Castello di Amorosa & the NA Wine “Second Glass Test”

July 29, 2025 By Mike Veseth in Uncategorized 2 Comments

Sue and I are still searching for non-alcoholic wines that pass our “Second Glass Test.” We think that NA wines should remind us of the types of wines they are based on and be tasty enough that we would ask for a second glass. It doesn’t hurt if the NA wines are priced in the same range as their alcoholic cousins, but that’s not a strict requirement.

Mionetto’s NA Italian Sparkling wine is a good example of what we are looking for. Mionetto is a famous maker of Prosecco wines, so their NA wine (packaged in the same style but a different color than their Prosecco wines) needed to remind us of Prosecco and be good enough for a second glass. It passed the test and we even found it for about the same price as Mionetto Prosecco at Total Wine. You can read about some of our other NA wine experiences here.

Castello di Amorosa

We were excited when the folks at Castello di Amorosa offered us a sample of their NA wine, a non-alcoholic “Libero” Moscato from the Dennison Road Vineyard north of Boonville in the Anderson Valley. The Anderson Valley designation instantly made the idea of the wine appealing and a tasting sealed the deal. The wine reminded us of slightly fizzy Moscato for sure, but with better balance than a lot of Moscato wines we’ve tasted, and with enough acidity to nicely balance the 27 g/l residual sugar. Sue especially noted the rich mouth-feel, which is often absent in NA wines. The $27 retail price is not out of line for NA wines.

It looks and tastes like the folks at Castello di Amorosa take their NA wines seriously. With this in mind, we peered deeper into the Castello di Amorosa catalogue and zeroed in on their non-alcoholic winegrape juice. This isn’t wine that has had the alcohol removed. It is winegrape juice that has never been fermented at all. Significantly, I believe, this isn’t just leftover juice put in bottles for kids to enjoy at the tasting room. I think it is carefully and intentionally made for seriously pleasurable consumption.

Sue and I tried the Muscat Canelli grape juice first and were impressed with the balance and mouth-feel. It reminded us of a good Muscat and was a pleasure to drink. Who knew that winegrape juice could be so satisfying? I don’t think it is an accident. I sense a serious effort to harvest the grapes at the right moment for balanced juice, which would be very different time from the sweet spot for making wine. The $14 retail price is good value compared to most NA wines.

The winery’s tasting note captures the character of the wine:

Tasting Notes: Delicate geranium petals, orange blossom, and honeysuckle aromas give way to vibrant flavors of ripe pear, sun-kissed mandarin, and crisp green apple, balancing sweetness with Fresh Acidity.

The grape juice was good, so we took the next step and made a spritz with ice, the juice, some mint, and tonic water. It was great, with the Muscat character still there. A great NA summer quencher that we would be happy to serve guests as we might do with white port spritz.

A Juicy Red Blend

We haven’t tried many NA red wines that passed the Second Glass test, so we were excited to try Castello di Amorosa’s non-alcoholic red blend sparkling grape juice. My AI intern scoured the winery’s website and reported that the blend is

90% Gamay – Known for its bright red fruit flavors and floral notes, often associated with Beaujolais wines.
5% Grenache – Adds a touch of spice and ripe berry character.
5% Cabernet Sauvignon – Contributes depth, structure, and a hint of tannic grip, even in juice form.

The juice is semi-sweet and well-balanced. That Beaujolais reference rings true. It was very pleasant to drink on its own and maybe even better as the base for a spritz. More juicy than winey. And we would welcome a second glass. Sue prefers the Muscat Canelli, but both are very good.

Finally, we sampled the Gewurtztraminer winegrape juice, which was Sue’s second favorite after the Moscato. It wasn’t as aromatic and floral as I was expecting. More delicate than the other juices. Balanced and tasty. Definitely worth a second glass.

Wine and Wine-ish

Winegrape juice obviously isn’t wine or even NA wine, so what should we call it? I am inspired by the drinks list at a wine-forward Portland, Oregon, restaurant, which has a category called “Wine-ish Things.” The Castello di Amorosa winegrape juices are indeed wine-ish. They look like wine, remind us of wine, drink like wine, and satisfy like wine. No alcohol is created and none is removed in the production of these juicy treats.

