Cayetano del Pino
The first warehouse of C. del Pino y Cía was in the Plaza Cocheras in Jerez (now an event venue), later they moved to a big compound in the Calle de Armas de Santiago which contained several bodegas, grape presses, two bottling lines (one for Spain, one for exports), a cooperage, distilling equipment, printing department and administrations.
At the end of the 19th century they had around 150 workers and exported all over the world. Some of their renowned products were the Manzanilla Manolito el Espartero, Amontillado Viva Sevilla, Amontillado Adela Carta Dorada and Adela Carta Azul. They had a good reputation for spirits as well (aguardientes but also quina and inventions like a sparkling sherry vermouth) and they had the exclusive rights to import several Bordeaux wines.
Cayetano del Pino bodega compound in the Calle Armas de Santiago – (c) Diario de Jerez
Palo Cortado sherry
In the 20th century Cayetano del Pino was forced to fold back and started operating as an almacenista, supplying wine to larger bodegas instead of bottling themselves. The current company, managed by grandchildren of Don Cayetano, moved to an old Domecq bodega in 1983, in the Plaza de los Silos, next door to El Maestro Sierra. Nowadays Cayetano del Pino is considered one of the experts when it comes to Palo Cortado sherry. While this is considered one of the rarest types of sherry, the bodega almost exclusively produces Palo Cortado, delivering some very fine examples at different ages. In total they currently have just over 1000 barrels in the warehouse.
In the 1980s and 1990s the bodega had some difficult decades (like most of the sherry industry). At that time the bodega closed down for twelve years without selling any wine. They reckoned it was better not to sell at all instead of selling too cheap. Until recently, the only chance to try their wines was through Sánchez-Romate who distributed a few licensed bottlings, most of them exclusive to the UK (originally for The Wine Society, now also available from other shops).
Since 2017 Lustau also has a Palo Cortado de Jerez in their Almacenista series which is easier to find. A few years ago, helped by the more flexible rules of the D.O., they started bottling themselves again, with an ‘official’ line of products that sits alongside the existing almacenista bottlings. These official releases are hard to get outside of Spain though.
Cayetano del Pino sherry – own bottlings (left) and almacenista bottlings (right)
Cayetano del Pino sherry range
Official bottlings:
- Amontillado Solera Cayetano del Pino, around 20 years old
- Palo Cortado Solera Cayetano del Pino, around 20 years old. This wine feeds the 1|10 solera.
- Palo Cortado 1|10, around 30 years old. This in turn feeds the 1|5 solera.
- Palo Cortado VORS, around 40 years old. It is bottled from a single cask in a 1|5 solera.
Almacenista bottlings:
- Palo Cortado Solera, bottled by Sánchez-Romate from the regular 1|22 solera, exclusive to the UK market
- Palo Cortado Viejísimo 1|5, bottled occascionally by Sánchez-Romate and exclusive to the UK market (37,5 ml bottles). From this set of casks comes the VORS bottling.
- Lustau Almacenista Palo Cortado de Jerez 1|22, around 15-20 years old
Contact
Cayetano del Pino
Plaza de Silos 3, Jerez de la Frontera
Tel: (+34) 956 34 57 36
bodegascayetanodelpino.com
Visits possible on request
About the Author
Ruben is a Certified Sherry Educator who fell in love with sherry some 25 years ago, but switched to a higher gear in 2013 and started writing about it. Lived in Madrid for a couple of years, now back in Belgium. I also run a whisky blog over at www.whiskynotes.be
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