Helena Rivero

In a town where sherry flows like history itself, Helena Rivero (Seville, 1970) stands out—not because she’s trying to reinvent the wheel, but because she’s doubling down on the real stuff: old sherry, aged like wisdom. At Bodega Tradición, which she owns and runs in Jerez, Helena doesn’t bottle anything young. In fact, the youngest wine in her cellar is at least 20 years old. That’s right—this bodega is exclusively focused on VOS and VORS sherries, the rarest, oldest, and most complex wines the region has to offer.

It’s a bold move in a market where many are chasing trends, but for Helena, it’s about respect—for the wine, for the land, and for the generations before her. She’s not new to this world. Her family’s ties to Jerez’s wine scene go way back, with a lineage of bodegueros who knew their way around a solera. Bodegas Tradición itself may have been founded in 1998, but it was built on heritage, both in name and in content. The wines come from historic soleras, some over a hundred years old, and every bottle that leaves the bodega carries that legacy inside.

But Helena isn’t just about the past. She’s also an art lover, and that passion lives within the bodega’s whitewashed walls. One of the most surprising things about visiting Tradición is discovering a private gallery of Spanish art, featuring works by Goya, Sorolla, Zuloaga, and other heavy hitters. It’s not some dusty side room either—it’s beautifully curated, and Helena sees it as an extension of the same cultural identity that sherry represents. In her world, a glass of 30-year-old amontillado and a 19th-century painting speak the same language: craftsmanship, patience, and soul.

Talk to Helena for five minutes and you’ll get the sense she’s as much a custodian as she is a winemaker. She talks about sherry like it’s alive—and honestly, the way those wines evolve over decades, maybe it is. But she’s also warm, down-to-earth, and refreshingly unpretentious about it all. She believes that old sherry doesn’t need a rebrand; it just needs to be tasted. And once you do, you’re hooked.

So, if you ever find yourself in Jerez, go find Bodega Tradición. You’ll meet Helena, sip something unforgettable, and maybe even stand in front of a Goya while you do. Because for her, sherry isn’t just wine—it’s memory in liquid form