Wine Style: Oloroso

Oloroso Dulce VORS

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Barbadillo’s Oloroso Dulce VORS is drawn from the same dry Oloroso VORS solera as its sibling but sweetened with a small addition of Pedro Ximénez during the final stages of maturation. This brings the wine into the Cream classification — or more accurately, the Oloroso Dulce category — while preserving the essential character of the aged, dry Oloroso that forms its backbone.

The effect of the Pedro Ximénez addition is integrative rather than transformative: the sweetness rounds the edges of the old Oloroso without obscuring its character. The nose offers dried figs, walnut, dark caramel and a hint of chocolate, with the same oxidative complexity as the dry version underneath. The palate has a gentle sweetness that counterbalances the natural bitterness of an aged Oloroso, creating a harmonious, rich and lingering finish. An excellent introduction to sweet Oloroso styles from a producer that understands them deeply.

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Oloroso Reliquia

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Reliquia Oloroso is Bodegas Barbadillo’s very old oloroso expression within its current or recently verified portfolio. The current documentation records more than 100 years, producer-declared. The profile is kept edition-specific where the public documentation is incomplete. The current documentation records it as made from 100% Palomino Fino, aged through oxidative ageing, with an age statement of More than 100 years, producer-declared, at 22% alcohol and in 37.5cl. Producer-declared age; no separate official age certification claimed.

Mahogany, with walnut, leather, spice and seasoned wood; dry, broad and persistent. Its breadth and warmth are framed by a dry, savoury finish.

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Lustau

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Lustau was founded in 1896 by José Ruiz-Berdejo y Veyán, a secretary to the Court of Justice who cultivated vines and aged wines in his spare time on the family estate of Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza, operating as an almacenista and selling wines to larger Sherry exporters. In 1931, his daughter María Ruiz-Berdejo Alberti acquired a small winery closer to the centre of Jerez and transferred the family soleras there. During the 1940s, her husband Emilio Lustau Ortega moved the business to the historic Santiago district, and in 1945 Lustau ceased operating solely as an almacenista and began bottling and marketing wines under its own brands.

In 1990, Lustau merged with the family-owned Luis Caballero group, which provided the resources required to expand its stocks, international distribution and portfolio. In 2000, the company acquired six nineteenth-century cellar buildings on Calle Arcos in Jerez, which now form its principal headquarters. Lustau describes itself as the only Sherry producer with active winemaking or ageing operations in all three cities of the Sherry Triangle: Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María and Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

One of its most important contributions to modern Sherry was the creation of the Almacenista collection in 1981, which gave independent almacenistas unprecedented public recognition by identifying them by name and recording the number of casks contained in their soleras. Among its best-known examples is Manuel Cuevas Jurado’s Manzanilla Pasada 1/80, sourced from an eighty-cask solera in Sanlúcar and bottled with limited filtration.

The Solera Familiar range represents the principal traditional styles of Sherry. East India Solera is a Cream produced from Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez, whose components are aged separately for approximately twelve years, blended and subsequently returned to a dedicated forty-five-cask solera for a further three years. Pedro Ximénez San Emilio undergoes approximately twelve years of oxidative ageing in Jerez.

Sergio Martínez has led the technical team as cellar master since 2016. In 2025, he was named IWC Fortified Winemaker of the Year for the seventh time, equalling the record achieved by his predecessor and mentor Manuel Lozano.

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Bodegas Real Tesoro, Valdespino y La Guita

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Valdespino traces its traditional family origins to 1264, when, according to the history preserved by the house, King Alfonso X granted land to the knight Alfonso Valdespino following the Christian conquest of Jerez. Commercial wine activity associated with the family is documented from 1430, while the modern company, A. R. Valdespino, was formally constituted in 1875. These dates represent different stages in the history of the name and should not be treated as interchangeable foundation dates. In 1999, Valdespino was acquired by Grupo José Estévez, which preserved its historic brands and soleras while transferring the principal ageing operations to the group’s facilities on the outskirts of Jerez.

