The origin of the Sherry soleras of this small family bodega in Jerez goes back to the mid 19th century but its current location dates from 1971. On that year, Zamora-born Faustino González purchased the 220 butts owned by the Paúl family, direct descendants of the first owners, and moved them from the city’s Alcázar to the cellar that his wife Carmen García-Mier had in Cruz Vieja, in Jerez’s San Miguel district.

Wine was Faustino González’s passion but his main professional concern was medicine. At first he set up as almacenista (wholesaler) storing up to 600 butts, but this artisan winery now has around 300 old wooden casks.

After the death of the patriarch, five of his 12 children continued with the family winery. They still sell wine to other well-known bodegas in the Sherry Triangle but since 2014 they sell 40% of their own production under the brand Cruz Vieja. “As the proverb goes, 'the vine and the foal, for others to rear’. Grapes are paid according to their weight; other factors are not taking into account and that’s not right”, says Jaime González, one of the González sons and the visible face of the business.

Unlike many Sherry bodegas which don’t own any vineyards, Faustino González has seven hectares of Palomino and Pedro Ximénez vines in Carmen de Montealegre, a vineyard at 70 meter above sea level on Jerez Superior, the region’s grand cru, with views of the bay of Cádiz. They work with sustainable production methods, use only use copper and sulfur to treat the vines and harvest the grapes manually.

Bodegas Faustino González likes tradition so all of their wines are fermented in butts and with their own yeasts, a practice that fell out of favor with the introduction of stainless steel tanks and cold temperature controls. The aging of the wines in the solera is also traditional -in a similar way to other bodegas- in used American oak 600-litre butts and all of the tasks in the winery are performed manually.

All of their wines are bottled en rama, directly from the cask without filtration. This is an increasingly common practice for biologically-aged wines, but it is unusual for oxidative styles.

Their range of wines starts with Fino en Rama Cruz Vieja (two sacas per year with 1,250 bottles each, €22.50), a solera with four criaderas. Twenty casks are selected after five or six years on average under the veil of flor. The wine displays a saline, citrus profile with esparto grass notes. Amontillado en Rama Cruz Vieja (around 1,000 bottles from a single annual saca, €30) is biologically aged for six years in a solera that dates from 1926 followed by an additional six years of oxidative aging.

With an average age of 15 years, Cruz Vieja Palo Cortado en Rama (around 1,000 bottles from a single annual saca, €37) is complex and sharp whereas Cruz Vieja Oloroso en Rama (1,000 bottles from a single annual saca, €30) averages 20 years and is balanced and mixes nutty aromas and fine polished wood notes found in many Olorosos.

Faustino González exports part of its productions, mostly to France, Japan, US and Great Britain. In Spain, Cruz Vieja wines can be purchased in Barcelona, directly from the winery or at La Casa del Jerez, a specialist Sherry store managed by one of the González brothers in Jerez.

Faustino González welcomes visitors under appointment and also organizes occasional paired tastings in the bodega.