González Byass: Tío Pepe

Cathedral-like bodegas where solera barrels are signed by visiting dignitaries from Churchill to Spielberg. Tío Pepe is the world's most famous Fino. The historical cellars are architectural wonders.

What to do there

5 things to do

1. 1 Find the Mouse's Glass (and Prove Cats Are Banned) Adventure · Free

   This is not a joke or a prop for tourists — González Byass has maintained the mouse tradition since the 19th century because one cellar worker genuinely loved mice. During your bodega tour, ask your guide specifically about 'el ratón.' The tiny copa of sweet cream sherry sits in one of the historic cellar aisles with a small wooden ladder leaning against it, handmade and scaled precisely for a mouse to climb. Rather than killing them with cats — cats are BANNED from the entire winery complex — the bodega chose to accommodate the mice instead. Look closely at the ladder when you spot the glass, ask the guide how often it's refreshed, then ask: 'Are there still cats banned from the whole complex?' Watch them confirm it with complete seriousness.

   Backup: If the guide doesn't mention the mouse tradition, ask 'Where is el ratón?' — every guide knows. It is one of the most photographed (non-wine) things in the bodega.

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2. 2 Stand Inside the Structure Gustave Eiffel Built Before the Tower History · Price: moderate

   In 1862, Queen Isabel II visited González Byass, so the family commissioned La Concha — a circular bodega topped with an iron dome that curves like a seashell — from engineers trained by Gustave Eiffel, 27 years BEFORE Eiffel built his tower in Paris. Walk to the center of this unmistakable vast round room and look straight up at the dome with no central support column — you are inside one of the earliest examples of iron skeleton construction that Eiffel would later make famous worldwide. Around you, 214 barrels bear the flags of the 115 countries where González Byass wines are exported. Find the barrel with your home country's flag, then consider: you're standing in a building designed by the same engineering school that built the Eiffel Tower, inside a winery founded 34 years before the Tower was even conceived.

   Backup: If the guide rushes past La Concha, slow down and stay. The architecture itself is worth several minutes.

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3. 3 Locate the Apostles — and Find Out What's in Judas's Barrel History · Price: moderate

   When González Byass created their Palo Cortado VORS in 1857, they stored it in exactly 13 barrels — one per apostle (excluding Judas) in Los Apóstoles cellar. There is a 14th barrel marked Judas, and it contains vinegar. The family decided: if Judas gets anything, he gets vinegar. This is 167-year-old institutional grudge management. During the premium tour sections, your guide brings you to this cellar established in 1857. Count the apostle barrels, find Judas, and ask your guide to confirm what's inside. The Apóstoles VORS you can purchase in the shop averages 30 years of age, costs around €25-40 for a half-bottle, and won Gold at the Decanter World Wine Awards.

   Backup: If the Los Apóstoles cellar is not on your tour route, the shop stocks the bottled Apóstoles VORS — the 13-apostle story is printed on the label.

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4. 4 Taste the Wine That Has Been Alive Since 1844 Wine · Price: moderate

   The Tío Pepe Fino solera started in 1844 and has run without interruption for 181 years — right now, across 30,000 American oak barrels, a 2-centimeter-thick living blanket of flor yeast sits on top of the wine, eating it. In the tasting room or the on-site Tío Pepe wine bar, request specifically the standard Tío Pepe Fino bottling (not the En Rama). Smell it before tasting — the flor character shows as green almonds, fresh bread, a hint of something almost saline. This is the NUMBER ONE selling fino in the world, sold in over 100 countries, and it was the FIRST registered trademark in Spain (1888). Ask the guide: 'Is the flor in these barrels the same biological strain as 1844?' The answer — yes, the same living culture — will rearrange your understanding of what 'vintage' means.

   Backup: If you want to taste flor in its most extreme expression, ask for Tío Pepe En Rama (released once per year, the wine with only light filtration — the flor is almost visibly present).

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5. 5 Walk Calle de Ciegos — the Street of the Blind Inside a Winery Adventure · Free · Optional

   Calle de Ciegos — Street of the Blind — runs through vine-covered pergolas within the González Byass grounds, its original cobblestones framing the Jerez cathedral at the vanishing point. The street was named because blind beggars gathered here for centuries seeking alms from parishioners on their way to the adjacent church. Ask your guide to take you via Calle de Ciegos, described as one of the most beautiful streets in the world. Walk it slowly — the vines overhead create a green tunnel, and the stones beneath your feet are the same stones those beggars stood on. There is something worth sitting with in the fact that a street where the poor and blind once begged is now a vine-tunnel within a luxury winery.

   Backup: The street is part of the garden between the bodegas — if not included in your tour, ask specifically to walk through the Pedro Nolasco gardens to reach it.

   Log Memory

Insider tips

• Book the premium tasting for rare soleras

• The cellar mice have their own sherry-soaked bread schedule

• Visit the barrel signed by your favorite dignitary

• The restaurant pairs sherry with tapas expertly