradually concentrating on the almacenista trade. Following the death of Cayetano del Pino Balbontín in 1935, the business ceased bottling and selling wine under its own labels and concentrated on ageing stocks for larger producers. In 1983, the company acquired its present premises at Plaza Silos 3, a building that had previously belonged to Pedro Domecq and been used for the ageing of Fino La Ina. In 2015, the fourth generation of the family resumed commercial bottling under the Cayetano del Pino name, initially releasing Palo Cortado and Amontillado with an average age of approximately eighteen years. In April 2021, the house launched its first Palo Cortado VORS under its own label. In September 2022, Grupo Mesgal Patrimonial, owned by Jerez businessman Fulgencio Meseguer Galán, acquired the winery.

Cayetano del Pino is widely regarded as a specialist in Palo Cortado. Its current portfolio includes Fino and several levels of Amontillado and Palo Cortado — including Solera, Superior, VOS and VORS releases — all made entirely from Palomino. The range also includes a Cream made by combining a Palomino-based oxidatively aged wine with Pedro Ximénez. The house has also supplied wine to other respected producers: Lustau’s Almacenista Palo Cortado de Jerez 1/22 originates from a twenty-two-cask Cayetano del Pino solera.

The current Palo Cortado VORS has an average age stated by the producer at approximately thirty-six years and is released in very small quantities. It has received high scores from The Wine Advocate, Guía Peñín, Guía Gourmets and Verema, and was voted the Best Generoso Wine of 2022 by the readers of Guía Verema.