Spain is our favourite holiday destination, attracting 20 million British visitors each year. I like to discover a quieter side of Spain, this time the Province of Cadiz in the far south.
Cadiz is the oldest city in Western Europe, founded almost three thousand years ago by the Phoenicians. They were a seafaring civilisation from the region of Lebanon, which established a series of ports along the Mediterranean. Cadiz was built at the opposite end of the Mediterranean, where the sea opens out to the Atlantic Ocean.
The Phoenicians had no inkling that two millennia later Cadiz would be the gateway to a “new world” across that ocean, the port for trade with Spain’s empire in the Americas.
This status drew attention from rival powers. In 1587 Sir Frances Drake led an audacious attack on Cadiz capturing six ships and sinking thirty-one. Nine years later an Anglo-Dutch fleet launched a major attack which destroyed many of the city’s buildings. Hence, the attractive city we see today is primarily from the seventeenth century; narrow streets, small squares, churches and (understandably) many watchtowers.
A short distance inland, Jerez is noted as the centre for sherry production. Surprisingly, most of the production takes place right within the city centre. Here millions of litres are stored in “bodegas” (wine warehouses) where the sherry is aged in barrels for upto thirty years and blended to produce different varieties.
Sherry is made primarily from the Palomino grape and fortified with the addition of grape spirit to increase the final alcohol content. The skill of the cellarmaster is to move the wine from one barrel to another ensuring the correct oxidation level for each variety.
There are four standard varieties: fino, clear and dry; amontillado and oloroso, also dry but with a stronger flavour and a darker colour; and cream, which is blended to produce a heavier sweet wine, which is familiar to us in England.
Several bodegas welcome visitors to learn about the production process and try the four varieties. Sherry and tapas in the Spanish sunshine – what better way to spend the afternoon?
