Jerez
Hot Mediterranean, Atlantic-influenced
The sun-baked, chalky-soiled home of Sherry, Spain's great fortified wine, aged under a living layer of flor yeast or oxidatively for decades.
Overview
About Jerez
Jerez de la Frontera and its surrounding 'sherry triangle' (with Sanlúcar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa María) on Spain's Atlantic coast make Sherry from the Palomino grape, fortified with grape spirit after fermentation. Wines aged under a protective blanket of flor yeast become pale, tangy Fino and Manzanilla; those aged without it oxidise into darker, nuttier Amontillado and Oloroso.
The solera system blends wine across many vintages and years of age in stacked barrels, so no bottle carries a single vintage; a small amount of sweet Pedro Ximénez is also made from sun-dried grapes.
Jerez is marked on the map.
Spain
Shaded: Cádiz. Map units are states, provinces or départements, so a smaller place appears as the larger area that contains it.
The land
Climate & terroir
Climate
Hot Mediterranean, Atlantic-influenced
Hot and sunny, tempered by the nearby Atlantic and a local sea breeze, the poniente, that helps flor yeast thrive in the ageing cellars (bodegas).
Terroir & soils
What the vines grow in
Albariza: a brilliant-white, highly water-retentive chalk soil that lets vines survive the region's dry summers without irrigation.
Go deeper
Rules, years & producers
Sherry is classified by ageing style rather than vintage, since every bottle is a blend across years under the solera system.
Fino / Manzanilla
Aged under flor yeast; pale, dry and tangy. Manzanilla is Fino aged in Sanlúcar specifically.
Amontillado
Starts under flor, which then dies off, letting the wine oxidise; nutty and amber.
Oloroso
Fortified higher from the start, so no flor forms; fully oxidative, dark and rich.
Pedro Ximénez
Sun-dried Pedro Ximénez grapes, fermented and fortified into a thick, raisiny sweet wine.