I don’t really need an excuse to visit a new bodega, but this was a treat for my birthday. We were shown around this small, and not yet fully refurbished, bodega by Juan Carlos Sánchez Gago, who acquired it with his brother Antonio Sánchez Gago in 2014, and began small scale production of a range of sherries in 2016. Currently they have an amontillado, a palo cortado, a medium sweet, and a PX, and a communion sherry called De Ecclesia, all of which we had the opportunity to sample. Outstanding.

FG is actually a resurrection of the original Fernández Gao, which was founded in 1750, making it one of the oldest in the Jerez marco, but it wasn’t until 1888 that José María Fernández y González opened the family’s first wine business in Jerez itself. From 1914 until 1967, when it finally closed, it operated under the name Fernandez Gao Hermanos. The labels acquired by the Gago brothers included Fino La Mina, La Albarizuela, Amontillado Fino El 68, Olorosos El 50 and Gran Añada, and the Novocientos Cuatro and Legendario.

There is still some way to go, including further acquisition of casks and production expansion. The brothers now also have a smaller bodega around the corner in calle Arcos, which will be used for tastings and events, and include a shop and a tabanco. I think the tabanco is a brilliant idea and can’t wait to see it operational.

Bodegas Fernandez Gao
Pajarete 3
Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz
Tel: 956 974 252