Valdespino | Jerez

Crowned Fortified Producer of the Year at the Sommelier Wine Awards, Valdespino stands as one of the oldest and most revered bodegas in Jerez. The estate traces its heritage back six centuries to 1264, taking its name from Alfonso Valdespino—one of 24 knights who fought alongside King Alfonso X to recapture the city. As a reward for his military valour, he was gifted the pristine lands that laid the foundation for the bodega. Today, under the stewardship of the Estévez family, Valdespino owns 750 hectares of estate vineyards. This level of land control is exceptionally rare in modern Andalusia, allowing total oversight from soil to bottle.

At the heart of their holdings is the famed Macharnudo Alto vineyard. Perched at one of the highest elevations in the district at 135 metres, these vines sit on pure, blindingly white albariza soils. This porous limestone acts like a sponge during wet winter months, holding vital moisture deep underground to feed the vines through the scorching southern Spanish summer. While most modern producers use stainless steel tanks, Valdespino remains committed to traditional methods that build unmatched depth. Their flagship Fino Inocente is the only Fino Sherry still fermented entirely in native oak barrels, aged through a massive solera system of ten criaderas—a slow, ten-stage maturation process compared to the standard three used across the region. Closer to the coast, their Manzanilla Deliciosa captures the crisp, salty sea breezes of Sanlúcar de Barrameda from the Miraflores vineyard.

The cellar is equally famous for its rare liquid history. Their extraordinary VOS and VORS releases represent casks matured for over 20 and 30 years respectively, including the legendary Oloroso Solera 1842. Beyond traditional cask releases, the estate crafts heritage aperitifs like botanical Vermouth and Quina, alongside two remarkable spirits. When the Estévez family acquired the firm in 1999, they rediscovered forgotten casks tucked away in a quiet corner of the cellar—rare Panamanian and Dominican rums and aged brandies originally imported in the early 1900s. Today, those revived soleras produce their Solera Gran Reserva Brandy de Jerez and decades-old rum, preserving one of the most remarkable spirit archives in all of Spain.

VALDESPINO