N.V. Valdespino Pedro Ximenez El Candado

Valdespino has been making sherry for more than 700 years. It was founded by Don Alfonso Valdespino in the 13th century and over the centuries earned a reputation for its dry sherries made in northwest Jerez. The estate’s most famous wines come from the Macharnudo and Carrascal vineyards. In 1999 Valdespino was purchased by Grupo Estevaz, a wine and spirits conglomerate. Grupo Estevez injected money into a new cellar and winemaking facility and hired legendary winemaker Eduardo Ojeda.

Jerez is a famous and historic wine-producing region in Andalucia, at the southern tip of Spain. It is also the Spanish name for what English speakers call Sherry, the distinctively nut-flavored, fortified wine. Jerez has been a viticultural center since at least 1,000 B.C., when the Phoencians introduced winemaking to southern Spain. When the Moors conquered the region 1,700 years later, they added know-how about distillation to the wine industry, and the Spanish fortified wine industry was born. By the 16th century Jerez fortified wines were considered among the world’s finest wines of any kind. There are more than a half-dozen styles of Sherry, from dry and pale to sweet and creamy, but the grapes used for all of them are the white varietals Palomino, Pedro Ximenez and Moscatel. There are wineries in this region that specialize in non-fortified wines, though Sherry represents the overwhelming majority of winemaking.