Jerez Wine Region

Jerez is well-known throughout the world for its sherry wines. Its exceptional geographical location, its privileged climate, the very soil where the grapes grow, and the careful ageing of the grape must, all combine to give the world the pleasure of this unique, natural product known the world over as sherry.

The vineyards of Jerez rest upon a chalky-clayey type of soil which is whitish in colour and known as Albarizas. This is considered to be the best soil-type as it facilitates the maturing of the Palomino grapes used in Jerez, from which must is then produced, which in turn provides the origins of the different wines of Jerez under the denomination of origin supervised by the "Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Jerez-Xérès-Sherry".

There are different types of sherry: Finos, Olorosos and Amontillados, with a wide range ofstyles, tastes and colours. The traditional ageing system is that of Criaderas and Soleras, which outshines the traditional system of vintages as it enables a sustained quality of wine to be achieved long term. Sherries are matured in casks made of American oak named butts, which are laid out one on top of the other in long rows where the ageing process then takes place. Sherry is aged in contact with air, leaving one sixth of the butt empty in order to allow the wine to oxygenate and a layer of yeast known as flor to appear on the surface of the wine inside the butt, and it is this flor is which makes a natural, biological ageing process possible.

Apart from sherry, we must also point out that the bodegas use the same ageing process of criaderas and soleras in order to produce brandies of great prestige and international fame, protected by its own "Consejo Regulador del Brandy de Jerez".

Lovingly aged in wine cellars often likened to cathedrals due to their spacious silence, their high roofs supported by tall columns, their whitewashed walls designed especially for the ageing of wine and which to a certain extent define the characteristic appearance of the city.