Jerez - Xeres - Sherry

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In the province of Cadiz there are three towns which form the famous 'sherry triangle' of Spain: Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlucar de Barrameda, and El Puerto de Santa Maria. Any bottle labelled as 'sherry' must have come from this region, which has been producing wines since the times of the Phoenicians (1100BC). Having had absolutely no appreciation for sherry in the past, I decided to visit a bodega in Jerez to sample some different types and educate my palate.

Arriving on a sunny May bank holiday, I went to the Gonzalez Byass bodega near the centre of town, where they produce Tio Pepe brand sherry. The company was founded in 1835 when Manuel Maria Gonzalez Angel, under advice from his uncle the famous Tio Pepe, founded a winery in Jerez. Soon after he created a partnership with an Englishman, Robert Blake Byass, creating the current family-run company which now exports to around 150 countries worldwide. It's not so much a vineyard, which are out in the surrounding countryside, but rather a large storage area where the important distillation processes take place. We hopped on a train for a tour of the grounds before being ushered into one of the massive cellars, it was so cold inside compared to the warmth outside. Here we got to admire the dusty barrels of sherry and watched a propaganda video, which was mostly concerned with telling us just how successful Tio Pepe is by an actor cheesily pretending to be the founder of the company. We did get an explanation of the distillation process etc, most of which I've forgotten. We walked from there through a small village to another cellar, containing an enormous 3,500 gallon cask named after Christ, flanked by 12 slightly smaller casks named after the 12 apostles. Further on, we found a small cup of sherry on the floor with miniature ladders leading up to the rim. This was all for the mice who roamed the bodega, and sure enough we got to see a mouse go up for a drink while we were there!

We were brought back through the village to the tasting room, what I'd been most looking forward to! It was based in a giant marquee in the top floor of one of the cellars. I sat beside an English couple on holiday, Rose and Ollie, and we had fun sampling our four sherries. The first was a dry clear Tio Pepe fino, and the type I like the least. Next was an Alfonso, a dry dark fortified wine, which was slightly more palateable when eaten with the salty crisps that were left on our table. Going up in the level of sweetness was the Croft original pale cream sherry, which was at the right level of sweetness for me. Last to be sampled was the Solera 1847, a very dark and incredibly sweet and fortified wine, a bit too sickingly sweet to be honest I even found the clear fino easier to drink.

After we were finished our samples we decided to go out into Jerez for tapas. We found a tapas bar nearby and ordered tapas and sherry to go with them on the advice of the waiter. It was delicious: chocos fritos, carrillada, some cold meats and cheeses, as well as patatas bravas of course. After our delightful lunch and feeling slightly tipsy, we went our seperate ways and I took in a short walk of Jerez on my way back to the train station.

For a more detailed blog of the Tio Pepe bodega written by a sherry fan, visit http://passionatefoodie.blogspot.kr/2010/10/bodegas-gonzalez-byass-apostles-thirsty.html

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