A Sherry Tasting and Tour at Tio Pepe...

Jerez Spain is known for its production of sherry wine.  We spent two nights in Jerez, and on our full day there we did a tour and tasting at Tio Pepe.  The company is actually called Gonzalez Byass.  A short history.... the company was founded in the early 1800s by Manual Maria Gonzalez who received advice from his Uncle Joe...Tio Pepe.  Englishman Robert Byass acquired an interest in the company in the mid 1800s and it has since been known as Gonzalez Byass, but is now controlled by the Gonzalez family....whew!  Among many other excellent products, they of course still make Tio Pepe Fino Sherry, and it is known world-wide....

Statue of Tio Pepe....

The grand entrance....

The tour and tasting lasted almost four hours, and concluded with a tasting of four different sherries and a selection of tapas.  The Bodgea was beautiful....

Don't take my picture....!

Tio Pepe is everywhere.....

The elegant waiting room had photos of some of the may celebrities who have visited and autographed sherry barrels.  Among them....Pablo Picasso, and of great interest to us (mostly Joe), the great racing driver Ayrton Senna....

The elegant waiting room....

Picasso...

Ayrton Senna....

The tour began with a mini-train ride around the complex....

One tiny vineyard, the company has over 2,000 acres in the Jerez area alone....

They said this was the largest weathervane in the world....Who are we to argue...?

Then we walked through a few of the many bodegas.  This one was designed by Gustav Eiffel for the visit of Queen Isabel II in 1862....

We saw lots of barrels.... 

Interesting that they only use American oak barrels....

Moving fast....

A light at the end of the barrel.....

The Solera method of creating sherry was explained to us.  Sherries of varying ages.... old, "middle-aged", and young, are combined in a special process that assures a quality finished product.  The blending is kept track of very carefully....

They have some very large and special barrels....and the oldest barrel and bottles at the Bodega....

The oldest barrel and bottles....

Here are a few of the signed barrels, and the one signed by Ayrton Senna....

One of the funnier things on the tour was how the winery dealt with pesky mice that were gnawing at the barrels.  Someone noticed that the mice were sipping spilled sherry, so they put some of their finest sherry in a glass, made a small ladder, and sure enough, the mice come and drink every day, and now they leave the casks alone!  We didn't actually see a mouse, but there are several videos on youtube showing mice drinking sherry.....

The tasting consisted of four sherries ranging from dry to sweet, and some nice tapas.  The tasting room was quite modern, we really liked the lights.....and the Tio Pepe displays....

Of course we exited through the gift shop and had to make a couple of purchases....

Cheers to Tio Pepe for a fun day....!!

Click on any photo to enlarge....