Jerez de la Frontera: the world capital of sherry wine

Jerez de la Frontera or Jerez is a city in Andalusia, Spain, and is the largest city in the province Cádiz. Jerez is known as the city of flamenco, horses, motorcycles, but the thing where Jerez is known for the most is the famous sherry wine. In this blog, we’re going to tell you more about Jerez de la Frontera and her sherry wine.

The Sherry Triangle

Sherry wine (Jerez, in Spanish) refers to a large scale of fortified Spanish wines made from white grapes that grow near the Andalusian city, Jerez de la Frontera. So, there are different types of sherry light versions (fino and manzanilla), to darker and heavier versions (amontillado and oloroso), most of them are made from the Palomino grape, a white grape widely grown in Spain. Under Spanish law, all wine that is labeled as “Sherry” must come from the Sherry Triangle, this is the area between Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and El Puerto de Santa María.

More Sherry than weapons

The history and development of Jerez are strongly connected to the wine industry. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Sherry wine became a source of wealth for the region. In 1519, Christopher Columbus brought Sherry on his voyage to the New World, Ferdinand Magellan (the leader of this journey) spent more money on Sherry than weapons. Eventually, Sherry became a widely exported product to England, the Netherlands, and France. Unfortunately in the late 1980s, the sector experienced an acute crisis, because red wine and beer became more popular, despite that sherry was still a world-famous wine, this crisis damaged the economy of the city.

Sherry from the border

We already said that the name Jerez (de la Frontera) stands for Sherry, but where does this name come from? Jerez comes from the old Spanish word Xerés. “De la Frontera” is Spanish for “from the border”, Jerez de la Frontera used to be on the border of the Moorish and Christian area. The English word for Sherry itself comes from the Moorish name for Jerez “Sherish”, which became in English “Sherris”, eventually “Sherry”.

Now you know more about Jerez de la Frontera and her Sherry wine. You’ve learned about what sherry is, the wine industry, and where the name comes from. Do you want to know more about Sherry from Jerez?

This video shows you a little more about the production process of Sherry - https://youtu.be/Jwwdg2Z-yIo
Jerez de la Frontera - https://atdspain.com/en/city/jerez-de-la-frontera