The identity of Valdespino is inseparable from Macharnudo Alto, one of the most highly regarded historic pagos of Jerez and the source of the Palomino used for the house’s most distinctive wines, including Fino Inocente and Amontillado Tío Diego. Fermentation in seasoned American-oak butts remains one of the defining features of these wines — a practice once common throughout Jerez but largely abandoned as stainless-steel fermentation became standard. Fino Inocente passes through ten criaderas and reaches an average age of approximately ten years under flor; its prolonged biological ageing and its origin in Macharnudo Alto make it one of the most distinctive and mature Finos produced in Jerez.

Eduardo Ojeda played a central role in the modern technical development of Valdespino and supervised the reorganisation of its soleras following the 1999 acquisition. He subsequently became a co-founder of Equipo Navazos. Victoria Frutos Climent joined Grupo José Estévez in 2005 and is now the winemaker most closely associated with Valdespino and the other Sherry houses belonging to the group.

The old-wine portfolio includes Don Gonzalo Oloroso VOS and the VORS wines Coliseo Amontillado, Cardenal Palo Cortado, Su Majestad Oloroso and Niños Pedro Ximénez. Moscatel Toneles occupies a separate position within the collection, drawn in extremely small quantities from an ancient tonel whose age is frequently estimated at close to a century. This should be understood as a technical and historical assessment rather than an exact chronological certification. As a Moscatel, it is not marketed under the VOS or VORS categories.

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El Maestro Sierra

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El Maestro Sierra dates its foundation to 1830, when José Antonio Sierra, a master cooper, established his own wine business in Jerez de la Frontera. This history is symbolised by the traditional label of the house, which depicts a fox pursued by mounted hunters — the fox representing the craftsman seeking a place in a trade dominated by wealthy merchant families, the horsemen evoking the powerful bodegueros who controlled the industry.

The winery remains a small, independently owned house at Plaza Silos 5 in central Jerez. It is currently headed by María del Carmen Borrego Plá, daughter of Pilar Plá Pechovierto, who managed the house for more than four decades until her death in 2020. Ana Cabestrero combines responsibility for winemaking, cellar management and commercial direction, and her work has been central to maintaining the traditional character of the house while expanding its international recognition.

El Maestro Sierra preserves the identity of a traditional almacenista-style producer. Restrained intervention, careful maintenance of the soleras and limited production remain fundamental to its philosophy.

The portfolio includes Fino, Amontillado, Oloroso, Medium, Cream and Pedro Ximénez. The international reputation of the house rests particularly on a group of exceptionally mature wines drawn from very small soleras. Amontillado 1830 is described by the producer as having more than forty years of average ageing. Oloroso 1/14 is drawn from a fourteen-cask solera and presented with an estimated age of approximately fifty years. Oloroso 1/7 comes from an even smaller seven-cask system and is described as approximately eighty years old. The collection also includes a very old Palo Cortado and a Pedro Ximénez de Anticuario. Age figures substantially exceeding the official minimums required for VOS or VORS certification should be understood as producer estimates based on the history, movements and concentration of the soleras.

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Bodegas Tradición

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Bodegas Tradición was founded in Jerez de la Frontera in 1998 by Joaquín Rivero Valcarce. The project was conceived as a revival of his family’s long-standing association with the Sherry trade, particularly the legacy of the historic J. M. Rivero and CZ businesses. The present company dates from 1998 and draws on a much older family tradition, but should not be presented as the uninterrupted corporate continuation of a business founded in the seventeenth century.

The winery is located at Plaza Cordobeses 3, in Jerez’s historic Santiago district. Following Joaquín Rivero’s death in 2016, his daughter Helena Rivero assumed the presidency and continued the project’s focus on mature wines, limited production and the preservation of historic soleras.

The current wine range comprises Fino Tradición, Amontillado Tradición VORS, Oloroso Tradición VORS, Palo Cortado Tradición VORS, Cream Tradición VOS and Pedro Ximénez Tradición VOS, alongside Brandy Tradición Solera Gran Reserva and Brandy Platinum Solera Gran Reserva. Fino Tradición is made entirely from Palomino and undergoes approximately ten years of biological ageing; two sacas are generally produced each year, in spring and autumn. The Amontillado, Oloroso and Palo Cortado carry VORS certification, guaranteeing a minimum average age of thirty years. The Cream and Pedro Ximénez are certified as VOS, guaranteeing a minimum average age of twenty years.

