Don Álvaro Domecq y Díez (1 July 1917 – 5 October 2005) was born into an aristocratic Spanish sherry family in Jerez, of Cádiz, a province of Andalucia in south western Spain.
In 1725 an Irishman, Patrick Murphy, had set up the sherry company that the Domecqs, then a minor French noble family, inherited in 1822.
In 1930 Álvaro's father took over a large estate that had belonged to the Duke of Veragua, marking the beginning of the family's relationship with the fiesta nacional, the bullfight.
In the 1943 season Domecq participated in more than 50 corridas, being feted in Portugal and as far afield as Mexico for his horsemanship, donating all his fees to charity.
He later demonstrated his loyalty to Francoist Spain by serving as mayor of Jerez (1952–57) and president of the provincial government of Cadiz from 1957 until 1967, when he became a deputy in the Cortes.