The first news of wine from Jerez comes to us from a Greek geographer of the 1st Century B.C. who wrote that vines were brought to the Jerez region by the Phoenicians in 1100 B.C. The same report was picked up by Rufo Festo Avieno, a Roman historian of the 4th Century A.D., in his book Ora Maritima, the first "tourist" guide that we know of. The Phoenicians cut down the forests, the famous cedars of Lebanon, and started cultivating olive trees and grapevines in their settlements in order to feed themselves. Thus the Phoenicians brought to us olive trees and grapevines and sold the wine throughout the Mediterranean region, especially in Rome.
During the Arab domination of Spain, the consumption of Sherry was kept up without problems, despite the Koranic prohibition. Nevertheless, in 966 Jerezian vineyards were uprooted, for religious reasons. The conquest of the city of Jerez by King Alphonse X ("The Wise") in 1264 meant a 180-degree turn-about for sherry wines, because the Christians, to distinguish themselves from the Arabs, ate pork and drank wine. Before battles, they even gave it to their horses to drink so their steeds would boldly charge the enemy. King Alphonse X had his own vineyards in Jerez and he looked after them personally. Back then, and even in the 12th Century, the Jerezians shipped their wines to England: the English started referring to these wines by using a slight variation on the Arab name of the city: "Sherish" and thus gave them their actual name "Sherry". The arrival of Sherry in England comes when Henry I proposed an arrangement with the inhabitants of Bordeaux: their wine for English wool, in order to develop both sectors. The French refusal opened the doors to the Jerezians, who did accept the offer.

The Sherry wines were sought after by English, French and Flemish merchants, which gave rise to more than one dispute with the wine producers in Jerez. In order to establish order, the city government, on August 12, 1483, issued the Regulations of the Raisin and Grape-Harvesting Guild from Jerez, the first guidelines of Denomination of Origin to govern the details of the harvest, the kinds of barrels, the aging system and commercial uses in this region.

Sherry Wine in the Modern Age