Wine Style: Pedro Ximénez

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.

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.

González Byass is one of the defining historic houses of Jerez. Founded in 1835 by Manuel María González Ángel, it grew from a family wine venture into one of the most internationally recognised names in Sherry, with Tío Pepe as its emblematic Fino and a deep archive of old soleras behind its premium range.

The house covers the full classical spectrum, from Tío Pepe and its en rama and Palmas expressions to long-aged wines and VORS bottlings such as Del Duque, Apóstoles, Matusalem and Noé. Its scale and visibility make it an essential reference point for understanding modern Sherry, but each wine should still be handled by exact style, ageing, release and certification rather than by brand prestige alone.