So what is the bottom line? First we commend Castello di Amorosa for their Anderson Valley Libero Moscato, which is one of the best NA wines we have tested. It shows what can be done when NA wine is taken seriously.

Second, we were impressed with the grape juice experiments, which also seemed to benefit from serious efforts to make juice to appeal to wine drinkers. The juices were actually more satisfying than many of the NA wines we have tried. Maybe we need to pay more attention to winegrape juice and other variations on the wine-ish theme.

Whatever Happened to Bargain Wine?

July 22, 2025 By Mike Veseth in book reviews, wine, wine bargains 3 Comments

“Every time I open a bottle of wine, I thank my lucky stars that I am living in the golden age of wine. … There is a wine for every taste, from sweet to dry, and every wallet, from fat to lean.”

This is how George M. Taber (author of The Judgement of Paris) began his 2011 book, A Toast to Bargain Wines. Taber thought the bargain wines of that not-so-long-ago time were important for more than just their affordable prices. Indeed, the book’s subtitle promises to explain “how innovators, iconoclasts, and winemaking revolutionaries are changing the way the world drinks.” I’ll paste my 2011 review of A Toast to Bargain Wine below so you can see what it’s all about.

As you can tell from the title, A Toast to Bargain Wine is an uplifting tale although the economic environment in which it was written was more “glass half empty” for many people. The global financial crisis had knocked the air out of many parts of the economy and caused wine buyers to “trade down” to cheaper products. The consequences of vineyard over-planting were still being felt.

The book was written at a time when, much like today, grapes were in excess supply and tanks were full with harvest on the horizon. Too much wine chasing too few glasses. No wonder prices fell. As I note in the review below, Taber had no trouble finding good wines at good prices to fill his buying guide. His price limit for a bargain wine was $10, which would be about $14.50 today.

The result was what you might call the Bargain Wine Phenomenon (in my 2011 book Wine Wars I named it The Miracle of Two Buck Chuck). Lower prices for good quality wine drew buyers into the market who might otherwise have stayed on the sidelines or only purchased wine on special occasions. To a certain extent, the extravagant wine selection you will find at upscale supermarkets and specialized stores today owes something to the popularity of the bargain wines of a few years ago.

Taber is a great storyteller and his account of the Bargain Wine Phenomenon unfolds through a series of biographical sketches. We see the wine surplus situation, for example, through the eyes of legendary wine market analyst Jon Fredrikson and iconic wine executive Fred Franzia (a.k.a. Mr. Two Buck Chuck). It was fascinating reading when Taber’s book first appeared and maybe even more interesting now, given our current situation.

Taber quotes Fredrikson defining the Bargain Wine Phenomenon.

“Intense competition from thousands of wineries both in America and around the world has created a dream market for American wine consumers at all price levels. Most Americans consume wine priced under $10, and today that huge segment, making up about four-fifths of wine sales, delivers better-quality wine than ever before. The widespread availability of good wines at reasonable prices bodes well for American consumers.”

A lot’s happened since 2011 and we find ourselves once again facing a surplus of wine and an overabundance of vineyards. The mood is different now, don’t you think? I don’t hear many people saying that we are in a golden age for wine consumers. And I guess I don’t understand whatever happened to that optimistic Bargain Wine Phenomenon?

Yes, I know there are lots of inexpensive wines on the market, and some good bargain wines, too. But the numbers tell us that bargain wines are no longer hot. There isn’t the interest, the buzz, the eenthusiasm, that motivated Taber to write his book.

NIQ data reported in the most recent issue of Wine Business Monthly tell a shocking story. Measured by value, total U.S. wine sales declined by 4.4 percent in the most recent 52 week period. There were losses at every price range of bottled wine, but lower price tiers were the biggest losers. Total value of measured sales fell for the 0-$3.99 category (-7.3 percent), the $4-$7.99 category (-6.5 percent), and the $8-$10.99 category (-9.1 percent).

Should wineries invest more in the value segment of the market to try to recapture something of the Bargain Wine Phenomenon? I am not the only one to think it would be a good idea. But the largest wine companies, which are best equipped to take on this challenge, seem to be more interested in Mexican beer or RTD cocktails.

I thought the Bargain Wine Phenomenon was important, that it would help power the wine market for many years. One of the early test-readers of my Wine Wars draft manuscript told me I wasn’t paying enough attention to Two Buck Chuck and I have always been grateful for his advice.

