Now in its
fifth generation, the Portales family firm has
always been in the wine business but only more recently, in 1997, did Maria José Portales realise her dream by starting to commercialise their wines. Before that they were simply producers of wine which they supplied
to other bodegas, but decided to market their own brand: Manzanilla Los
Caireles, launched in 2002. A cairel is a little charm to decorate riding clothes or the reins of
the horses Sanlúcar is so famous for. Maria Jose's niece Pilar is the oenologist while her nephew
They have two
bodegas, San Antonio, constructed in 1821 which houses the Amontillado, Oloroso
and PX and the other is a wonderful casa-bodega built in the XVI century in
Calle Carmen Viejo. It was once the house of a cargador de Indias, a merchant
who sold goods to the American colonies. This beautiful old building is a conservation
award-winning house with a central patio and an adjacent low-roofed bodega
which is incredibly atmospheric.
There is a
slight baroque air about it and it is right on the edge of the lower and upper
areas of Sanlúcar with a great damp atmosphere in the bodega that the flor
loves. This is the Manzanilla bodega containing over 300 butts. Everything is
done the artisan way and they use the minimum of treatment so the Manzanilla can
be as natural as possible. The wines have a real flavour of Sanlúcar.
The wines
are:
The los Caireles range: Manzanilla(@4.5 years), Manzanilla
Pasada (7-8 years) , Amontillado, Oloroso, Cream
Addresses:
C/San Francisco,23 corner C/San Antonio, 11540 Sanlúcar de
Barrameda, Cádiz
C/Carmen Viejo, 30 (thecasa-bodega)
Telephone:
686 294 711
Web: no website. bodegascaireles@gmail.com
Vists: Yes (in
Spanish) but need to be arranged.There is a shop at Calle San Francisco.
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