Valdespino stakes a claim as the oldest Sherry bodega, and it is hard to argue with six centuries of Sherry production as evidence. The family has been involved in making Sherry for around 700 years; exactly when they started up is not clear, the information lost in the mists of time. But in the late 13th Century, a Spanish knight, Alonso Valdespino, was granted 30 ha of vineyards by his king. From this small beginning the family established a reputation as an excellent source of the wine. The business which operates today, however, was founded as recently as 1875. The family business is located in Jerez, in some of the city's oldest and most attractive buildings. Unsurprisingly practices here are traditional, most notable is the fermentation, which takes place in cask for the vast majority of the harvest. However, Valdespino is the only Sherry house using American oak casks.