More than a century ago, there was a ‘cooper’ named Jose Antonio Sierra, who, thanks to his barrel workshop in the La Merced district of Jerez, was very knowledgeable about the specific craft of Sherry wine. He made the large oak barrels where the wineries in the area aged their Sherry. Jose was known as an excellent cooper, but he had a dream: to make his own sherry. That was by no means common in 1830. The bodegas were in the hands of a few noble ‘Sherry families’. But Jose persisted and founded a modest bodega in the historic center of the town of Jerez de la Frontera. This is where the bodega El Maestro Sierra still stands today, charming, discreet and proud. The time that has passed has only confirmed the skills of this barrel maker. Some of its casks (American oak casks specifically for making sherry) are nearly 200 years old. They retain its carved signature and feature the bodega’s finest centennial wines.

Today El Maestro Sierra combines traditional winemaking with an artisanal character. The bodega is still family-owned and that family continues to mature, bottle and export the Jerez-Xérès-Sherry D.O, the governing body to which the bodega belongs. The Bodega ages its wines in the best American oak barrels, using the traditional solera system in its own cellars.

Time and the core idea of ​​quality over quantity have turned El Maestro Sierra wines into little works of art; wines of extreme age and quality and recognized all over the world. That is the summary of the philosophy of the winery which, after management since 1976 by the exceptional figure of Mrs. Pilar Plá Pechovierto, is now run by a new director, her daughter Maria del Carmen Borrego Plá. In the past ten years, this winery has been one of the top 100 wineries in the world twice, in 2011 and 2017.