The Sherry Towns : Puerto de Santa Maria

Port Saint Mary as the British used to call it is situated at the mouth of the river Guadalete, 10 km north of Cadiz across the bay. A little steamer still runs this route. At one time there was a service up to Jerez but the river silted up and it was suspended in the 1950s. The town has a population of about 88,000 and a considerable area of vineyard, as well as being surrounded by important conservation areas forming part of the Parque Nacional Bahia de Cadiz. There are some lovely beaches too.

The foundation of the town is attributed to a Greek general, Menesteo, who coming from the Trojan wars set up camp and called the place after himself. Certainly Greek artefacts have been found by archaeologists. The Phonecians and Romans were also here, and the Moors who arrived in the early VIII century called the place Alcante or Alcanatif - port of salt - in reference to previous industries. Here, the last Visigoth king Rodrigo was killed defending his kingdom against the Moors. When it was recaptured from the Moors by Alfonso X in the XIII century he renamed it Puerto de Santa Maria, then conceded it a charter allowing it the privilege of being "El" Puerto de Santa Maria. Later the Castillo San Marcos was built. It is a sort of fortified Church built on the demolished remains of a mosque, borrowing stone from a nearby Roman building.

Throughout the middle ages the town made its living from fishing, salt and wine. Local lords the Medinacelis financed the first voyage of Columbus, and later voyages sailed from El Puerto. Juan de la Cosa, a local cartographer who was a pilot for the Columbus ships made the first Mapa Mundi here in 1500. The discovery of the Americas brought much wealth what with all the traffic to and fro Las Indias. In the XIX century the town played unwilling host to Joseph Bonaparte and his army between 1801 and 1812. 


Famous citizens  - apart from Juan de la Cosa - have been mainly bullfighters, bodegueros and flamenco singers, but Rafael Alberti the poet was born here. The most interesting local festival is the Virgen del Carmen, patron saint of the town and of fishermen on 16th July. The fishermen carry an effigy of the virgen on a boat out to sea then parade her through the town. There is also the Feria de la Primavera, the spring festival in early May, during the four days of which staggering amounts of Sherry are drunk. Then there are bodegas, the most important of which are laid out below:


          Osborne                                  Gutierrez Colosia                         501 del Puerto
      Luis Caballero                          Fernando A de Terry                       Juan C Grant
         Obregon                                        J Ferris

Bodegas Osborne

                                                                Castillo de San Marcos