“In Jerez”, a wine-maker once told me, “we live with our backs to the vineyard…” In Jerez, he went on to say, fame is attached to the urban wineries, the bodegas where the alchemy takes place. In other wine-producing regions, harvest and production take place on the same terrain, but in Jerez the sun, soil and salts of the earth which give birth to the wine are often forgot. Continue reading “The Landscape of Sherry (Photo Gallery)”
If fino wine – crisp, dry, elegant – is Jerez’s summer time drink of choice, then mosto – duller and flatter it is true, but fruity and flavoursome it is is also a fact – is perfect for a mid-winter Sunday session amongst the vines and amidst flowing flamenco rhymes. Continue reading “Scenes & Shots from Jezez: Mucho Mosto, Mucho Arte”
In this hyper-accelerated world we are told that you must either adapt to the new ways or perish; adapt to new technology, new fads and new tastes, but for Bodegas Maestro Sierra, there is wisdom in the old ways. The naturality of a product, the care in its production and the honesty in its presentation may be seen as outdated shibboleths in this twenty-first century, but at Maestro Sierra, well, call them old-fashioned… Continue reading “Toasting to Tradition at Bodegas Maestro Sierra – ¡Salud!”
Tradition is an invaluable body of thought and practise refined, perfected, and revised over generations, inherited by the young from the old. But tradition can be both a blessing and a burden, and habit can limit the imagination. To think freely you need to break out of old rhythms, try new things, experiment. Continue reading “The Au Naturel Pedro Ximénez: Visiting Ximénez-Spínola Vineyards”
Whether enjoyed as a glass of red after work or a copa of fino with friends, wine is a beautiful thing. But there is in every glass a drop of some grape-picker’s or bottler’s sweat running from their brow to your lips, and this salty note should be savoured as much as the wine itself, but some disagree on how much value it adds. Today, in Jerez de la Frontera, home of sherry wines, conflict ferments over bodega workers’ pay. Continue reading “A Bitter Drop: Conflict in the Bodegas of Jerez”
Lives and Times 