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Hidalgo La Gitana
Here the tasting is done walking. Not a tour of the bodega followed by a seated tasting: it's the same thing, at the same time, glass in hand, stopping at the different ageing points while someone from the house explains, unhurried. Over two hundred and thirty years in the same spot — since 1792 — in the heart of Sanlúcar, a few metres from the Guadalquivir with Doñana across the water. From here comes La Gitana, which for half of Spain isn't a manzanilla brand but the manzanilla. They also have their own restaurant inside the bodega, EntreBotas, and the night: candlelit tastings drawing wine from the butt with a venencia, dinner with live music under the naves of the Bodega Catedral.
Photographs courtesy of Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana, property of the establishment
Ways to visit
The visit, glass in hand
A welcome wine, a walk through the ageing points tasting on the move — four wines —, a snack and a free tasting cup to take home. The entry point, and it already carries the house's signature: no one sits waiting for the tasting, the tasting comes to you.
The candlelit tasting
As evening falls, once the bodega has closed to the public, you walk among the butts and candles tasting wine drawn straight from the butt with a venencia. The hour a bodega stops being a visit and becomes something else.
Old manzanillas and aged wines
The biggest tasting. The usual tour plus La Sacristía, tasting four top-tier wines venenciado straight from the butt — wines over sixty years old — with Iberian snacks.
Night in Rama
An unhurried candlelit walk, a tasting of unfiltered Manzanilla en Rama, and dinner in the heart of the Bodega Catedral: a seven-course tasting menu paired with seven wines, with live music. If one night justifies a trip to Sanlúcar, it's this one.
The EntreBotas table
The visit and tasting, then the table at their own restaurant inside the bodega. Five levels, from the standing high table to a full paired tasting menu, all built on what's fished and raised here.
Sunset in the vineyard
price on request
Out in the vineyard, with the sun going down and a glass of manzanilla and one of amontillado in hand. Limited capacity, and it shows: this isn't an activity, it's an hour.
The winery that doesn't cost a round of golf. The night visit is at seven in the evening, Wednesday to Friday, from 16 September to 14 June. Play the full day and taste as the sun goes down — the only bodega experience in our whole catalogue that doesn't spend a single morning.
How to book it
Attended in Spanish and English, for 2 to 30 people, with 7 days' notice requested. Only 80% of the route is accessible — if anyone in the group needs it, tell us when booking. They ship wine to the UK and Norway, shipping costs at the client's expense. The transfer from the hotel is quoted separately and always recommended.