The combination of skilfully made wooden barrels and their perfect seasoning with Sherry wines creates a container without equal: the “bota jerezana” sherry-seasoned cask, or commonly referred to in British English as a "Butt". In demand worldwide for their extraordinary qualities in the ageing of Whiskies and other alcoholic drinks, many thousands of casks are produced in Jerez every year and patiently seasoned by the bodegas of the Denomination of Origin and they will end their days in distant places, playing a decisive role in the refinement of the highest quality products.
Since 2015, the Consejo Regulador, which controls and certifies the wines of “Jerez-Xérès-Sherry”, the oldest Denomination of Origin in Spain, has been offering buyers of sherry- seasoned casks a guarantee that the casks have been seasoned with genuine Sherry produced in the vineyards registered in the Denomination. Using the “Sherry Cask” brand and an official guarantee seal affixed to the individual casks it is possible to trace all the required data about the barrel itself as well as the wine used for seasoning and the duration of the seasoning.
This website is dedicated not only to providing information on this important guarantee system but also to pay homage to one of the noblest and oldest activities in Jerez: cooperage.
The oldest Denomination of Origin in our country: “Jerez-Xérès-Sherry", lies in the extreme south of Spain and is the southernmost wine-producing region in Europe. Located around the cities of Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María and Sanlúcar de Barrameda the vineyards of this region extend to some 7,000 hectares and are planted on a very special soil: “albariza”. Using grapes of the varieties Palomino, Pedro Ximénez and Moscatel cultivated on this most singular of soils, the wines of Jerez, known universally as “Sherry” are produced.
The “Marco de Jerez”, as the Sherry region is commonly known, embraces a total of nine municipalities including the vineyards of Trebujena, Lebrija, Chipiona, Rota, Chiclana de la Frontera y Puerto Real as well as the three already mentioned, which together form the production zone of the DO Jerez-Xérès-Sherry.
In Jerez, the elaboration of wines is much more than a simple economic activity, because Sherry is much more than a wine.
The wooden barrel has been the ideal container since ancient times, both for the storage of wines and for their transport.
As with any other wine, natural factors such as soil, climate or grape used decisively mark the quality of Sherry wine.
