Sherry Bodegas

In many Bodegas you will be able to try the worldfamous sherry. The sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the town of Jerez, Spain. In Spanish, it is called vino de Jerez.

The word "sherry" is an anglicization of Jerez. In earlier times, sherry was known as sack (from the Spanish saca, meaning "a removal from the solera"). In Europe, "Sherry" is a protected designation of origin; in Spanish law, all wine labeled as "sherry" must legally come from the Sherry Triangle, which is an area in the province of Cádiz between Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and El Puerto de Santa María. In 1933 the Jerez Denominación de Origen was the first Spanish denominación to be officially recognized in this way, officially named D.O. Jerez-Xeres-Sherry and sharing the same governing council as D.O. Manzanilla Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

Sherry is produced in a variety of styles, ranging from dry, light versions such as finos to darker and heavier versions known as olorosos, all made from the Palomino grape. Sweet dessert wines are also made, from Pedro Ximenez or Moscatel grapes. Sherry is regarded by many wine writers as "underappreciated" and a "neglected wine treasure".

El Puerto de Santa Maria , an important tourist centre with an outstanding number of monuments, is the other coastal town of the "Marco de Jerez". El Puerto is also home to some leading wineries, such as Osborne, Terry or Luis Caballero, where the region's basic wines - fino, oloroso and amontillado , age in the characteristic atmosphere to be found throughout the Marco.

We assembled a few bodegas you may want to visit: