Jerez-Xérès-Sherry y Manzanilla Sanlúcar de Barrameda DO

Jerez-Xérès-Sherry and Manzanilla-Sanlúcar de Barrameda, both situated in the province of Cadiz, are separate DOs that share the same vineyards and Regulatory Council (Consejo Regulador), established in 1933. They also share similar traditional methods of winemaking based on the Solera and Criaderas system, a method of dynamic ageing in butts (oak barrels) which allows young wines to take on the characteristics of older ones.

Jerez has exported wines since at least Roman times, and today its wines account for the greatest volume of any Spanish DO exports. They are sold in more than fifty countries. The enormous international commercial success of these wines is, to a large degree, due to the long export tradition of great wineries, the broad consumer range and the wine's exceptional quality, which has its source in the unique winemaking and ageing processes.

Jerez DO, established in 1933, was one of the first DOs in Spain. The past few years have witnessed a widening range of wines available on the market and, thanks to the meticulous work of the winemakers and the initiatives undertaken by the Regulatory Council, a small amount of DO wines which are subjected to a prolonged ageing process and sold with the certification of Vino de Jerez Con Vejez Calificada (Rare Old Sherries) on the back label. This certification from the Regulatory Council is granted to Amontillado, Oloroso, Palo Cortado and Pedro Ximenez wines aged more than twenty and thirty years.

All these factors have combined to increase profits for the producers, the majority of whom have reinvested in improvements in their wineries.