Don Álvaro Domecq y Díez (1917-2005) was born into an aristocratic Spanish sherry family in Jerez, of Cádiz, a province of Andalucia in south western Spain. He distinguished himself as a fighter pilot in the Spanish Civil War on Francisco Franco's side, and later re-introduced bullfighting on horseback to Spain. Domecq further developed bull breeding and a presided as patriarch over a bull-fighting dynasty.