But now I don’t know. Do you think it was all a dream?

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Bottoms Up: The Bargain Wine Revolution

Wine Economist / November 22, 2011

George M Taber, A Toast to Bargain Wines: How innovators, iconoclasts, and winemaking revolutionaries are changing the way the world drinks. Scribner, 2011.

George Taber knows something about how seemingly small events can sometimes turn the world of wine upside down. He was the Time magazine reporter who covered the famous 1976 “Judgment of Paris” tasting where top French wines were matched against California Cabs and Chardonnays in blind tastings evaluated by famous French critics. The New World wines held their own and even took the top prizes in both red and white categories. Thus was a fermenting revolution recognized and encouraged.

Now the issue isn’t so much Old versus New as it is Expensive versus Cheap and Elites versus Masses. Taber sides with a democratic vision of wine and this book is a celebration of the fact that there are more drinkable bargain (less than $10) wines in the world now than ever before. The glass is more than half full. Drink up!

What to Drink (for $10 or Less)

Taber’s celebration comes in two parts. The second half of the book is a bargain wine buyer’s guide. Taber provides top 10 lists of his favorite “$10 and less” wines and wine brands sorted by grape variety and region. He also recommends a couple of splurge wines in each category for good measure.

My, what a lot of inexpensive wine George Taber must consumed to write these recommendations. Bottoms up, indeed!

Here’s what I mean. The section on blush wines highlights 10 wines including a $3 Oak Leaf White Zinfandel (from Wal-Mart) and a $6 Riunite Strawberry White Merlot. I assume that Taber tasted the big selling Sutter Home White Zin and found it wanting since it does not appear on the list, but he doesn’t list all the wines he tried in each category, only the best ones, nor (and this would be particularly useful) the really really bad ones to steer clear of.

Revolution from Below

The first half of the book makes the case that maybe you should take bargain wines more seriously (and not just because of the current economic situation). Taber sets out to undermine the conventional wisdom about wine. Maybe wine judges are as confused as the rest of us. Maybe taste is so subjective that your opinion really is all that matters. Maybe (gasp!) bottles and corks are a pointless anachronism when it comes to everyday wines and you should reconsider your prejudice against “box wines,” which have changed a lot since you tried them in college.

My favorite chapters are the profiles of the iconoclasts who are leading the wine revolution. Taber’s reporting skills are put to good use in telling the tales of Fred Franzia (the godfather of Two Buck Chuck) and John Casella (the father of Yellow Tail wine). Both wines changed the world in important ways and it is interesting to have their stories told so effectively and to be able to see these two phenomena side-by-side.

The final chapter (before the buyer’s guide) examines China. Will it too change the wine world? Maybe – that’s the answer here. China is still a work in progress and perhaps it is too soon to draw many conclusions. Taber does a good job pulling together different trends and facts.

What’s a Bargain?

One of the ironies of this book comes from the fact that Taber needs to define what he means by “bargain wine” and value (like taste) is pretty subjective. He draws the line at $10, which is a good thing I believe since this allows him room to include a lot of pretty good wines in his lists and not just focus on extreme values. Ironically, however, a $10 wine is classified as “premium” and sometimes “super-premium” here in America. The majority of American wine drinkers think of a $10 wine as a splurge.

I have friends who are afraid to try a $10 wine because they fear that they will be able to taste the difference and be forced to turn their backs on the $6 wines they’ve been enjoying for years.

I wonder if wine snobs will be annoyed by George Taber’s book? After all, with this book Taber seems to suggest that democratic wines deserve the same respect as those Judgment of Paris aristocrats. Me? I’m just grateful that he’s done the dirty work of tasting and sorting all those really inexpensive wines so that I don’t have to! Bottoms up!

Existential Threat? Anatomy of Italy’s Wine Crisis

July 15, 2025 By Mike Veseth in economic crisis, Italian wine, wine, wine markets 1 Comment

It is cold comfort for U.S. winegrowers, producers, distributors, and retailers, but they are not alone in suffering a cascade of wine market woes. Recent reports from Italy, for example, paint an increasingly clear picture of a major wine-producing country in crisis.

