Courting the Gypsy: My Visit to a Sherry Winery in Sanlucar de Barremeda

After the eternal heat and relentless summer of Seville dies down and we all crawl out of the holes we used to shelter from the sun, a very special time starts. It’s not autumn or fall (they doesn’t exist here, we only have two seasons; hot and less hot). It’s something even better—the magical time of Sherry Week. For the last five years, this one blissful and all too brief week gets marked on the calendars of sherry lovers throughout the world. “Finally,” they think, “a time for sherry to fly as high as Champagne, Bordeaux, or Napa”.

It’s a week of tastings, talks, and tipsiness, where fans of this misunderstood beverage get to show the world that it’s more than that sticky poison that granny used to drench a Christmas pudding in.

Despite a rough introduction to sherry at Seville’s April Fair (it was more of a baptism under fire), I’ve fallen head over heels for this local wine. It’s delicious, complex, and speaks to the nature of Andalucia’s terroir like nothing else can.

Visiting the Sherry Triangle

The pride and joy of Andalucian winemaking, sherry is unique to the climate of southern Spain. All the world’s sherry must be made in the ‘Sherry Triangle’; a small area to the south-west of Seville. The points of the triangle are the three main towns of the wine’s production; Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María, and to the north, Sanlúcar de Barrameda. It’s bordered to the north and south by the rivers Guadalquivir and Guadalete, and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean. And it also just shines. The white albariza soil that characterises the region can be blinding when hit by the summer sun, endowing the sherry vines with a god-like glow.

Confusingly, this region is home to two denominaciones de origen—Spain’s official winemaking appellations. The first, D.O. Jerez-Xérès-Sherry, is the oldest in Spain and covers the entire triangle. The other, D.O. Manzanilla-Sanlúcar de Barrameda, was a later addition governing the unique wines of the northern point of the triangle. And, while I’ve made several visits to Jerez de la Frontera, I’d never been to this northern denomination. So, inspired by Sherry Week, I decided to take a trip to Sanlúcar de Barrameda!

Sanlúcar de Barrameda

Less than an hour’s drive from Seville, this charming town makes for a great day trip. The Atlantic breezes that help develop the local wines are refreshing, and the winding, cobbled streets of the old town are full of bars, food markets, and the irresistible smell of fried fish. And throughout the town are sherry bodegas famous throughout the country: Barbadillo, Hidalgo La Gitana, Delgado Zuleta, and more.

While many of the wineries produce the full range of sherry styles, the most iconic one to be found is manzanilla. This is a wine unlike any other, unique to the climate of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Like a fino sherry, the wine of the Palomino grape undergoes a period of biological aging. Completely covered by a layer of flor yeast while in the barrel, the wine is protected from oxidisation, providing a unique flavour and texture.

However, the intense Atlantic breezes of Sanlúcar create a microclimate differing from the rest of the Triangle, with lower average temperatures and a higher humidity. As a result, the flor layer here is way thicker than that of a normal fino, creating the unique profile of manzanilla sherry. Along with yeasty aromas from the flor, manzanilla is also intensely coastal; with flavours of seaspray and a mouthwatering salinity.

The Wines of La Gitana (The Gypsy)

The most famous producer of manzanilla is the winery Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana, founded in 1792. Currently, it’s run by the eighth generation of the Hidalgo family, committed to their ancestors’ winemaking traditions. I joined one of the daily tours of the bodega, and along with other visitors weaved through towers of barrels stacked high in the cavernous and Cathedral-like complex.

Along with a history of the bodega and its titular family, the tour was a great insight into the town’s wines, especially manzanilla! In fact, the winery’s main manzanilla–La Gitana–is so iconic that it’s part of the bodega‘s name!

Tasting: The savoury

First, we tasted the en rama version of the flagship manzanilla, a common sight at Seville’s April Fair. For me, this wine has always tasted of a seaside picnic. It’s salty, fresh, and cleansing, with refreshing notes of almonds and sourdough. Being an en rama sherry, it came directly from the cask—the natural wine without filtration. Making a biologically-aged sherry is a complicated and lengthy process, and this wine had been through 14 steps of the solera  process.

Next was a glass of manzanilla pasada. A more complex style, this is a wine that’s started to lose its comforting flor blanket. After six or seven years, this yeast layer begins to fade, as the sugars of the wine start to run out. La Gitana’s version of this wine is a single vineyard variety, also bottled en rama. It had a much fuller aroma and flavour, with the familiar salinity backed up by hay, sandalwood, and a richer nuttiness.

We moved on to the amontillado of Edgar Allen Poe fame. The winery’s signature amontillado is their ‘Napoleon’ line—first created for the troops of the French emperor during the Peninsular War. But not wanting to choose a side, the Hidalgos also sold a Wellington sherry to the British! This sherry started off life as the manzanilla pasada, being aged for several years after the flor has vanished. Resultingly, there’s plenty of oxidative character here. There are aromas of toffee and caramelised nuts, with toasty flavours underpinning the slight remaining saltiness. It’s also a bit lighter in body than amontillados from the other sherry towns.

Tasting: The oh-so-sweet

With our savoury wines tried and tested, it was time to move to dessert. Namely, I’m talking about the Alameda Cream and the Triana Pedro Ximenez sherries. The former, a blend of oloroso sherry with Pedro Ximenez grapes, was velvety soft to drink. It was full of raisin flavours, with some toffee and caramelised hazelnuts thrown in as well. The latter was a pure P.X. hit of liquid dessert, with the grapes dried out under the intense Andalucian sun for maximum sugar levels. I love this wine. It’s got all the flavours of a great dessert full of amazing ingredients, all rolled up into one glass. There are figs, raisins, vanilla, toffee, and a touch of a dried tobacco herbiness. Drinking it there and then was great, but I couldn’t help but daydream of pouring it over vanilla ice cream when I got home…

Arrange a visit

To organise your own visit to the Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana, visit their website. There are daily tours Monday through Saturday at 11:30am (English) and 1pm (Spanish). When I visited, the per person price was 12 euros, with six wines tasted over an hour and 15 minutes.

Read more

Visit the International Sherry Week website to learn more about events and tastings near you.

Learn more about sherry wines.