The Pricing of Sherry

While there are encouraging signs in Jerez; the Sherryfest in New York, the Copa De Jerez, the new air of support for the growers, the re-balancing of supply and demand for example, deep seated attitudes need to change.

For far too long, customers have dictated the price of the (usually bulk, blended) wine, and these constraints have fed through the exporters (bodegas) to the growers who have been expected to come up with grapes at a ludicrously cheap, ruinous price. Sherry may be one of the World’s finest wines, but the grapes are the cheapest anywhere – much the same price as 30 years ago - and that is never good for long-term quality. Indeed the price of the wine has barely changed in real terms since the 19^th century! This is quite unsustainable for commercial reasons, quite apart from those of image.

Let us hope that good sense – good commercial sense- prevails. How come a Rioja with one or two years’ crianza can sell for so much more than an older Sherry with a far more complex ageing system? It is madness. As a consumer, I naturally don’t want to see prices rise, but what I do want to see is the very survival of my beloved Sherry.