Gonzalez Byass Story

My Sherry Amour: Gonzalez Byass

The González Byass wine story began in Jerez in 1835, when young entrepreneur Manuel María González started out as a wine trader.

He was rather good at it. Rapid success led him into wine production, helped by his uncle José Ángel, known affectionately as Tio Pepe, after whom he named his first solera.

(What’s a solera? Good questions. A Solera is a Spanish method of producing wine, especially sherry and Madeira, whereby small amounts of younger wines stored in an upper tier of casks are systematically blended with the more mature wine in the casks below.)

Anyway. Back to the story. Almost 200 years later, Gonzalez Byass is still very much a family concern and is now in the hands of the fifth generation of winemakers.

Today the family owns 14 wineries, producing premium wines and spirits in Spain, Chile, and Mexico, where they are fully committed to preserving the natural environment for the generations to come.

The Sherry triangle, made up of Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa Maria and Sanlucar de Barrameda, has a unique microclimate influenced by the surrounding Atlantic Ocean and Guadalquivir and Guadalete rivers.

Production is dominated by the Palomino variety, and vines are planted in the white Albariza soil, with high chalk content which is excellent for retaining moisture.

Juicy, delicate and moderately sweet, it delivers high yields with a relatively low acidity which makes oxidisation easier – and, thus, ideal for making sherry!

Palomino doesn’t make great white table wines as they’re very neutral in aroma – but this makes it the perfect blank canvas on which to showcase the classic chalky, sea-swept characteristics of the Albariza soil into the dry types of sherry.

The soil conditions, combined with over 3,000 hours of annual sunshine, fresh, humid breezes from the west (poniente) and warm, dry breezes from the east (levante) have formed the perfect marriage with the Palomino variety to produce an array of sherry styles. All sherries are aged following the traditional Solera system where the wines are blended in 600 litre American oak casks.

Many styles are produced with distinctive characters depending on whether they have been aged under the influence of the flor (a layer of natural yeast) or as an oloroso (in contact with oxygen).  Today the portfolio includes a wide range of sherries including Tio Pepe, the Superior Range and the VORS range, enological gems aged for over 30 years.

The master blender is a masterful chap names Antonio Flores, who was born in an apartment above the bodgea. Sherry has been his life’s work, following in the footsteps of his father who himself had worked for the company. Today, Antonio’s daughter Silvia works alongside him in the bodega, so it’s a real family affair! In 2016 he was recognised as Best Spanish winemaker of the year by the IWC.

Rocio Trillo is the master distiller at Gonzalez Byass and, again, has followed in her father’s footsteps, Luis Miguel Trillo.  By taking over this important role for Gonzalez Byass, she now oversees all new projects for our spirits after studying under her father as previous assistant distiller.