Jerez is known as the “city of bodegas” but
they would be of little use without the vineyards which supply them. In the
past, when there was more value attached to the vineyards, many Sherry brands
and soleras were named after the particular vineyard the grapes came from.
Unfortunately there are very few left. Many vineyards have intriguing and
historic names and here are a few:
Viña El Caribe is named after a former owner, one Francisco
Ponce, a colonel in the Jerez militia who was nicknamed “El Caribe” for his
terrible temper and aggression. This nickname originates from the Caribes, a
tribe living on various islands in the Caribbean (which was named after
them) who fiercely resisted the early colonists who accused them of
cannibalism. The 40 hectare vineyard is in the Pago Añina and was sold by Ponce
to A&A Sancho in 1886. Here they produced their Fino Caribe. It is said that some vines from the vineyard were sent
to America, and that while they grew well there, the wine bore little
resemblance to that of Jerez. Sancho sold out to Domecq in 1925. The vineyard
now belongs to the Espinosa family, owners of Diez-Mérito.
Viña (La) Tula is named after María Gertrudis de
Salas, Tula being an abbreviation of Gertrudis. She was the wife of José María
López Martínez, a landowner, bodeguero, merchant and mayor of El Puerto, who
bought the vineyard in 1820 and constructed the casa de viña. It has a rather
idiosyncratic design, resembling a Moorish castle in places, and there were
once even cannons at the battlements. The vineyard was first planted in 1752
and extended in 1765 by Crisanto Winthuyssen on land inherited from his parents
in the Pago Balbaina – which is thought to be named after an old Cádiz family,
the Balbos. The 25 hectare vineyard passed to Vicente Urruela Castrisiones and
later to González Byass who used to sell Amontillado
Seco Viña Tula as a single vineyard wine.
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| Vina Tula |
Viña Campbell / Viña María Luisa. Charles Sutton Campbell, an English merchant of
Scottish descent, grouped together three adjacent plots he bought from Juana
Lynch, Francisco Martínez and María Dolores Vaca between 1844 and 1850. He
named the vineyard, not far from El Puerto in the Pago Balbaina after his late wife,
Maria Luisa Walsh Lynch who died young. Campbell made the wine here and it was
transported to his bodegas in El Puerto for ageing.
Viña El Telégrafo in the Pago Capirete is named after
one of the 59 optical telegraph towers – or more accurately signal towers -
which provided visual communication, principally for military purposes, between
Cádiz and Madrid. They were constructed between the end of the XVIII and mid
XIX centuries, and there was one built in 1850 next to this vineyard, the
highest in the pago, but by the 1860s the electric telegraph had superseded
them. The site of the tower is now occupied by a bodega. The 55 hectare
vineyard was owned by M Gil Luque who were taken over by La Guita which is now
owned by Grupo Estévez.
Viña La Canariera is located in the Pago Carrascal
and the casa de viña was built by González Byass in 1846. It is much used by
the firm for social and educational activities. The name means “canary cage” because
there was once a large canary cage here. The sound of birdsong must have
been wonderful during the stresses of
winemaking.
Viña El Corregidor is a 60 hectare albariza vineyard in
the Pago Carrascal, the pago farthest from the sea, and the casa de viña was
constructed between the end of the XVII and beginning of the XVIII centuries.
It was bought by Sandeman in the 1880s. The name Corregidor translates as
“magistrate” and simply derives from the fact that this was once the local
magistrate’s house. Grapes for
Sandeman’s Royal Corregidor and Imperial Corregidor Olorosos came from
here. The estate passed through the hands of Nueva Rumasa before being bought
by Bodegas Luis Pérez. Corregidor grapes now supply Willy Pérez’ Barajuela
wines.
Pago de Ducha can be found not far from Jerez airport
and has about 35 hectares. Its name (which means “shower” in modern Spanish)
originates from the Arabic “Duyya”, a farm. Some of this vineyard was once
owned by the monks of the Cartuja, Jerez’ beautiful Carthusian monastery. The
casa de viña had a little oratory with a painting of the virgin and child, and
the bell used to be rung to summon the workers to mass.
Viña de Dios is in the Pago de Ducha. It has a nicely built mid XIX century casa de
viña with a lagar and a bodega, but it fell into disuse in the 1970s and is very
dilapidated now and there is no longer any vineyard. It was named thus after
the hill it stands on which was likened to Mount Carmel (which translates as
“God’s vineyard”). Right next to Viña de Dios is:
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| (picture: entornoajerez) |
Viña del Diablo, also in Pago de Ducha. It was one of the first to be affected by the
arrival of Phylloxera in 1894. Even now much of the vineyard in the area is
gone, having been replaced with other dry-farmed crops such as cereals,
almonds, carob etc. It was bought by Garvey in the 1980s who upgraded the
buildings and re-named it Viña San Patricio, and it now belongs to Diez Mérito.
The reason for the name Diablo is no longer known but it has been suggested
that phylloxera was the devil’s work. Unfortunately it is not known whether
Dios or Diablo was named first.
Cantarranas is a pago in the Las Tablas area 4
km north west of Jerez with clay soil. Cantarranas means “frog song” and it
takes its name from an adjacent cañada (gully) where frogs would gather for a
singsong if there was any water, and there would certainly be moisture in the
clay.
Raboatún (or Rabatún) is a pago just at the north western
city limit of Jerez. The word could be translated as “tuna tail”, but in fact
it dates back to the medieval Arabic word “rabita” or “ribat” which means a
fortified building usually in a frontier area for religious and military
purposes. This one has disappeared and its site is now occupied by housing, but
the name is thought to stem from “ribat-al-Yun” a sort of watchtower associated
with one of the access roads to Jerez in Islamic times. There are many place
names all over Spain with a similar toponymy.
Anaferas is a pago just southwest of Jerez.
Its name is Arabic and refers to “anafes” which were small ceramic ovens used
for cooking in Moorish times. The vineyards here are “barros” with a lot of
clay in the soil, perfect for making the anafes.
