José Antonio Zarzana

Coming Up

Law provided the first training in discipline: José Antonio Zarzana worked as a lawyer at London City in London until 2004, a role defined by rigor and precision. Since 2004, that same pressure for exactness has been carried into the cellar, where he has been owner and winemaker of Bodega Ximénez-Spínola. The move from law to wine reads less like a change of field than a deliberate shift into a craft that rewards control. Since 2004, José Antonio Zarzana has remained owner and winemaker of Bodega Ximénez-Spínola. The work there is centered on wines that require close judgment and little tolerance for compromise, with the label itself functioning as a filter rather than a broad allowance.

Where They Are Now

Pedro Ximénez wines and brandies sit at the center of Bodega Ximénez-Spínola, where restraint, scarcity, and distinction are built into the model. The house works through limited and numbered editions drawn from the annual solera selection, so each release is treated as a selected outcome rather than routine volume. The label policy is stated plainly by Zarzana: “If something is not truly extraordinary, it is not worth carrying our label.” That standard governs the house from blending through bottling, making the label a measure of whether a wine has earned its place. Ximénez-Spínola PX is the flagship wine, described as concentrated, unctuous, and with a long, very elegant finish. Those terms place the wine in a register of weight, polish, and length, which matches the house’s position in Pedro Ximénez.

Signature

José's signature wines include Ximénez-Spínola PX, Old Harvest Medium Dry, Ximénez Spínola Vintage 2014, and Cigar Club. Taken together, they show a portfolio shaped by specificity, with each cuvée held within the estate’s Pedro Ximénez-led identity.

In Their Words “We have always avoided aging under flor veil, because the yeasts end up contaminating the whole winery and sometimes act uncontrollably on still white wines.” “If something is not truly extraordinary, it is not worth carrying our label.”