El Maestro Sierra
Sherry Country | Andalucía
El Maestro Sierra is an iconic sherry producer and a hallmark of tradition and quality. Since its inception, the winery has shown the power of self-improvement, non-conformity, and challenging established norms to craft wines and brandies of immeasurable character, complexity, and depth.
Introducing the Estate
The Jewel of Jerez
José Antonio Sierra built El Maestro Sierra in what were at the time the outskirts of Jerez, atop a hill with a clear view of the Atlantic Ocean and El Puerto de Santa María. In this prime spot, the soleras are exposed to the cool Poniente winds which nourish their flor, allowing it to be present all year round and giving the wines elegance and finesse. El Maestro Sierra has been buying their grapes from the same suppliers for many decades, and their suppliers have some of the best parcels in the pagos of Balbaína, Miraflores, and Trebujena, all in Jerez Superior.
History & Origins
Daring to Dream
In 1830, master barrel-maker José Antonio Sierra ran a successful cooperage on the outskirts of Jerez de la Frontera. Despite the fact that he had no ties to the major winemaking families of the time, he dared to pursue a dream of entering the wine trade. He built a winery on what were then the outskirts of Jerez, on a hilltop exposed to the cool Poniente winds, and named it El Maestro Sierra.
The aristocratic families of Jerez met the idea of a humble worker joining their ranks with open disdain, but as time went on, the upstart cooper was able to grow his reputation as a respected almacenista. But José Antonio never forgot his humble origins: El Maestro Sierra’s labels depict a hunting scene with a hare being chased by nobles, in a clear allusion to the class struggles that defined the winery’s early years.
In a turn of events that echoed José Antonio Sierra’s nonconformist ethos, El Maestro Sierra became the first winery in Jerez to be run entirely by women. When Pilar Plá Pechovierto inherited the winery after her husband’s death in 1976, she steered the winery through the difficult decades of the late 20th century and built the estate into its current form. Today, her daughter, Carmen Borrego Plá, and cellar master Ana Cabestrero continue Pilar’s legacy as a trailblazer for women and for the Sherry region.
The Vision Behind El Maestro Sierra
Extraordinary Women in a Male-Dominated Field
When Pilar Plá Pechovierto married Antonio Borrego, she never dreamed that she would have to run the family business by herself. But after her husband’s untimely death in 1976, Pilar found herself at the head of Bodegas El Maestro Sierra. Despite the prevailing sexist attitudes of the time, she resisted the intense pressure to sell and kept the winery going through tough times by selling wines to the locals in jugs.
Pilar was also instrumental in shaping El Maestro Sierra’s current status as a Bodega de Crianza y Expedición—a winery that both ages and bottles wines under DO Jerez. In 1997, while the men were away from the DO Sherry offices, she was able to stealthily obtain the first bottling permit for an almacenista house, which had previously been forbidden. Pilar was an extraordinary individual whose singular purpose was to maintain the grand estate of El Maestro Sierra.
Doña Pilar, as she was known, passed away in 2020, but the rich tradition of innovative female leadership is continued by her daughter, Carmen Borrego Plá, who currently manages the winery. Carmen has a doctorate in History of the Americas from the University of Seville and regularly publishes books and papers relating to Andalucía’s role in this grand history, while continuing to be one of the region’s foremost cultural historians.
Carmen is joined by cellar master Ana Cabestrero, who has held the position since 2011. Known as the capataz (or in Ana’s case, the capataza), the cellar master is the top role in a Sherry winery. In Pilar Plá’s time, it was unheard of for a woman to be at the head of a winery, let alone be charged with caring for its soleras, and today the capataz remains a male-dominated role.
Ana came to El Maestro Sierra in 2003, after working at her family winery in Ribera del Duero. The move to such a male-dominated region to work in a shrinking sector was a bold undertaking, but typical of Ana’s independent and fiery personality. Upon her arrival, she immediately saw El Maestro Sierra for the great treasure it is, and moved confidently to guide the house to attain the recognition they deserved. Today, she draws from the rich tradition of innovative women at the estate to craft some of Sherry’s most important wines.
Process & Philosophy
Tradition as Process
Over time, it has become clear how skilled the winery’s founder really was. The casks José Antonio Sierra made, still in use today, carry his signature carved into the wood and hold the finest wines that are over a hundred years old. In contrast to many larger houses, who pillaged their old soleras in times of slow sales, leaving them with very little old wine, El Maestro Sierra’s wines remained virtually unmoved during the final decades of the 20th century. This makes their stocks some of the oldest and most undisturbed in Jerez, with soleras easily over 60 years old and some close to 100 years old.
Ana Cabestrero is aided by long-time-family-friend and consultant master capataz, Paco Salas to craft the full range of Sherry wines entirely by hand. El Maestro Sierra is one of the last bodegas to work without the aid of electric pumps. Instead, Ana and her team of four carry out the withdrawal and replenishment of the soleras and criaderas with the traditional canoa, jarra, sifón, and rocíador. This way of moving the wine introduces the right amount of aeration, which in turn adds to the complexity. And to keep true to their barrel-making heritage, all coopering and barrel repair is still done in-house, with no new barrels used. Everything from El Maestro Sierra is bottled en rama, straight from barrel with minimal filtration and without sulfur dioxide.
From the Depths of the Cellar
Special Releases of Extraordinary Age and Care
All of El Maestro Sierra’s wines are aged much longer than many of their contemporaries. For example, their fino spends no less than six years under flor.
This commitment to long aging and their treasure trove of old stocks also means we are privileged to witness several releases from soleras aged anywhere from 50 to 100 years old. Each bottle from these rare old solera releases, done once a year, is hand-labeled by Ana herself. This level of artisanship and dedication to quality is unrivaled in the region, with a mere 400 half bottles of each released annually.
The Spirit of Jerez
Exceptional Brandy
Brandy de Jerez has long been made in the region, but very little is consumed outside of Spain. El Maestro Sierra bottles two brandies, a Reserva with a minimum age of 20 years and a Gran Reserva with a minimum age of 40 years. The entire solera consists of only 7 butts of old Oloroso casks, a few of which date back to the very founding of the estate. The Gran Reserva is bottled only once a year, with 40 bottles available for export. The Reserva is bottled twice a year, with only 500 bottles available for export.
Products
Sherry
El Maestro Sierra Fino
El Maestro Sierra Amontillado (12 Year)
El Maestro Sierra Oloroso (15 Year)
El Maestro Sierra Pedro Ximénez
El Maestro Sierra Fino Viejo ‘Bota de Ana’
El Maestro Sierra Palo Cortado
El Maestro Sierra Pedro Ximénez Viejo
El Maestro Sierra Amontillado 1830
El Maestro Sierra Oloroso 1/14
El Maestro Sierra Oloroso 1/7
Spirits
El Maestro Sierra Brandy de Jerez Solera Reserva
