Well, its been one very long day! We only managed a trip to a sherry cellar in Jerez, as ended up spending the afternoon at the Police station!

To cut a long story short ... My car was broken into whilst we were taking a tour! We returned to find glass everywhere, a broken window and a bag missing, which of course instantly put a downer on the trip.

I can only be thankful that the car wasn't stolen as well, as typically this was the one time we had left everything in it!

We are both ok, just now have to deal with the frustration of sorting it all out :(. The good news (we are trying to be positive!) is that although I'm well behind in writing my Algarve blog entry I'm up to date on Spain so far...

Jerez

Jerez today is a mix of the high society associated with the production of sherry and the unfortunate contrast of significant levels of unemployment (the highest in the whole of Spain at last count it seems - 35%).

The people here are gitanó (Roma or gypsies) and apparently beautiful which is maybe part of the reason that this town is also well known for its flamenco .

I had hoped to have visited the flamenco centre which is a combined library, museum and school, but due to unforeseen circumstances (!) we only made it to the sherry bodega at Sandemans.

So, here's little bit about that...

Sherry is exclusive to 3 varieties of white grapes: Palomino (95% of vineyards/sherry), Pedro Ximenez and Moscatel (the latter 2 are specifically used for sweet sherries). There seems to be an art to blending sherries as they age in order to produce a consistent quality as well as a number of different varieties.

Only a maximum of 70 litres per 100 kilos of grapes is extracted and the remainder, which has a higher alcohol content, is then used to fortify some of the sherries to increase their alcohol content.

After extraction the sherry is fermented for a period of at least 2 months before being classified by tasting manually (I want that job!)After that the ageing process begins, which involves drawing the wine from the lowest level of the barrel stack (bodega - typically consists of 4 layers of barrels) first, and just a third of each barrel at a time . This process is repeated up to a maxinum of 3 times in a year and so that the younger wines (at the top) can age further.

The Sandeman brand consists of 2 companies, this one here in Jerez and the other in Porto, where I was last week tasting the Port (although ran out if time to get to Sandemans itself).

The Jerez company was set up by a Scotsman in 1790, and was the first to brave advertising of a brand during a time when this was disapproved of (casks were usually unmarked). If you haven't heard of Sandemans you may still have seen the famous `Don` which was created in 1928, who represents both sherry (Spanish) and port (Portugese) with the sombrero hat and student cape of those times.

We certainly enjoyed the tour which was informative and a great pre lunch apperitif. The tastings on offer ranged from the 3 - fine, medium and sweet standard sherries to the aged/vintage offerings as well as a tapas lunch. 

If you're passing through the area, do take a tour, but don't leave your car on the street if you can avoid it!