UIV Analysis Focuses on Exports

The Unione Italiana Vini, which has more than 800 members and accounts for 85% of Italian wine exports, has been “the voice of Italian wine” since 1895. Recently that voice has sounded an alarm. A June 2025 press release focused on falling export demand for Italian wine. Italy’s domestic market for wine is large, of course, but production is very much larger, so many regions depend critically on export sales. Exports account for 63% of total sales in Piedmont, for example, 59.5% in Tuscany, and 58.7% in Abruzzo.

The U.S. is Italy’s biggest export market, so you can imagine that President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcements were not welcome news in Italy. As the UIV chart above shows, there was a surge of shipments to the U.S. in the first two months of 2025 as exports were accelerated in an attempt to build inventories before the tariffs went into force (Italy was not the only wine country to use this strategy). Then exports to the U.S. fell sharply in terms of both volume and value.

With substantial stocks in U.S. warehouses and unfavorable tariff and exchange rate conditions, the prospect of improved exports to the U.S. market for the rest of the year is not bright. And all this was driven by uncertainty about U.S. policy as the final tariff rate was not yet determined.

Trouble Beyond the U.S. Market

A second recent press release presented even more disturbing news.

The imbalance between potential output and market demand was highlighted in a report presented today by UIV’s Observatory, led by Carlo Flamini. Data from the first five months of 2025 show volume declines across Italy’s top four export markets: Italy (-1.8%), U.S. (-4.7%), UK (-3%), and Germany (-9.6%). These countries collectively account for 73% of Italian wine revenues. Overall retail sales are down 3.4%, with still and sparkling wines falling 5.3%. Only spumante bucked the trend, growing 4.9%. Despite the downturn, Italy remains the only major wine-producing country expanding its vineyard area – a growth that risks worsening oversupply.

Italy has been fortunate to experience several short harvests in recent years, which have masked the large structural wine surplus that is now impossible to ignore. What is to be done?

Internal and External Adjustment

One strategy is to focus on export markets by negotiating lower tariffs and reduced trade barriers generally. But, as the press release suggests, it would be all but impossible to replace lost U.S. sales by shifting focus to other markets. Some attractive non-EU export markets (think Brazil) have tariff barriers (27%) even higher than the 10% or 20% rates often discussed for the U.S. Border adjustments won’t solve Italy’s problems. Internal reforms are needed.

Here is the UIV’s agenda.

UIV is urging immediate structural changes to balance supply and demand. Key proposals include:

Lowering grape yields per hectare, including ending exemptions for generic wines.

Aligning DOC (controlled designation of origin) production limits with actual 5-year averages.

Reducing or eliminating the 20% overproduction allowance for DOC wines.

Revising reclassification mechanisms and accelerating production management tools.

Freezing new planting authorizations for one year.

UIV is also calling for a major reorganization of Italy’s appellation system. Although 529 DOC/IGT labels are officially recognized, just 20 account for 80% of national production.

There are two things to note on this reform agenda. The first is that it sensibly addresses the market surplus from both supply and demand perspectives. Fewer grapes and less wine should be produced on the supply side. And changes should be made to make the wine easier to understand and more consumer-friendly on the demand side.

Too Many Cheeses?

I especially support the movement to reduce the kaleidoscopic blur of regional designations. Charles de Gaulle famously said that it is impossible to govern a nation with 246 different kinds of cheese. Strong local identity isn’t always easily aligned with national purpose.

Italy is learning that having 529 regional wine identities can be a problem, too. (A lesson that might apply here in the U.S. as well.)

The second thing I would like you to note is that the reform agenda focuses on regulation, which is the way that Old World wine sectors tend to view things. Sometimes I think that the most important difference between Old World and New World is whether responsibility for change is located in the public or the private sector. (In this way of thinking many New World wine countries belong in the Old World.)

In any case, I agree that Italy’s current problems are due in part to the regulatory structure, which has sometimes aimed to protect producers from market forces rather than channeling those forces productively. So the UIV’s proposals for reform are appropriate. The question is, will they be implemented and then will they succeed?

Existential Threat?

The situation worsened last week when U.S. President Donald Trump threatened 30% tariffs on EU products including wine, an increase from the 20%, then 10%, then maybe 17% rates suggested earlier this year. The fact thast the dollar has fallen in value substantially against the euro this year magnifies the dilemma by increasing the cost of European wines to U.S. buyers regardless of the tariff rate.

