The wine side of a Jerez evening
Sherry, bodegas and a flamenco evening
What a bodega is, how sherry is made in the Jerez triangle, what a tabanco is and how a glass of local wine fits around a flamenco show.
Reserve a place at the tablao ↗Bodega: cellar, winery, venue
Bodega is the Spanish word for a wine cellar or winery, and in Jerez it also names the great cellars where sherry matures. The Jerez tourist office notes that locals call these buildings the cathedrals of wine, and that sherry once shaped the city's very layout, with wineries taking up large areas inside it. Tablao Puro Arte is set in an 18th-century wine cellar, as the regional tourist board describes it.
The sherry triangle
Sherry is a fortified wine from white grapes grown around Jerez de la Frontera. It is made inside the sherry triangle, whose corners are Jerez, Sanlúcar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa María, and the Jerez-Xérès-Sherry designation of origin protects the name. Brandy de Jerez may also be produced only inside the triangle.
Soleras and criaderas
The tourist office describes soleras and criaderas as the system used to produce sherry and one unique in the world. Wines from different years are aged and blended through a stacked series of barrels, which is why most bottles carry no single vintage. Visitors to Jerez's wineries can see rows of casks stacked this way, and the tourist office lists tastings among the ways to meet the wine. A visit by day pairs naturally with a show in the evening.
The main styles in a sentence
Fino is the driest and palest traditional style, aged under a layer of flor yeast, and manzanilla is an especially light fino from near Sanlúcar. Amontillado begins under flor and then meets oxygen, ending darker than fino. Oloroso is aged oxidatively for longer and is darker and richer. Palo cortado begins like an amontillado and moves toward oloroso, and cream sherries are sweetened blends.
Drinking it well
Fino and manzanilla are fragile wines and are usually best drunk soon after the bottle is opened, so they are best ordered in a bar that serves them briskly. Oloroso is a sturdier style, typically between 18 and 20 percent alcohol. If you are tasting your way through a day, start with the lightest styles and work toward the richest, and drink water between glasses.
What a tabanco is
A tabanco is a traditional sherry shop that serves tapas and, in Jerez, often has flamenco sung. The tourist office lists tabancos alongside tablaos and peñas as the places to meet the art, and says some serve sherry direct from the cask. Because a tabanco is a neighbourhood tavern, it fits before or after a show rather than as a substitute for one. Treat it as the opening or closing note of the evening.
Visiting a bodega by day
The tourist office lists a visit to a winery among the ways to meet Jerez's wine, along with tastings at sunset, taking part in the work of the vineyard and a guided off-road tour. It also presents the Jerez region as a place with a thousand-year history. A cellar visit shows the stacked barrels of the solera system at close range, and it sets up the evening, since the tablao itself sits in a wine cellar.
The drink with your ticket
The Tablao Puro Arte ticket includes one drink, which can be wine, beer or a soft drink. Lunch and dinner menus are an option, pairing regional cooking with regional wines. Whichever you choose, order before the artists begin, because the room belongs to them once the show starts.
Wine and flamenco, side by side
The Jerez tourist office presents the city's wine and flamenco together, and says the old taverns and tabancos still serve tapas, excellent sherry and the most genuine flamenco. Pairing a glass of the region with the music is therefore less a tourist invention than a way of seeing how the city already lives.
If you are driving
Decide who is driving before a day of tastings begins. Jerez has a main railway station and taxis, which make an evening of wine followed by flamenco simple to manage without a car. Leave room around the show on either side and let the performance, not the car park, set the pace.
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