Visiting the Sherry Triangle

Despite my love of sherry, I had never actually visited the region. That was something that had to change, and I finally got to visit in the beginning of November. I was only there for a handful of days, but I managed to fit a fair few tastings in, touring the bodgeas of Fernando de Castilla, Bodegas Tradición, Lustau, Osborne, Barbadillo, Valdespino, and Gonzalez Byass. All these producers are steeped in tradition, storing wines decades old in the cool, dark cellars. But nor are they immune to the economic realities of sherry, fully aware that these days it’s a difficult sell and a wine many people don’t understand or appreciate. However, everyone I met was seriously passionate about sherry and surprisingly confident about its future.

the place

There are three main towns that form the so-called Sherry Triangle, Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and El Puerto de Santa Maria. The epicentre is Jerez, which I found much bigger and more dynamic than I was expecting. The architecture is dominated by the bodegas, with famous names grandly etched on the white-washed walls. Once inside, the bodegas stretch in all sorts of unexpected directions with rooms and rooms full of barrels that may or may not be part of an organised solera system.

Sanlúcar is another surprisingly sizeable town, complete with bullring and castle. Although this part of Andalucía is right on the edge of Spain looking out towards Africa, many Spanish stereotypes originate here, such as bullfighting, flamenco, and of course sherry. The Arabic influence on the region is apparent too, in the architecture, language, and the irrigation systems still used in towns and vineyards.

El Puerto de Santa Maria—called St. Mary’s Port in old English wine books—also has a bullring in the centre of the town. This is perhaps the least famous of the three Sherry Triangle centres, but one of the largest producers, Osborne, are based here and the wines have their own salty character.

Visiting these towns is an evocative experience, full of history. It’s also important because where a bodega is located has a huge influence on the final style and character of a wine. Sanlúcar, famous for manzanilla, boasts of this sense of place, due to the fineness, delicacy, and distinct quality of the wines aged there, while the wines of Jerez are a little fuller and richer.

bodega at Osborne

Sherry is perhaps unique in that the idea of terroir is suggested by where the wines are aged rather than where the grapes are grown. Vineyards, however, remain important in the region, the best located north-west of Jerez in Jerez Superior at a slightly higher altitude on gentle slopes—the most famous vineyards or pagos including Carrascal, Machurnudo, Añina, and Balbaína. But ultimately it is the ageing conditions that define the nature of the final wine, and a great deal of attention goes into maintaining the ideal environment for ageing. Humidity must stay at around 70%, and the sandy floors are regularly watered to maintain this level—three times a week during the summer, and the hot 2019 weather meant that the floors were watered five days a week. The bodegas are tall and airy, with windows opened to let in the cool poniente wind when it blows in from the west or closed to block the warm levante wind from the east. These bodgeas are seriously impressive, dating back to the nineteeth century, tall, dark, and airy, and redolent of so much history.

trends

Sales of sherry continue to fall—by 3.9% in 2018. On the face of it, this is an alarming trend which leads to sensationalist articles such as this cynical and superficial one published on wine-searcher which suggested that at this rate of decline sherry will disappear completely. That, however, is to miss the point. The decline in sales of sherry have to be put in the context that they are falling from an unsustainable high point in the 1970s when sherry reached levels of record production centred on quantity rather than quality when new styles of sherry were invented to increase the market, such as Pale Cream and Medium. Now, producers want to move away from those inexpensive styles towards higher quality, smaller production, more distinctive wines. Indeed, the value of sherry sales increased by 12% in 2018.

The biggest surprise on visiting the region was how many tourists go there. Sherry is the most visited wine region in Spain, although that may indicate the lack of wine tourism in the country. However, given the popularity of Cava and Rioja around the world, it’s still a substantial boast. Moreover, Gonzalez Byass is one of the most visited wineries in Europe, receiving 200,000 visitors a year. Likewise, Osborne has an on-site restaurant, stylish shop, and tailored tours to attract tourists, especially from the nearby US military base and visiting families.

