Delgado Zuleta, Sanlucar de Barrameda

Delgado Zuleta is the oldest active producer of sherry. Founded in 1744 by Fransisco Gil de Ledesma y Sotomayor, a knight and mayor of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, it gets its actual name from José Maria Delgado Zuleta who married with one of the descendants of Ledesma at the end of the 18th century.

In 1978 the company merged with the old bodegas of Benito Rodríguez La-Cave, and this family now controls 40 percent of the shares. Delgado Zuleta continues to market some of the old brands, like the Manzanilla Pasada Barbiana.

Historically the house’s collection of wines was distributed over a number of bodegas in the lower part of the town. In 1998 however they moved to a modern facility in the upper town, which allows for better consistency of the wines. While Delgado Zuleta used to own top-class vineyards in the Miraflores area, like most other bodegas they have sold them and now purchase their base wines from different growers and large cooperatives. The yearly production is around 350.000 bottles, 90 percent of which is Manzanilla.