Bodega Tradicion: Home of Low Interventionist Sherry and Famous Paintings

The entrance to Bodega Tradicion is along an old cobblestone street and then through a  wooden door into a simple tree shaded courtyard with a few welcoming benches. We were greeted by Eduardo Davis, Export Manager, who provided us with an excellent tour and an overview of the bodega’s history.

Bodega History and Production

Originally established in the 1650’s by the Rivero family, the bodega had many prestigious years until it was sold to an investment firm and later fell into bankruptcy. The family was able to buy it back and in 1995 changed the name to Bodega Tradicion to emphasize the fact that they wanted to focus on family traditions. Today they produce 35,000 liters of sherry and 6000 liters of brandy. Unfortunately they lost all of their original vineyards with the transition, but have set up a good network of high quality growers from which they purchase grapes.

Preserving History and Art

The bodega is famous for its beautiful collection of paintings that the family has preserved through the centuries, including works by Velázquez, Goya and many other artists. The Rivero family has also amassed a very impressive collection of winery records, which is considered to be the largest archive from the 1600’s in Jerez.  In order to preserve and share the records with the world, they have hired experts to digitalize the collection, which has become known as the CZ Archives.

Progressive Human Resource Policies from the 1800’s

Eduardo told us a story about one of the family members from the 1800’s who believed in progressive human resource policies for his workers. He actually kept training, promotion and salary records, and when many of his workers and townspeople fell ill, he paid to have a famous doctor brought to the town who saved many lives.  As a gift of thanks, the townspeople gave him a magnificent gold candelabrum, which is featured in the library room.

The Heady Scent of Fermenting Fino Sherry

When we entered the fino solera, with it rows of double-stacked black barrels, I was not prepared for the intense aroma of flor fermentation. It is much more pungent than regular yeast, and took a while for me to get adjusted to the scent. It was especially challenging when Eduardo unplugged a barrel and encouraged me to stick my nose in the hole. The burning sensation was painful, but it did clear up my sinuses for the day.

How the Fino Solera Process Works

We then proceeded to taste from many different barrels to experiment with fino at various ages. Eduardo explained that Bodega Tradicion does everything very naturally, with very little manipulation of the wine. The palomino grapes are picked early when they are fresh with good acidity, and natural yeast is used for primary fermentation in a stainless steel tank.

 “It is not true that palomino has no character,” said Eduardo. “It has freshness, acidity, and fruit when picked at the right time. “

The wine is then transferred to a second stainless steel tank before it goes dry, along with an addition of 15% alcohol. This causes the flor yeast to begin to grow and multiple until they form a community of tiny living creatures on top of the wine. Around December, “when the wine is sleeping” they transfer the flor and wine to the solera. The new wine always goes into the top barrel in the solera. Additional grape brandy is added as needed, but never more than 15.5% or the flor community will die.

Eduardo explained that they transfer wine in the solera from top to bottom once a quarter, though some houses only transfer twice a year. A little air is always left in the barrel so the flor community can have some oxygen to survive. The role of the flor is to protect the wine from oxygen, and to give it the fresh almond, green apple, and chamomile notes that make fino sherry so distinctive.

Any wine that is transferred is always taken from the middle, with small pumps, so as not to disturb the living flor community. Eduardo explained that they keep their fino alive for 6.5 to 7 years in the solera before bottling. “There is no fining, filtering, or intervention,” he said. “So, in essence, all of our wines are enrama – we just don’t advertise it on the bottle.”

It should be noted that the minimum amount of time to keep fino under flor is 3 years, according to Sherry Regulations, but many houses keep it longer so that the fino can develop more complex flavors.

Tasting Fino from the Barrel with a “Llenenzia”

As we followed Eduardo around the cellar to taste fino from different barrels, he showed us how to gently remove the wine with a “Llenenzia.” This is a special long narrow rod with a thin deep cup to cut gently through flor and not disturb it too much.  It also keeps most of the flor out of the glass when you taste it.

When the Wine Doesn’t Want to Be a Fino – Amontillado is Born

“Sometimes,” announced Eduardo, as he led us into the separate Amontillado and Olorosa cellar, “a wine says ‘I cannot be a fino’. That is when we make it an amontillado.” He explained that the fino starts to oxidize, perhaps because the flor colony was not thick enough in a particular barrel, so they add a higher level of alcohol (around 18%) and age it in a separate solera system as an amontillado.

Olorosa sherry, on the other hand, was always intended to be olorosa. Therefore, it never grows flor, and is immediately fortified to 18% after primary fermentation, and then placed in the solera.

We tasted several amontillados out of cask, and I quickly realized that the older they were, the more I liked them. The younger ones still retained some of the cheesy yeasty notes, whereas the older ones were nuttier. My favorite was a 42 year old amontillado, which had crisp acidity and notes of caramel, nuts and dried orange – more similar to a sercial madeira.

We concluded our tour with a quick pass through the art gallery, and then thanked Eduardo profusely before heading out of the dark cellars into the bright sunshine of Jerez, and onto the next sherry house on our schedule.