The cellars house the Joaquín Rivero and Helena Rivero Collection, comprising more than three hundred works of Spanish painting dating from the late medieval period to the nineteenth century. A selection is displayed among the soleras and includes works associated with artists such as El Greco, Velázquez, Zurbarán, Murillo and Goya. The integration of the collection into the working cellars makes Tradición an unusual meeting point between two forms of Spanish cultural heritage: historic painting and long-aged Sherry.

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Williams & Humbert

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Williams & Humbert was founded in Jerez de la Frontera in 1877 by Sir Alexander Williams and Arthur Humbert. The relationship between the founding families was both commercial and personal: Arthur Humbert’s sister Amy married Alexander Williams. From its beginnings, the company developed a strong international orientation and played an active role in the commercial and institutional development of Sherry. Dry Sack was introduced in 1906 and became the house’s most internationally recognised brand. The current Dry Sack Medium is based on Oloroso Yema made from Palomino and blended with Pedro Ximénez, undergoing oxidative ageing through the criaderas-and-solera system for a minimum average period of six years.

After a period under Rumasa ownership, Williams & Humbert was acquired by the Medina family in the early 1990s. The Philippine beverage group The Keepers entered the shareholding in 2018 and increased its participation to 50% in September 2022. The company is therefore jointly owned by the Medina family and The Keepers.

The principal winery complex was built in the mid-1970s outside central Jerez, covering more than 50,000 square metres and housing approximately 60,000 American-oak casks — one of the largest winery facilities in Europe. The building is included in the recognised Andalusian immovable heritage inventory; this designation should not be confused with the separate legal classification of Bien de Interés Cultural. The house owns vineyards in the historic Jerez Superior pagos of Balbaína, Añina and Carrascal.

Jalifa is currently marketed as an Amontillado VORS made from Palomino with a certified minimum average age of thirty years. Dos Cortados is currently presented as a Palo Cortado VORS, also with a certified minimum average age of thirty years, produced from Palomino originating in Añina, Balbaína and Carrascal. Older releases and commercial listings may describe Dos Cortados as VOS, but that classification relates to previous bottlings. Williams & Humbert also preserves an extensive collection of vintage Sherries dating back to 1920.

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Osborne

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Osborne officially dates its origins to 1772. The early corporate genealogy of the company is complex and closely connected with the network of British wine merchants operating in Cádiz and El Puerto de Santa María during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Thomas Osborne Mann entered the wine trade in the early nineteenth century, initially using facilities associated with James Duff and the Duff Gordon company to store and ship his wines; he later became a partner in that business, and the Osborne family progressively consolidated control during the nineteenth century. The history should not be simplified by stating that Thomas Osborne Mann directly created the present company in 1772.

Osborne remains a family-controlled Spanish group. Sofía Osborne Coloma became chair of its board of directors in June 2023. The company has developed far beyond its original Sherry business and now operates across wine, spirits and premium food. Its historic Sherry activity is centred on Bodega de Mora in El Puerto de Santa María, a cellar dating from 1828 in the Campo de Guía winery district, which now houses a significant collection of historic soleras.

One of the company’s most recognisable cultural assets is the Toro de Osborne: Manolo Prieto designed the silhouette in 1956 for an advertising campaign promoting Veterano brandy, and the first roadside structure was installed the following year. In 1997, Spain’s Supreme Court permitted the silhouettes to remain because of their integration into the landscape and the aesthetic or cultural interest they had acquired. This judgment did not convert them into formally protected historic monuments.

The broader Sherry portfolio includes Fino Quinta and Fino-Amontillado Coquinero alongside limited releases from mature family soleras. The summit of the range is formed by four VORS wines incorporated into the Osborne portfolio from historic Domecq holdings in 2008: Amontillado 51-1a, from a solera established in 1830; Oloroso Sibarita, associated with a solera founded in 1792; Palo Cortado Capuchino, from a solera dating to 1790; and Pedro Ximénez Venerable, whose solera was established in 1902. These dates refer to the historical establishment of the soleras and not to the exact chronological age of every component in a given bottling. Their VORS certification guarantees a minimum average age of thirty years; any greater age attributed to an individual wine should be identified as a producer or cellar estimate.

