ANDALUCÍA - JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA - BODEGAS JOSE ESTEVEZ

Miguel Renoir Spanish Guides
Feb 15, 2023
3 min read

Updated: Dec 2, 2025

BODEGAS REAL TESORO Y VALDESPINO

This is an excellent bodega to tour, as it offers an overview of sherry production and related activities.

To start the tour of the bodega facilities, you will meet in the main reception area.

You will then be taken through the world of Sherry wines across the different wine cellars.

Marquesado del Real Tesoro.

Marquesado del Real Tesoro.

Valdespino.

This vast bodega has classical music playing gently to the sherry throughout the day.

The bodega is a beautiful building, built only recently, but it perfectly recreates an authentic 18th-century bodega. It is filled with nostalgic photos of the owner's family and has wonderful furniture, paintings, and antiques.

The original Valdespino

Our guide mastered the transition from Spanish to English and back again. She was witty and knowledgeable about the bodega and its wines, which made the tour very interesting.

Apart from sherry, you are taken to see the best native horses of Jerez de la Frontera at the bodegas stud, Real Tesoro.

The stables house around 15 black horses. They are bred there and are used during fiestas and fairs.

Dogs are also kept here, which keeps away any rats...

We came across a vintage horse-drawn carriage that is used for special occasions.

Next, you will see where the horse-drawn carriages are stored.

To complete the tour, you will see some of the best contemporary art in the Bodegas Art Gallery in the main building. The gallery includes works by Picasso, Miro, Dali, and others.

Finally, you are taken to the main hall, where you are offered a tasting of the bodega's sherry. The bottles are left on the table for you to help yourself. We had Amontillado, cream and PX. You can also buy sherries from their shop.

The tour lasts around two hours and costs €15 per person, which is excellent value.

A brief history of BodegaJosésEstévezez S.A.

The José Estévez S.A. wine cellars (bodegas) originated from José Lena Rendon and Co., established in 1809 to age sherry and brandy. Since 1974, the Estévez family has managed the entire company, renaming it José Estévez S.A. in 1984. In keeping with family business traditions, great importance has been given to the care of the wines' ageing.

In 1982, José Estévez de los Reyes bought many shares in the Marqués del Marquésesoro Bodega and took over that company in 1985. In 1989, the Estévez family devised a plan to merge the two companies, José Estévez S.A. and Marquesado del Real Tesoro. S.A., thus investing in a brand new facility, the headquarters you are visiting today.

In line with this expansion philosophy, in May 1993, the international brand of fino, Tio Mateo, and its complete solera were acquired. One of the oldest wineries in Jerez, A.R. Valdespino, was acquired in September 1999. In 2007, the Estévez family took control of Hijos de Rainera Pérez Marín y M. Gil Luque, the proprietors of the well-known Manzanilla La Guita from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, which is the market leader in Spain.