Spanish Sherry

Sherry (jerez, xeres) is Spanish wine which is produced in Jerez de la Frontera, Andalusia. It contains about 16- 20% alcohol and is produced from grapes.

The word Sherry come from Jerez ( Xeres). At the beginning the name was sack from Spanish saca. 

Sherry has been produced from 1100 B.C. when the Phoenicians came to Iberian Peninsula. Later the Romans and the Moors which occupied Jerez territory were continuing wine production. The Arabs introduced distillation which significantly improved taste.

From the 16th century Sherry has had renowned reputation  as the world's finest wine in Europe. Christopher Columbus took Sherry to New World and Ferdinand Magellan spent more money for Sherry than for weapons before his journey around the world.

Sherry became popular in the United Kingdom in 16th century. Plenty of English gentry sponsored Spanish cellars from Jerez to produce wine.

Nowadays name Sherry is reserved for Spanish wine from Sherry Triangle (province of Cadiz, Spain). Only same producers from California, USA produce that kind of wine and they are allowed to use the name California sherry. In Australia they also produce wine but the name is Apera. However,  people still use the name sherry. Those wines can not be imported to the EU.

There are different kinds of grapes to produce Sherry:
- Palomino- dry Sherry 
- Pedro Ximenez- sweet wine
- Moscatel- similar to Pedro Ximenez but less common

Of course very important for the grapes is the kind of soil they grow (yellowish, dark brown or white) and precipitation quantity. All this factors are present in the province of Cadiz.

Sherry should be drunk from the a special tulip-shaped glass. Young people drink Sherry with lemonade and ice.

My favorite Sherry.