The term “existential threat” is thrown around too casualy these days but it may perhaps apply to the Italian wine industry today. Here is the UIV response to the 30% tariff threat.

Rome, July 12, 2025 – “It took just one letter to write the darkest page in the history of relations between two long-standing Western allies. A 30% tariff on wine, if confirmed, would amount to a near-embargo on 80% of Italian wine exports. At this point, the fate of our industry – and hundreds of thousands of jobs – hangs on what could be considered extra time, which will prove crucial. It’s unrealistic to think such volumes can be redirected elsewhere in the short term. At the same time, an extraordinary intervention from the EU will be absolutely necessary.” This was the stark warning issued by Lamberto Frescobaldi, President of Unione Italiana Vini (UIV), following the Trump administration’s announcement – delivered in a formal letter – of additional 30% tariffs on European Union wine imports, set to take effect on August 1.

Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni is sometimes said to be a “Trump whisperer,” able to talk sense to the U.S. President. I am sure Italy’s wine sector is hoping she will succeed in her efforts so that they can move ahead with their necessary reforms.

Searching for Italy’s Wines: A Stanley Tucci Flashback

July 8, 2025 By Mike Veseth in Italian wine, popular culture, wine 4 Comments

The first season of Stanley Tucci’s new travel and food series, “Tucci in Italy,” is running this summer on the National Geographic network. Click on the image above to view the series trailer.

Sue and I can’t get enough of Italy, so we’ve been tuning in regularly for this just as we did a few years ago for his CNN series “Searching for Italy.” We enjoy the shows (it is fun to count the number of times Tucci says “wow” in each episode) and the many memories they inspire, but we have a gripe.

Where’s the wine?

Italy is nothing if not a country of wine. Wine is everywhere, but different in each particular place. The land, the food, the wine, the people, it all goes together. You can even tell the history of Italy through its wines, as one celebrated author has done.

But wine rarely makes an appearance in Tucci’s reports. In Alto Adige, for example, he mentions the wine is very good (it is!) but not much more. We were watching the episode on Lazio a few weeks ago and just about melted down. At one point he visited the Frascati region (a good sign) and mentioned that they make wine (go on, go on). But that was about it. Oh, there’s wine here, too. Sigh.

Toward the end of the same episode Tucci dined with a winemaking family in another part of the region and asked about how they came to make wine. A good start. And you could see that there was a different kind of wine in each glass. What about that? But that was all. If there was more discussion about wine at that lunch it was left on the cutting room floor. A missed opportunity for sure.

Not everyone sees the situation the way that I do. I was surprised to read a recent article accusing Tucci of over-hyping wine experiences in his shows and making wine tourism problems worse! One of the issues seems to be his interest in the Florentine wine windows. Maybe I need to revisit Tucci’s old series because I think there needs to be more wine, not less.

Bringing Wine to the Table

Why does this matter? Well, the wine industry in general and Italian wine sales in the U.S. market in particular could use a little boost these days. It wouldn’t hurt if wine were highlighted a little bit in a popular television show, especially one about Italy. Wine is already on the table. Doesn’t it make sense to talk about it?

Stanley Tucci isn’t alone in missing obvious opportunities to bring wine into the food and travel frame, as we were reminded recently while watching the Croatia episode of the insanely popular Netflix series “Somebody Feed Phil.” There was wine on the table most of the time and Phil cven commented on how good it was at least twice. But the next step (to say something more specific and therefore useful) was never taken.

To be fair, Phil might have gotten the message. The most recent season features a visit to Georgia (the country, not the U.S. state) and the episode begins with Phil in a vineyard harvesting grapes. He visits the Teliani Valley winery, learns about Georgian wine history, and appreciates the famous Qvervi wines. I think he gets it! (Sue and I visited Teliani Valley in 2016 and had our own “ah ha!” moment as we reported in this Wine Economist column.)

This isn’t the first time I have complained about this situation. Here is a Wine Economist flashback column from 2021 that bemoans wine’s absence in Tucci’s earlier CNN series.

I think Tucci could do a lot with (and for) wine in his television series. Let’s hope the message gets through.

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Memo to CNN: Searching for Italian Wine?

