Aug. 01--SANLÚCAR DE BARRAMEDA, Spain -- Lunch at 3. Dinner at 10:30 or 11. It took me just a day to slide into the rhythms of Andalusia in southern Spain and become the night owl I'd always wanted to be, ending the evening past midnight with a glass of amontillado at a bar on the square.
I had planned this trip to the Sherry Triangle for months, drawn to this corner of southwestern Spain to learn more about the sherry made in one of the world's top wine regions.
The unique fortified wine has a history that dates to the 17th century. Many of the historic bodegas and shippers were founded in the 18th century before the United States was even a country.
In the late 19th century, sherry was having a long moment in the U.S. as an element in then-popular cocktails, the very ones, such as the sherry cobbler, that are making a comeback today. By the 1930s and '40s, however, sherry had fallen out of favor. Decades later, it had been relegated to the brown, sticky dregs in that decanter in your grandmother's cupboard.
Walking through sun-drenched streets lined with hulking white and ocher bodegas, you can smell the flor, the blanket of ivory yeast cells that forms on top of fino or manzanilla and protects these wines from oxidation. (Other styles of sherry, such as amontillado or oloroso, age only partly or not at all under flor.)
Bodegas with such names as Emilio Lustau, Gonzalez Byass, Pedro Domecq, Barbadillo or Hidalgo La Gitana house thousands of old casks of sherry in soaring, cathedral-like buildings with thick walls, tall pillars and high windows shaded with hand-plaited straw mats. You can visit many of them by appointment, and tours (in English) provide a quick education in the intricacies of sherry.
But there's much more to this region than just wine.
I couldn't cross the river to the Do this time because of the Rocilgrimage, and I never got to hear any flamenco or visit Cᤩz, the oldest continually inhabited city in Spain.
Never mind: It's always good to leave a trip with something undone. That way you know you'll come back.
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If you go
THE BEST WAY TO SEVILLE, SPAIN
From LAX, connecting service (change of plane) to Seville is offered on Iberia, KLM, British, Air France, Norwegian and Lufthansa. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $1,595, including all taxes and fees.
WHERE TO STAY
Hotel Sherry Park, 11 Avenida Alcalde lvaro Domecq, Jerez de la Frontera, 011-34-956-31-76-14, www.hotelsherrypark.com/en/. Large, 174-room hotel with easy parking yet within walking distance of the city center. Modern, with pool and poolside bar. Doubles from $111, $133 with breakfast.
TRYP Jerez Hotel, 13 Calle Marqu鳠de Casa Domecq, Jerez de la Frontera, 011-34-956-327030, www.lat.ms/1KvH0mh . Well-priced 97-room hotel with excellent location in the center of Jerez just across from Santo Domingo convent. More business hotel than charming boutique. Parking around the corner in an underground public lot. Doubles from $71, $82 with breakfast.
irene.virbila@latimes.com
MORE:
A guide to the sherry bodegas of Spain
Where to get fabulous seafood to pair with Andalusia's fabulous sherries
Five cocktails worth traveling for, near or far
