Region
El Puerto de Santa María
Coastal town between Jerez and Sanlúcar, the third corner of Marco de Jerez. Sherry style sits between inland Jerez and maritime Sanlúcar.
What it is
El Puerto de Santa María is the third corner of Marco de Jerez, along with Jerez de la Frontera and Sanlúcar de Barrameda. A port town at the mouth of the Guadalete river, roughly halfway between Jerez (inland) and Cádiz (sea). Historically an important export port for sherry: in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries most sherry shipped to England left from here.
Climate and soil
Between the two extremes of Marco de Jerez. Maritime influence (Atlantic breeze) is present but less pronounced than in Sanlúcar, which sits at the mouth of a large river. The climate is slightly milder than Jerez and a touch warmer than Sanlúcar. Soil: mainly albariza inland, with smaller patches of arenas (sand) closer to the coast.
Sherry style
Sherry from El Puerto is often described as the “middle ground”: more body than Manzanilla, fresher than Jerez Fino. Fino del Puerto is the local variant with biological ageing. Informally once called “Fino Quinta” or “Putillo”, a touch rounder than its Jerez counterpart and saltier but less pronounced than Manzanilla.
The bodegas
- Osborne: largest sherry house by volume, known for the black bull silhouettes along Spanish highways
- Caballero: mid-sized producer
- Gutiérrez Colosía: smaller family bodega right on the Guadalete, the cellar literally sitting by the water (uniquely humid microclimate for sherry ageing)
- Lustau: has a site here too
- Bodegas 501: smaller independent
Sights
Beyond the bodegas, El Puerto holds the castle of San Marcos, the bullring “Plaza Real” (one of the oldest in Spain) and good beach bars where the local style is at its best: Fino del Puerto, ice-cold, with prawns and mantis shrimp.
Signature grape