The Wine Economist / March 9, 2021

Dear CNN,

Sue and I have been watching the CNN original series “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy.” Tucci visits six Italian regions, talks with the people, enjoys the food, and tells some stories. Maybe it is because of the pandemic, but there is something very satisfying about following Tucci on his journey. You might want to check it out.

Tucci starts his Giro d’Italia in Naples and then moves on to Rome, Bologna, Milan, Tuscany, and Sicily. The title suggests that he is “Searching for Italy.” Will he find it? Not if he thinks that Italy is a single thing with a single cuisine, because that Italy has never existed. But if he is willing to accept that Italy is its regions — and I am sure he is — then he’ll be fine and so will we.

Searching for Italian Wine

The chapter on Italy in my book Around the World in Eighty Wines is a Tucci-esque search for Italian wine. My quest to find one wine that can represent all of Italy’s wines comes tantalizingly close to success at one point, but ultimately I realize that Italian wine is impossible. There are only the wines of Italy’s regions. No wonder the Italian wine map is perhaps the most complicated in the world.

So it seems to me that Searching for Italian Wine would make a great series for the same reasons that Tucci’s program is so popular. But what would a program about Italy’s wines be like? Walking though beautiful vineyards is great and makes good video, but you can only do that so often before it gets a bit old. Ditto for visiting cellars, inspecting barrels and tanks, and wondering at the majesty of shiny new pneumatic presses and speedy bottling lines.

Watching wine being made isn’t as interesting as watching food being made for some reason (perhaps because it takes so long) and in any case Tucci’s producers seem to realize that there’s a limit to how many times they can show onions being diced or pasta being rolled and cut. So instead they show the hustle and bustle of markets — that never gets old to me — and focus on real people, who they are, what they do, and how they define and are defined by the local products and food. That’s a model that works every time, if you don’t lose sight of your goal.

Searching for Italy and Its Wines

This leads me to my main point, which is that Tucci’s Searching for Italy could be the perfect Italian wine show if it just brought wine more fully into the frame (note: I write this before the Tuscany episode has been aired). Wine shows up all the time in Searching for Italy, but it is just something the people drink with the food, never an important element of the story. Wine in Italy is so much more.

The Bologna episode is a case in point. Yes, the Prosciutto, Mortadella, and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese are amazing. We were fortunate to enjoy them almost every day when I taught at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies Bologna Center a few years ago. Our apartment was on a little alley called Via Pescherie Vecchie in the heart of the heart of the famous central market area. It is an inescapable element of the city’s life so naturally it was on Tucci’s Bologna itinerary. Here’s a video of a visit to this street to give you a sense of the place.

So what do you drink with these intensely local products? Well, wine of course, but there is a particular local wine that we think is magical. It is called Pignoletto and it is so local that I doubt you will easily find it anywhere else. As I wrote ten years ago after a return visit to our old neighborhood …

Pignoletto is a dry white wine grown only in the hills outside of Bologna. “Lively, crisp, aromatic” is how Jancis Robinson describes it in her Guide to Wine Grapes. Pignoletto is distinctly Bolognese — grown there, made there and I think that every last drop of it is consumed there, too, since it goes so well with the rich local cuisine (almost as if they evolved together … which I guess they did). It would be hard to beat the simple meal of salumi, cheese and bread that we had with a bottle of Pignoletto frizzante at Tamburini‘s wine bar in the Bologna central market.

The food and this wine evolved together in Bologna. No wonder they are such a perfect match. And they say something about the importance of place in a footloose world, don’t you think? It would have been easy to include this wine (and some others, too) in the Bologna episode, CNN, and your viewers would have thanked you for opening this door to Italian wine, food, and culture.

Dear CNN: Who Ya Gonna Call?

So, CNN, you are probably wondering who can help you take Searching for Italy to the next level by adding the magic of wine to the mix? Well, our team here at The Wine Economist stands ready to lend a hand (and pull a few corks) and we have no end of ideas for season 2 in the Veneto, Friuli, Alto Adige, Piemonte, Liguria, Sardinia — and that’s just getting started! Let’s take that Italian map and search for Italy and Italian wine in every corner.

Italy is a mosaic of people, places, wine, food … and wine, too. Let’s work together to tell the story of Italian wine in context, one beautiful region at a time.

