Jerez enjoyed one of its golden ages after the
victory of Juan Haurie (over the Gremio
de la Vinatería) in 1778. Increasing sales and prices of our wines during
the XIX century enriched the city but inevitably ended in a period of
overproduction and speculation which resulted in the crisis of 1870. Lower
quality French sweet wines took over from ours which were accused of no longer
having their former quality.
This poor image of Sherry led a group of varied
personalities of the era, led by the Marqués de Casa Domecq, the Conde de
Aldama and Gumersindo Fernández de la Rosa, to promote Sherry as not simply a sweet
wine blended in the bodega with arrope or vino de color. They looked to the
vineyard in search of inimitable products and launched their own crusade to
promote styles of Sherry which were less well-known abroad but of the highest
quality: Finos, Amontillados and Olorosos. Samples were sent to the big world wine
exhibitions and these Sherries triumphed. In the 1920s Sherry at last began to
grow again. The city had passed a crossroads and began to enjoy another golden
age which would last until the end of the 1970s. You probably know the rest of
the story.
Obviously there were different reasons and
different people involved, but essentially what happened was the same as a
century before: it all got too big, speculation was rife and in the end the
vineyard was abandoned to make bodega wine. Now, almost 40 years later we are
trying again to connect Sherry to the vineyard and to its albariza soil, a
unique link with the wine of past generations. There are now many oenologists starting
up very visible and expensive projects making wines with short ageing periods
but with the unmistakeable identity of Jerez. These high quality white wines are
not a substitute for the traditional fortified wines, like the Finos were for
the old sweet wines. And they are being sold for a sensible price. Once these new
wines have formed the base of the Jerez pyramid, the traditional fortified
wines will be able to raise prices and find the position they deserve.
In the crisis of the XIX century it was not
easy to get all parties to agree and it is not easy now. There are many parties
involved in a denomination with such a long history, and we don’t yet know how
this new crop of white wines will take shape. However I am certain we will be
able to pass the crossroads again.
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