Jerez-Xérès-Sherry

The specification calls vine growing and winemaking the backbone of the Jerez district through a history that goes back to Phoenician times. Its position near the trading ports of Cádiz and Seville made its wines frequent cargo for ships bound for the Americas and northern Europe. For the long voyages, wines were "abrigado", fortified with alcohol to keep them sound. The rules say this practice played a decisive part in the natural selection of the flor yeasts that drive biological ageing. The criaderas and solera system goes back to the eighteenth century and the need to supply wines of steady quality whatever the vintage. Many of the typical bodegas were built in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The growers' concern to protect the name runs from the ordinances of the Gremio de la Vinatería in the sixteenth century to the first Reglamento of a designation of origin in Spain, in January 1935.

The zone is in the north-west of Cádiz, the southernmost province of mainland Spain, bounded by the Guadalquivir to the north, the Atlantic to the west and south and the foothills of the Sierra de Cádiz to the east. It covers ten municipalities, from Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María and Sanlúcar de Barrameda to Lebrija in Seville. The land is flat or gently rolling, with hills of 10-15% slope. Marshes near the Guadalquivir, salt pans near El Puerto and Puerto Real, and night breezes off the ocean keep humidity up.

The main vineyard soil is albariza, a soft white marl with 25-40% calcium carbonate, clay and silica from the shells of diatoms and radiolarians of the Oligocene sea. It is easy to work and holds moisture. Vines also grow on darker "barros" and sandy "arenas". The climate is warm, with more than 300 sunny days and about 600 mm of rain, mostly in November, December and March. The dry levante and humid poniente winds both matter.

The specification says albariza soils give wines with a clear chalky expression, elegant, full and savoury, with a capacity to evolve over very long periods. Dry growing seasons, the levante wind and the water held by the albariza ensure sound, well-ripened grapes. Palomino Fino gives wines that express the soil and age well, while Pedro Ximénez and Moscatel de Alejandría, with more sugar and acidity, suit the naturally sweet wines. Biological ageing under flor benefits from the dynamic solera and from the humidity that bodega architecture draws from Atlantic night breezes. The wines range from the pale straw of Fino to the ebony of Pedro Ximénez. Tertiary aromas dominate: the sharp notes of flor, yeast and nuts, or the more ethereal notes of oak and oxidation. A chalky, savoury note is noticeable, most in the youngest, driest wines.

Permitted grapes are Palomino (Listán Blanco or Palomino Fino), Pedro Ximénez, Moscatel de Alejandría, Beba, Perruno and Vigiriega. Wines age in oak butts of up to 1,000 litres, either in "criaderas y solera", where wine is drawn periodically from the oldest scale and topped up from younger ones, or as single vintages (Añada). Biological ageing happens under the "velo de flor", a film of yeast on the wine; oxidative ageing exposes the wine to air. Fino is aged only biologically, Amontillado biologically then oxidatively, Palo Cortado and Oloroso oxidatively. Since the 2026 consolidated text, these dry "vinos generosos" may be sold either unfortified (category "wine") or fortified (liqueur wine). Fino has 14-17% alcohol and Oloroso at least 17%. Naturally sweet wines are fortified musts; blended liqueur wines run from Pale Dry to Cream. Age statements are Fino Viejo (seven years), 12 and 15 years, VOS (over 20) and VORS (over 30).

Manzanilla-Sanlúcar de Barrameda is a separate designation run by the same council, for wines aged under flor for at least two years in Sanlúcar, whose bodegas the rules describe as more humid and more temperate. Fino under the Jerez name may not be aged in Sanlúcar.