How it all began
n a nation richly blessed with food that’s well made, carefully grown and often daringly cooked, it takes something special to stand out. Sherry vinegar’s “something special” is its unique starting point: the sherry wine it's made from. Both are produced in the same place, using the time-honoured method by which the prized wines of Jerez, in Spain’s vibrant coastal southwest, become the prized vinegars of Jerez. When the raw material is this good, things are always going to turn out well.
Although vinegar can be made from other natural products (rice and fruit, for example, also undergo the same controlled natural fermentation), wine and vinegar share a history. It undoubtedly begins in ancient Egypt, where wine was made and vinegar was used in both food and medicine. The Romans considered oil, salt, vinegar and pepper to be kitchen essentials, and they likely got their vinegar from what is now Andalusia. On the Iberian peninsula the first vinegar
is believed to go back at least as far as the first wine; they grew up together.
I
The roots of sherry vinegar
The “sherry triangle”, between Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa Maria, basks in its own microclimate. Here, Atlantic humidity meets almost constant sunshine and the dazzling white albariza soil that (somewhat miraculously) nurtures the palomino grapes used to make both sherry and sherry vinegar. Impossible to replicate, these conditions give sherry its unique character from the start.
Why the method makes all the difference
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The roots of sherry vinegar
"When the raw material is this good, things are always going to turn out well"
We might not have detailed tasting notes from the ancients, but sherry vinegar’s enduring popularity across the region suggests that the flavours
have always worked with Spain’s natural larder. The nutty flavours of younger vinegars, aged in wood for six months or more, dress a nation’s leafy salads, add resonance to pickles and balance the richness of pork dishes, while maturity brings a deeper colour and complex flavour to older vinegars,
with their spice notes and hints of sweetness.
To find out more about sherry vinegar and other essentials of classic
Spanish cuisine, visit foodswinesfromspain.com/spainfoodnation
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What the tapas master says
Why the method makes all the difference
How it all began
n a nation richly blessed with food that’s well made, carefully grown and often daringly cooked, it takes something special to stand out. Sherry vinegar’s “something special” is its unique starting point: the sherry wine it's made from. Both are produced in the same place, using the time-honoured method by which the prized wines of Jerez, in Spain’s vibrant, coastal southwest, become the prized vinegars of Jerez. When the raw material is this good, things are always going to turn out well.
Although vinegar can be made from other natural products (rice and fruit, for example, also undergo the same controlled natural fermentation), wine and vinegar share a history. It undoubtedly begins in ancient Egypt, where wine was made and vinegar was used in both food and medicine. The Romans considered oil, salt, vinegar and pepper to be kitchen essentials, and they likely got their vinegar from what is now Andalusia. On the Iberian peninsula the first vinegar is believed to go back at least as far as the first wine; they grew up together.
To find out more about sherry vinegar and other essentials of classic Spanish cuisine, visit foodswinesfromspain.com/
spainfoodnation
DISCOVER MORE
What the tapas master says
Why the method makes all the difference
How it all began