The Sherry Triangle

Three Andalucian towns mark out the corners of the Jerez region and nowhere is the impact of geography and climate as evident as in the style of the wine as in the finos and manzanillas.

It matters very little where the grapes for these wines comes from within the central triangle, the decisive factor in how they will eventually taste is the corner of the triangle in which they are matured. Put another way, every fino or manzanilla is made from the same grape - the Palomino- reared on the same fine white albariza soil, harvested at high yields and treated the same very neutral way in the winery , yet the wines vary considerable with maturation. For no other sherry styles are the differences made by these three towns so pronounced.

The Three Towns of the Triangle

Jerez de la Frontèra

Jerez produces around 65% of the region's wines. Being the furthest inland of the three - 20km from the Bay of Cádiz- is enough to make Jerez wines the boldest. The hot south easterly Levante winds blowing from inland Spain are less tempered by coastal breezes and temperatures and reach a scorching 30 - 40 degrees in summer. Careful positioning of the sherry bodegas towards the southwest of the town ensures as much maritime influence as possible to keep the soleras cool and maintain delicacy. Fino matured in Jerez is usually of a fuller bodied, heavier style than the lighter more elegant and fragrant wines from Puerto de Santa María.

Puerto de Santa María

The lesser-known coastal corner of the triangle accounts for a mere 4% of all sherry. Twenty kilometres southwest of Jerez, Puerto is situated at the mouth of the River Guadelete on the Bay of Cádiz. For a large promontory it is well positioned to receive head-on Atlantic gusts. The cooling coastal Poniente winds can make summer temperatures as much as a soothing 10 degrees cooler than in Jerez.

Sanlúcar de Barrameda

Sanlúcar is famed for its own style of fino - 'manzanilla' - often described as having a salty tang. The furthest north of the three towns situated at the mouth of the Guadalquivir it is much more at the mercy of the Atlantic and critically for the wine style has the highest humidity. It is around 35 km northwest of Jerez and accounts for 13% of total output.

Maturing the finos of these three towns is carried out again in much the same way: through the criadera scales to the bottom of the solera system for five years or so of careful nurturing. The 'cathedrals' that house the barrels of maturing wine even look almost precisely the same from bodega to bodega: black, mould encrusted butts stacked rarely more than four high in dark rows: hard earth floors sprinkled with water to maintain humidity: high ceilings to allow air circulation all to maintain as consistent a temperature as possible.

The difference in the taste of the wines comes entirely from the differing thicknesses of flor yeast covering the surface of the maturing wine. The cooler coastal climate is ideal for the prolific growth of flor a natural yeast film which grows on the surface of the wine as it matures in barrel and which is essential for the development of fine quality finos. This latter depends on the humidity which is highest nearer the sea.

Most sherry companies only produce sherry from one town within the Sherry triangle. The House of Emilio Lustau, however, produces sherry in all three of the sherry towns.