I had an absolutely fabulous time at the Bodegas Fundador Pedro Domecq, in fact it was the social highlight of my holiday at Jerez de la Frontera.

Alex, the lovely English speaking guide, was very thorough in her historical recount of events leading up to the modern day bodega. She also gave us a detailed description of the various chemical and biological processes that end up being the bottled product you purchase. After initiating us on the latter as we walked through the redolent bodegas, chronologically stacked with aging fermenting barrels, she took us on a tour past their magnificent private gardens, ending up in quite a large and well stocked museum. The tour ended with us given a sample of three different types of beverages they make there. I had a great time sipping from these, talking to others of the group I was with at the time and having a very good laugh with them. I'd initially started of with an English speaking group but Alex, who is a native Spanish speaker, cleverly made very good advantage of the fact that I'm bilingual and suggested I join the Spanish speaking group which was tailing behind us. I ended up having the proffered drinks at the end with them.

I'd recommend to anyone to go to these bodegas and buy a bottle at their shop as I did. The history and cultural aspects of the bodegas are really stimulating. I bought a lovely bottle of Harveys Bristol Cream, made there at the bodegas and which I'd just tried when they gave us the drinks before finishing our visit. They suggest to always have the Bristol Cream with a slice of orange. :-)