28.11.15 “Sherry” a Term in Constant Crisis

Álvaro Girón Sierra, doctor of History at the University of Cádiz, gave a lecture on this subject in its historical and social context since 1935 at the Scientific Symposium in celebration of the 80^th anniversary of the DO Sherry. He began by quoting the Marqués de Casa Domecq who said in 1875 “It is a mistake to export too much Sherry. It is a wine for the rich or the infirm which, like Burgundy or Champagne, should not be within the reach of everyone.”

Álvaro wanted to get down to the deep roots of the Sherry crisis, “the problems of which are still dragging Sherry down to this day.” He explained that the word “Sherry” was synonymous for many decades, not with Jerez but with a specific process of winemaking to which low quality alcohol was added to produce an adulterated drink for export.

Alvaro Giron (foto:gerionsanlucar.com)

The fact that exporters were more interested in quantity than quality ended up in compounding the problem. “Sherry is so expensive to produce that for the price for which it is sold the bodegas cannot usually make a profit. This is incompatible with quality.”

To add insult to injury, British and German doctors for many years branded Sherry as harmful to the health, declarations which, although they denied them, simply did more to damage the image which Sherry already had.