Sherry, flamenco, tapas and horses … Is there anywhere more
quintessentially Spanish than Jerez de la Frontera in Andalucía? With
its flamenco festival kicking off this weekend, Sorrel Downer guides us
through the merriment
Spain’s gastronomic maridaje
– the marriage of food and wine – is a definite threesome in Jerez de
la Frontera, where all life is fuelled by sherry and tapas, but marches
to a flamenco beat. The annual flamenco festival is its peak – not only
for larger ticketed events, but also for free performances in the peñas (social clubs), tabancos (old-style bars), and late at night in the plazas. In fact, all the city’s many festivals and ferias
are accompanied by a flurry of flamenco activity – it’s just that,
rather frustratingly, it’s not easy to sweep in and locate it.
Where to hear flamenco
Several of the tabancos actually have regular, scheduled events (and
flyers for one-offs elsewhere). Best-known, and popular with locals and
tourists, is Tabanco el Pasaje (C/Santa María 8) where guitarist and singer face the cramped bustle from Thursdays to Sundays. Another good option is Tabanco el Guitarrón de San Pedro
(C/Bizcocheros 16) with performances on Saturday afternoons,
participation flamenco on Sunday nights and, amazingly given the tight
space, a cadre (guitars, singing and dancing) on Thursday
nights. As Mireia Dot Rodriguez, the tabanco’s co-owner, points out:
“Flamenco is something you feel on your skin, in your senses, not watch
from a distance.” So that’s all right.
The peñas are home base for many of today’s flamenco greats, and it’s
worth passing one of the bigger ones over the weekend to see if it’s
open. Try Centro Cultural Don Antonio Chacón (C/Salas 2) or Peña Flamenca Los Cernícalos (C/de Sancho Vizcaíno 25) in the Gypsy barrio of San Miguel.
What to do
The many cobbled alleys, plazas, baroque churches and bars make
exploring old Jerez a joy, and well-positioned street maps displaying
recommended routes keep it easy. However, Plaza del Arenal
(home to the tourist information office) is a useful reference point.
For general ambling, head north-west from here to the old barrio of
Santiago and south-west to San Miguel. Just to the south, there’s the Alcazar de Jerez,
once a frontier of the Islamic kingdom, its thick city walls built to
keep the Christians out. They didn’t and, in 1264, the overlay of
monasteries, palaces and churches began. This fortress, home to caliphs
then Christian governors, its mosque converted into a chapel dedicated
to the Virgin Mary, says it all.
Or stroll 20 minutes north to the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art (realescuela.org,
adults €21, children €13) in which dancing horses put on an impressive
show every Tuesday and Thursday (plus Fridays in August and September).
You don’t have to be horsey to appreciate the history, skill,
architecture and hats, although it helps. Or watch men controlling
powerful machines down at the Circuito de Jerez (circuitodejerez.com). The city is World Capital of Motorcycling 2015.
Where to eat and drink
A sherry cooking class with the city’s top chef, Javier Muñoz of La Carboná (C/San Francisco de Paula 2, lacarbona.com), combines three highlights in one. Obviously, you start at a bodega (the gem that is Díez Mérito, C/Diego Fernández Herrera 4), then nose around the impressive fish stalls of Mercado de Abastos,
before seeing alchemy at work back at the restaurant and savouring the
results – accompanied by sherry, of course. It costs €65 a head, with a
minimum of four people, on Wednesdays; available in English (+34 956 328
780, surways.com).
Want to get straight in to the sherry? Avoid the crowds by visiting Lustau (C/Arcos 53, +34 956 341 597, lustau.es), which not only produces some of the world’s best, including fino La Ina and oloroso Emperatriz Eugenia, but represents a few independent back-room winemakers in its glorious Almacenista range.
Tabancos, once basic stores selling wine from the barrel, and
frequented by old men, have been resurrected by nostalgic enthusiasts,
their old paraphernalia, tiles, wooden bars and barrels,
green-and-mustard paint intact. All serve phenomenally good wine –
specifically sherry – for €1; several, including Tabanco el Guitarrón
(as before) stock a wide variety, including real rarities. Some offer
more sophisticated tapas, but most, like Tabanco San Pablo (C/San Pablo 12, tabancosanpablo.es), champion the old favourites: tortilla, meatballs, stews, clams and serranitos
(hot pork and serrano ham rolls). You’ll find the densest concentration
in a compact area east from Calle Larga to Barrio San Miguel, none more
than a short stroll apart. Perfect dining, paseo style. Ask for a Ruta de los Tabancos map in participating bars.
Jerez’s unofficial “golden mile of gastronomy” doglegs through three
plazas (Plateros, glorious Asunción, and shady Yerba) before continuing
eastwards along Calle Consistorio. Table with umbrella? Glass of wine?
View of old church? Tick, tick, tick. Food is all around. Cruz Blanca (restaurantelacruzblanca.com)
opposite the Town Hall, offering upmarket traditional fare (black rice
with baby squid and prawns, Iberian pork, plenty of asparagus), and Albores,
next door, where the Madrileño chef does clever things to local produce
using oloroso and Pedro Ximénez sauces, are worth the lengthy queues.
One night only? Unless it’s a Tuesday, when it’s shut, go for the sherry pairing menu at the Andaluz-chic, bodega-style La Carboná
(as before). Javier Muñoz’s combinations – cooked in sherry, paired
with sherry – are an inspiring revelation: a cheese ice-cream with fino,
beef with oloroso, artichokes with amontillado ... who knew?
Where to stay
If you’ve ever fancied yourself as the owner of vineyards with a gracious country house, you can live the dream at Casa Viña de Alcántara (low-season rates from €160, + 34 956 39 30 10, vinadealcantara.com).
This sweet and small hotel, the property of one of the Gonzalez-Byass
sherry dynasty, is set in tree-filled grounds (with a swimming pool)
designed for wafting through or sketching in. Service is provided by
attentive staff, and dinner is provided on request, although the bright
lights of Jerez are just a 15-minute drive away.
The 19th-century Palacio Garvey (rooms from €60, +34 956 32 67 00, hotelpalaciogarvey.com)
is the former home of the Garvey winemakers, in Jerez, overlooking what
is arguably its loveliest square: Plaza de Rafael Rivero. While some of
the furnishings are tired, the art’s a bit odd, and leatherette and
astroturf are never good, the building is grand and the large rooms good
value. The Semana Santa parades pass under the floor-to-ceiling windows
of rooms one and two.
