GRAPES

In Jerez there are only three authorized grapes: Palomino Fino (also known as Listán Palomino or just Listán), Pedro Ximenez and Moscatel. The latter two, because of their special characteristics, are used for the production of natural sweet wines that receive the same names as the grape varieties.

Towards the beginning of September when the grapes reach a minimum maturity of 10.5 degrees Baume, grape harvesting boosts. Harvesting is usually done by hand, but nowadays the mechanization of harvesting is increasing, ensuring that the grapes reach the winery in the best conditions in the shortest time possible. To achieve this, the fresh cut stems are placed in plastic boxes that are stacked onto each other so that the grapes don’t suffer during transportation from the vineyard to the winery. Traditionally the grapes used for the production of sweet wines such as Pedro Ximenez and Moscatel varieties are placed outdoors in the sun. The goal of this is the drying of grapes.

HISTORY

The original wine from Jerez was probably a product of great strength made from Malvasia and Muscat grapes, vines imported from Greece. It’s high alcohol content was decisive because it allowed the wine to be well preserved, avoiding it to become vinegar when being transported in amphoras.

The vineyards of Jerez became a source of wealth for the royal family, as the city of Jerez after the Christian reconquest became unappropriated. Henry I of Castile, to develop domestic manufactures, traded English wool for Sherry wine, which contributed to the popularization of it in England. The increasing demand caused by the intense wine trade in the ports of Lower Andalusia during the Middle Ages in England, Flanders, France and Genoa, led to the need to regulate the wine industry and commerce. Throughout the nineteenth century, Jerez wine was crowned with fame, which quickly brought the imitation and comercialization of wines which were not produced in Jerez.This aroused the envy of the Jerez wine merchants, who sought to prevent the comercialization of wine that were not procuded under the name of Jerez wines.

In 1924, during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, the Government granted the City of Jerez de la Frontera the property of the collective mark "Sherry", which also included growers, manufacturers and merchants of the city. However, the final step in the protection of the wines did not come until 1933 with the Second Republic, when the Control Board of the Appellations of Origin Jerez-Sherry-Xérès was constituted.

DENOMINATION OF ORIGIN

The Denomination of Origin was established in 1933, making it the first one in Spain. During the last years, the range of wines available in the market has increased, and through the mime of the winemakers and the initiatives of the Control Board, a small quantity of wines of the appellation, with a long aging period, are marketed under the Sherry certificate Aging Qualified, which appear already in their tags. This Control Board certification is awarded to wines aging within more than 20 and 30 years, and the types Amontillado, Oloroso, Palo Cortado and Pedro Ximenez.

In 1977 a new regulation of Appellations of Origin Jerez-Xérès-Sherry and Manzanilla-Sanlúcar de Barrameda was published and of its Regulatory Board, by Order of the Ministry of Agriculture on May 2. Today this regulation remains valid, even after the autonomy process in Andalusia, the Regulatory Board of Denomination of Origin "Jerez-Xérès" Sherry "and" Manzanilla-Sanlúcar de Barrameda "has become a public corporation that acts as a decentralized body of the "Consejería de Agricultura y Pesca (Dependant of the Ministry of Agriculture) of the Junta de Andalucía. The functions of the Regulatory Council of Jerez and Manzanilla is the control and certification of Sherries, their promotion and protection of heritage of Jerez wines.

VINTAGES

Due to its special manufacturing process, there is no need to qualify the fortified wines of Jerez.