Amid 2,000,000 Liters of Sherry

June 27, 2009

 

I was straining to keep my eyes open for the bus ride to Jerez de la Frontera the next morning. The tour guide was rattling off some facts about the region and its unique climate with 300+ sunny days a year allowed for the growth of certain types of grapes which could produce three different kinds of sherry, but I eventually lost the battle with my heavy eyelids and woke up in a small vine-covered Spanish village. There was a huge sign that read “Tio Pepé” next to a figure of a small wine bottle dressed in a red Spanish bullfighting jacket and a wide-brimmed sombrero staring back at me. From this I gathered that we had arrived at the sherry producing vineyard.

 

When we entered through the gates of the winery, a tour guide immediately steered us towards a large circular structure which was just an open, covered space lined with wooden barrels full of sherry. They were stacked four levels high and each barrel had the flag of a different country designating where the sherry was routinely exported. In the center of the wall of barrels, the surfaces spelled out Gonzalez Byass (the name of the vineyard).

 

After taking pictures outside for a few minutes the guide led us into the dark wine cellar, and the second we neared the door we were immediately overcome with the scent of cedar and sherry. The dark, musty cellar had aisles upon aisles of wooden barrels containing fermenting sherry. They were again stacked four levels high and stretched the length of the cellar in all four directions. When we had reached the central point of the cellar, the guide informed us that we were standing amid two million liters of sherry. There are about 40 million liters in all of Jerez. You felt as though if you stayed in that cellar for too long you would get tipsy just from breathing in the aroma emanating from the barrels.

 

After exploring the aisles and receiving a mini history lesson about the vineyard from out guide, we were escorted to a makeshift theater at the far end of the cellar where we watched a short film about the history of Tio Pepé and the fermenting process. The vineyard and sherry producing business were named after the founder’s Uncle Pepé. Tio Pepé sherry is shipped all over the world, and back in the day it was a staple for long ship ventures. One sea captain insisted on taking 300 barrels for his voyage.

 

We then entered a large room lined with larger than normal barrels of sherry that was being prepped for a wedding reception. One of the barrels was actually the world’s largest barrels of sherry and was built for the queen of Spain before she visited the vineyard; it even had her crest on it. The room had a number of round tables set up covered with an unnecessary number of eating silverware, dishes, and glasses. It appeared as though they would be treated to at least four different kinds of sherry for their meal, not to mention the overwhelming fragrance overflowing from the cellar next door.

 

On our way to the next building where we would learn about the fermentation process there was a beautiful canopy of vines creating a bright green picturesque ceiling above us…perfect photo opportunity. When sherry is fermenting the barrels are not fully filled to the brim so that a solid layer can form on the surface creating a barrier between the wine and open air. After a few years of fermenting and soaking up flavor from the cedar, it is finally ready for bottling. As for the barrels, they last up to 70 years. Sometimes the barrels are used to produce sherry for around 70 years before they are sold to production companies in Ireland to make certain types of whisky. They can actually last longer than 100 years.

 

When the Tio Pepé vineyard was first established, the owner often found mice drinking sherry out of the barrels in the cellar so he started a tradition of leaving a full glass of sherry and some treats for the mice on the floor of the cellar. To this day the employees still set out a fresh glass of sherry for the mice everyday equipped with a miniature ladder leaned up against the side of the glass. There were a few pictures on the wall documenting the mice actually perched on top of the ladder enjoying the sherry. The vineyard claims to have the happiest mice in the world. 

 

Next, was the tasting portion of the tour. We were seated three to a table at these tiny round tables in a warehouse. On the table were glasses, a bottle of dry sherry, and potato chips which was kind of odd. The guide educated us on the types of sherry that we were tasting; there was a dry bottle as well as a sample glass of sweet sherry made from raisins. This particular sherry was 13% alcohol by the way. This was definitely too much for three people to drink in the 15-20 minutes we had in the tasting area, however, some tables managed it. The sweet sherry almost tasted like syrup, not my favorite beverage. We stopped by the gift store before loading the bus to travel to Hierro del Bocado, the farm where the original Carthusian Horses were bred.

 

At Hierro del Bocado we saw the stallions’ stables, mare’s beds, the veterinary clinic, laboratories, baby colts, and rooms where they kept all of the equipment. After the tour of the grounds which was accompanied by a history lesson of the Carthusian Horses we sat in a small arena to watch the horse show. The announcer switched between Spanish and English when introducing each part of the show. The opening act was basically a stampede of colts that were corralled into the ring. This was followed by an exhibition of horse-drawn carriages, a dancing mare, a carriage race around barrel obstacles, and a reunion of mares and colts. It was cool to see how the colts could almost immediately locate their mothers. The show was interesting, but the melodic music that they played the entire time started to put me to sleep. The horses were cool, but I really didn’t get what made them different from any other type of horse besides the fact that stallions run for about 40,000 Euros. When the show concluded, we were given another free sample of sherry before we loaded the buses to head back to the ship.

 

When I arrived back to the ship I immediately grabbed my laptop and headed out to the Cádiz Cathedral with a friend from the trip to use the free WiFi in the plaza while enjoying some paella at an outdoor café. I hadn’t had paella in Spain thus far, and I definitely needed to try Spain’s most famous entrée before leaving. I split a seafood paella (rice, vegetables, shrimp, and other fish) with my friend as we facebooked and tried to upload some pictures. This proved unsuccessful as my battery died before the slow internet would allow the uploading to complete.

 

I hadn’t been up to the bell tower of the cathedral yet so I decided to climb to the top before we left to make it back to the ship on time. The overlook was located atop a cylindrical stone tower with a lengthy winding staircase. I was a little winded by the time I reached the top, but the view was so worth it. The dark staircase suddenly opened up into this bright open bell tower overlooking all of Cádiz and the gorgeous turquoise blue ocean. The glistening gold dome of the cathedral looked incredible with the ocean in the background. I could see all of the churches I had visited in the city, the beaches in the distance, and even our ship docked at the port. I didn’t realize how many statues and sculptures were at the top of the church and surrounding the dome until I was on the same level with them.

 

We had to rush back to the ship to make it onboard before “on ship time.” If you are even a minute late for on ship time you get “dock time” at the next port where you have to stay onboard for a designated period of time. I know someone who got like 4 hours of dock time for being 24 minutes late. It’s pretty intense. But we ended up leaving at 11:00 p.m. that night rather than 8:00 p.m. anyway because one of the SAS trips to Barcelona was running late due to flight difficulties. On our way out of the port that night, the little Practicos tugboat which had greeted us when we arrived in Spain was at our window again. The crew could actually see us in our room through our porthole from the deck of their boat, so they waved at us as they attached to the ship to guide us back out into the Mediterranean towards Italy.