The idea that sherry is dying is an overly simplistic one, but it does need to attract a new audience. For all the visitors that go to Gonzalez Byass, many of them are hangovers from the sweet days of the 1970s. Instead, the push is for young drinkers inspired by the wonders of Spanish food. Sherry’s revival may be a small one, but it’s more realistic than the 1970s boom.

producers

Fernando de Castilla

The first port of call was Fernando de Castilla, owned by Norwegian Jann Petterson. My first question was how does a Norwegian end up owning a sherry bodega?! The answer: his parents bought an apartment in Marbella in 1968, moving there semi-permanently in the 1970s, so Jann was immersed in Spanish culture from an early age. After taking his MBA in Barcelona, he started working for Osborne in 1983 when it was one of the biggest wine companies globally. This introduced him to sherry culture, and when Osborne began selling off their brands he decided to buy his own bodega, purchasing Fernando de Castilla in 1999.

His commitment to and passion for sherry—he’s known affectionately as “The Boss”—was clear. For him, pairing the different styles of sherry with food is key to understanding the wines and the success of Spanish food globally has helped promote understanding of sherry. Like many of the producers, he is keen to move on from the dark days of the 1970s; while drawing on the region’s traditions, he’s adamant that sherry should be promoted as part of a contemporary food and drink scene.

The quality of Fernando de Castilla’s wines is consistently high, although it’s the Antique range that stands out. The fino is unusual in that it’s refortified to 17% before bottling to make it more intense and concentrated (✪✪✪✪✪); the amontillado is rich and nutty but extremely approachable (✪✪✪✪✪); while the palo cortado is an excellent introduction to the style (✪✪✪✪✪).

Fernando de Castilla also make brandy (✪✪✪✪✪) and vermouth (✪✪✪✪✪). The former is as important to the region as sherry itself, with 60m bottles of quality brandy produced annually on top of 100m bottles of basic brandy. Vermouth is less of a staple, a category that has been revived by consumer demand rather than by producers. Spanish vermouth is traditionally red and sweet, although producers such as Lustau now also make white vermouth (✪✪✪✪✪✪) and even a rosé vermouth (✪✪✪). Most bars around Spain serve giant sized glasses of Martini, but the vermouths made in sherry are well worth seeking out.

Bodegas Tradición

The story sold to us when we visited Bodegas Tradición was that the producer, now in the eleventh generation and going all the way back to 1650, went bankrupt in the 1980s and the son, Joaquín Rivero, promised to revive the family “tradition” by establishing a new winery, which he did in 1998. I think the actual story is a little more complicated than that, as at the end of our visit we enjoyed some Pedro Ximénez while admiring the family’s extensive art collection which included a couple of paintings by Goya—this isn’t a family that lacks money.

Bodegas Tradición is an impressive place to visit. The aim in re-establishing the winery was to build up a large catalogue of old sherries and the bodega is packed with barrels of wine dating back decades; the next stage of the project is to buy vineyards, especially in the prestigious Machurnado, to gain complete control of production.

I tasted various styles of sherry at different ages, which was a fascinating insight into how sherry evolves in the barrel. Tasting the evolution of the amontillado was especially rewarding, tracing it from its beginnings as a fino to the final wine that’s nearly forty years old on average (✪✪✪✪✪✪). We started by trying the sobretabla, the base wine from 2018 which is aged for eight months then added to the solera system before moving on to the fino at various stages of ageing. The fourth criadera has wines ranging from 2014 to 2018 and is weighty but fresh; the second is spicier and more serious and a finer, more involved texture. About 10% of the wine is removed each year, half bottled as fino, the other half going into the sixth criadera of the amontillado solera where it retains fino characteristics but is slightly more oxidative. The second criadera has an average age of 34 years and is easily ready for bottling, with intense, full, rich, long aromas, but it’s aged another four years before bottling for an extremely sophisticated amontillado. It takes both courage and patience to age a wine that long, but the results are worth it.

Lustau

Lustau

Lustau are more like a négociant than a producer, as they buy rather than make wine. They have been very successful at marketing their brand as well as sherry in general, and make every style of sherry which makes them a good producer to visit for a thorough exploration of the region’s wines. I wrote a couple of years ago about how Lustau’s flor-based wines are great examples of how the wines vary in taste and structure due to where they are aged: “Jarana” is a relative rich fino aged in Jerez, “Puerto Fino” is a salty fino from El Puerto de Santa Maria, and “Papirusa” is a fine, delicate manzanilla aged in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Also making vermouth and excellent brandy, Lustau are a dynamic producer doing a great job in promoting the region.

Osborne

Osborne are one of the most famous names in the region and responsible for one of the most iconic Spanish images—the black bull that stands by the side of many Spanish roads and which any visitor to Spain will be familiar with. Osborne launched the bull in the late 1950s, but in 1987 had to take their name off the bulls and simply painted them black. There are still over 70 of them across Spain and even one in Mexico and Japan, though unfortunately few people now remember the association between the bulls and Osborne and sherry.