Sincerely,

The Wine Economist team

Bodegas Tradición & Gonzalez Byass: The Jerez File (Part 2)

July 1, 2025 By Mike Veseth in Spain, wine, wine history, wine markets Leave a comment

This is the second part of our report on the five very different wineries that Sue and I visited during our brief stay in Andalusia. Click here to read the first half of the story.

Bodegas Tradición and Bodega Gonzalez Byass

We’d like to finish with an exercise in compare and contrast involving the smallest winery we visited (Bodegas Tradición) and the largest (Bodega Gonzalez Byass).

Big barrel rooms and small libraries were featured in both wineries. The barrels are easy to understand. Sherry wine ages in ranks of barrels called soleras, which slowly transform the wine and develop its special character. It is impossible to produce great Sherry any other way.

But before we surveyed the barrels we visited the small rooms at both wineries where records are stored. Time is integral to Sherry production and so is history. They recognize that the company records are important historical documents.

Gonzalez Byass, the largest Sherry producer and the only one still in family hands, was founded in 1835 as a shipper focusing on the British market. You will probably recognize its famous Tio Pepe brand. Like Port and Bordeaux, Sherry’s development was shaped by the fact that export markets could be reached by sea more economically than domestic markets that (until the arrival of trains) required costly and cumbersome land transport. Amazingly, the business has remained in the Gonzalez family through seven generations!

All in the Timing

The roots of Bodegas Tradición go all the way back to 1650 when Bodegas CZ (for the initials of the founder) was formed. The records room was filled with antique ledgers that told the story of the winery and the region. Exports were key here, too. The winery was named supplier to the British crown (1771) even before it received the same honor from the Spanish royal family (1887). One entry (I think it was from the 17th century) detailed exports to China!

Bodegas Tradición did not have a smooth journey through the Sherry industry’s booms and busts and was re-founded in 1998 as Bodegas Tradición CZ by Joaquín Rivero, who located the winery in an old building in the historic center of Jerez. It was, as I understand it, an attempt to revive the producer and rescue a particular way of making Sherry and the old soleras necessary for that process. Production is small both because the firm is relatively small (especially compared with Gonzalez Byass) and also because so much volume is lost a little at a time to the “angel’s share” during the long aging process. Time is the essence of Bodegas Tradición.

The Gonzalez Byass campus, Bodega Tio Pepe, sits prominently on a hill, next door to the cathedral and just below the Alcázar de Jerez de la Frontera and Mezquita. Production is spread over a number of big buildings and there are tourist and hospitality facilities along with the Hotel Bodega Tio Pepe, where Sue and I stayed.

From Jerez to the World

It is interesting to compare and contrast the two producers by visiting their retail wine shops. Tradición radiates age and time. The Sherry wines and brandies are old and older (and almost insanely old) and command prices that are high when you think about it in bottle terms and cheap when you consider the time, history, and quality of the experience. It reminds me of a lunch we had in Seville at Bar Casa Plácido, where the proprietor was so proud to serve Tradición wines.

The wine shop of Bodega Tio Pepe is larger and brighter and reveals the company’s depth in Andalusia and breadth across Spain and increasingly around the world. The wall of wine and spirits brands from around the world (and the corresponding list you can find online) is really astonishing. Just as ships once set out from Seville and Cadiz to explore he world, Gonzalez Byass has charted a global course: Austria, Australia, Chile, Spain, France, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, and South Africa. And that is just for wine. You can add the U.K. if you include spirits such as a Sherry-cask-aged gin!

Final Thoughts

The ships that forged Spain’s Age of Discovery set sail from this region (Seville and Cadiz). There is much exploration going on here now. Bodegas Tradición explores the past without losing touch with the present. Bodega Gonzalez Byass embraces the world of wine while firmly rooted in family and Jerez.

I thought I knew a bit about Sherry before we visited Jerez and maybe I did, but there is so much to learn and we love learning! But maybe the most surprising thing we discovered here is this: I have always seen Sherry as a special wine, something different from others in terms of both production and sensory perception. And it is unique.

But from an economic perspective, the Sherry industry is not so different from wine in other parts of Spain and the world. The booms and busts that the five Sherry houses we visited have navigated and the very different courses they have charted to their current success provide lessons that apply far beyond the Sherry Triangle.