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Hidalgo-La Gitana

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Hidalgo-La Gitana was founded in Sanlúcar de Barrameda in 1792 by Don Pantaleón José Hidalgo, who took over the management of a small winery belonging to his father-in-law, Roque Bejarano. The company remains under the control of the founding family, whose eighth generation currently manages the business.

The historic cellars stand in Sanlúcar’s Barrio Bajo, close to the Guadalquivir estuary. The producer currently cultivates more than 120 hectares of Palomino in the pagos of Balbaína and Miraflores; its principal vineyard properties include El Cuadrado and Pastrana.

Manzanilla La Gitana is the flagship wine and one of the most widely distributed Manzanillas, undergoing biological ageing in Sanlúcar and reaching an average age of approximately five years. La Gitana En Rama is released in limited selections intended to preserve a closer expression of the wine as tasted from the cask.

The producer dates the origins of the Pastrana project to 1985, when Javier Hidalgo and Portuguese wine producer Cristiano van Zeller set out to create a Manzanilla based entirely on a single vineyard. Finca Pastrana covers approximately fourteen hectares in the Miraflores pago. Manzanilla Pasada Pastrana was first commercially released in 1997 and undergoes more than twelve years of biological ageing before bottling. Pastrana was one of the pioneering modern expressions of vineyard-designated Manzanilla; earlier historical precedents, however, cannot be excluded.

The current VORS range comprises Napoleón Amontillado VORS, Faraón Oloroso VORS, Wellington Palo Cortado VORS and Triana Pedro Ximénez VORS, each with a certified minimum average age of thirty years. The company also markets Wellington VOS 20, a separate Palo Cortado with a certified minimum average age of twenty years. The Napoleón and Wellington names are traditionally linked by the producer to wines supplied to French and British interests during the Peninsular War — an association that forms part of the family and commercial tradition of the house.

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Barbadillo

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Barbadillo was founded in Sanlúcar de Barrameda in 1821 by Benigno Barbadillo y Hortigüela, who returned to Spain after developing a successful commercial career in Mexico. Together with his cousin Manuel López Barbadillo, he acquired the El Toro winery and established the foundations of a family business that has remained closely connected with Sanlúcar for more than two centuries. The company is currently chaired by Manuel Barbadillo Eyzaguirre, a member of the seventh generation of the founding family.

Barbadillo is one of Spain’s largest and oldest family-controlled wine businesses and one of the leading producers of Manzanilla. Its ageing operations are distributed among sixteen cellars in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, whose different locations and orientations enable the company to work with the variations in humidity, ventilation and temperature that influence biological ageing under flor.

Barbadillo occupies a fundamental place in the commercial history of Manzanilla. According to the company’s archives, in 1827 it shipped its first casks of Manzanilla to Philadelphia. Shortly afterwards, it marketed Pastora, which the producer describes as the first commercially bottled Manzanilla. The company also claims to have been the first producer to employ the word «Manzanilla» as the name of this style of wine.

Manzanilla Solear remains the centre of the portfolio and reaches an average age of approximately six years. Manzanilla Pasada Pastora and Solear En Rama undergo longer ageing, developing greater concentration and a more mature expression of biological development. In spring 1999, Barbadillo launched the first seasonal bottling of Solear En Rama. Four sacas are now released annually, corresponding to the four seasons and reflecting the changing condition of the flor throughout the year. This initiative played a decisive role in establishing the modern commercial category of seasonally bottled, minimally filtered Manzanilla.

The current VORS collection comprises Príncipe Amontillado VORS, Obispo Gascón Palo Cortado VORS and Cuco Oloroso VORS, each carrying official certification guaranteeing a minimum average age of thirty years. These wines should be distinguished from the Reliquia collection, drawn from some of the oldest and most limited stocks preserved by the family. The series comprises Amontillado, Palo Cortado, Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez; releases are extremely small and vary according to the condition and availability of each solera. Reliquia Palo Cortado was the first dry Sherry to receive one hundred points from The Wine Advocate and remains one of the most highly regarded wines in Barbadillo’s history.

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