Bodega El Maestro Sierra is a Sherry house founded in 1830 by Jose Antionio Sierra in the city of Jerez in Andalusia. He was a master carpenter,  he made and cared for the barrels of the nobel families who had bodegas. He loved vino de Jerez so much that he slowly built up his own bodega. This was something not done by the “common” folks and was greatly frowned upon by the nobility.

The label features a fox being chased by nobel hunters, a tribute to the bodega’s struggle in a business world not set up for the little guy. The winery is now run by Doña Pilar, the widow of the most recent descendent and her daughter. Keeping with her late husbands wishes to see the business continue, she has begun bottling wine from the bodega instead of selling the older treasures of the cellar to larger houses to bottle as special selections. In Jerez when a wine lists an age on the bottle it is the age of the youngest wine in the solera. The 15 year has always been one of my favorite wine, the concentration and intensity is far exceeds the price of the bottle. I consider this to be one of the greatest values in Jerez.

The 15 year Oloroso is rich and nutty, extremely dry with a long salty finish. I enjoy drinking it with blue cheese, grilled meats, liver mousse and roasted game birds.