Their basic range of sherry is fine, decent but underwhelming (✪✪✪); the wines really come into their own in the VORS range which are expensive and outstanding—I’ve tried the oloroso before but on this occasion tasted the amontillado which is powerful and expressive with an intensely long finish (✪✪✪✪✪✪).

Barbadillo

The biggest producer of manzanilla, Barbadillo are based in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. To give a sense of where sherry is now, Barbadillo still make a lot of wine for own-label supermarkets which sell sweet sherry to older drinkers. That’s the foreign market; domestically, manzanilla rules and “Muyfina” (✪✪✪) is the second biggest selling sherry in Spain after “La Guita,” with production of over 100,000 cases a year. Internationally, “Solear” (✪✪✪✪) is better known, with production of 60,000 cases a year. For an industry that’s supposedly dying, that’s a lot of manzanilla.

On top of that, Barbadillo also have a couple of en rama manzanillas, wines released directly from the barrel without filtration. The “Solear en Rama” is released four times a year at the beginning of each season with a beautiful image of a different bird; I tried the 2019 autumnal version, which was pretty and floral but with more yeastiness and weight than the regular Solear (✪✪✪✪✪). The “Pastora Manzanilla Pasada en Rama” is a wine that both receives a longer period of ageing (9 years) and is released directly from the barrel for a style that retains its freshness but is weighty, spicy, and almost chewy (✪✪✪✪✪).

Barbadillo also make styles not associated with Sanlúcar. “Principe de Barbadillo” is an amontillado based on “Solear” aged for another two years biologically and then five more oxidatively; it’s pale and delicate looking but rich, chocolatey, and spicy. In the words of Barbadillo’s International Director, it’s “more precise, chiselled, and vertical” than an amontillado made from a fino (✪✪✪✪✪). There’s also an older version aged for 30 years: the VORS amontillado is phenomenal (✪✪✪✪✪✪).

Valdespino

Although the Valdespino family and their history of winemaking dates back to the 1200s, the label was bought in 1999 from the family by Grupo Estevez, who make a large range of top-selling sherries, including “La Guita” (✪✪✪✪). Their facilities are just outside Jerez in a site that doubles as an industrial estate and a nineteenth-century palace, in which there is an entire room dedicated to privately owned Picasso sketches. The Valdespino label—one of many—is best known for the single-vineyard wines, a terroir-based concept other producers are following. At the same time, the wines spend a long time in the cellar: “Inocente” has an average age of eleven years, making it weightier, breadier, and oilier than most finos—I sometimes find it too heavy (✪✪✪✪). When the flor dies, the wine continues to age for another six to seven years and become the “Tio Diego” amontillado with aromas of bread, spice, crackers, and rye bread (✪✪✪✪). A surprise at the end of the visit was the “Promesa” which is made from late-harvest Moscatel. Very pretty and aromatic, it’s surprisingly light and delicate on the palate for a sweet, fortified wine (✪✪✪✪).

Gonzalez Byass

I finished the week with the largest of all current sherry producers, Gonzalez Byass, whose facilities are a town within a town. For such a large producer, their wines are truly impressive. Their most famous wine is of course “Tio Pepe,” which, for a wine that sells 3m bottles a year, is remarkably consistent and good quality (✪✪✪✪). The fault with “Tio Pepe,” if there is one, is that in too many bars it’s served warm and old rather than cool and freshly opened. “Tio Pepe” is also the base for the two amontillados “Viña AB” (✪✪✪✪) and “Del Duque” (✪✪✪✪✪✪), both of which are naturally allowed to lose their flor rather than killing it off through refortification. The range of wines also proves that sweet sherry can be exceptional. “Apostoles Medium,” with residual sugar of 50g/L, is 87% Palo Cortado and 13% Pedro Ximénez, the two wines aged separately for twelve years before spending another eighteen years in each other’s company. The wine is simply superb (✪✪✪✪✪✪). Likewise, the “Matusalem Cream” which is 75% Oloroso and 25% Pedro Ximénez, is also aged for 30 years in total. Residual sugar is 135g/L (✪✪✪✪✪✪). Finally, there’s the “Noe” Pedro Ximénez, a wine so sweet (400g/L) and concentrated one could very slowly drown in it (✪✪✪✪✪).