The Vice President of Gonzalez Byass together with the company's oenologist and master blender, the passionate Mr. Antonio Flores, welcomed us warmly and introduced us to the world of Sherry. The company was established in 1846 and is regarded as one of the most prestigious in the Sherry market. The first day included visits to the vineyards and to the archives of the company, which date back to 1835. The amazing capacity of a single variety – the Palomino grape - to produce so many different styles of wine was the focus of the day.
The Sherry vineyards have diminished from the 20.000ha planted over a century ago to about 7.000ha nowadays. Of these, Gonzalez Byass owns a seventh and buys grapes from an additional 500ha. Over the last few years the scenery in the vineyards has changed; the vines of the new plantations have been trained higher to facilitate mechanical harvest (used for about 65% of old vineyards). Pruning has also been altered. Instead of the traditional cane pruning called vara y pulgar (pictured below), which is quite challenging and requires high skill, the double arm system and spur pruning have been adopted; this has not affected yields, which remain the same at 10.500 kilos per hectare.