Brandy in Andalusia — Jerez, Montilla and the rest

• Brandy de Jerez — the protected name. Ageing must happen in Jerez, Sanlucar or El Puerto, in old sherry casks, using the solera system.
• Holandas — the wine distillate that forms the base. A lot of it is made from Airen grapes outside Cadiz, then brought to the triangle to age.
• Solera — stacked barrels. Young spirit tops up older spirit. The age on the label is an average, not a single vintage year.
• Solera / Solera Reserva / Solera Gran Reserva — the three official grades, from younger to older. Gran Reserva is the long-aged one.

From the sixteenth century the sherry towns distilled wine to fortify other wines, not to drink as brandy. By the eighteenth century those eaux-de-vie were being sold on their own. Storing them in used wine butts — the same American oak that had held fino or oloroso — changed the taste. That habit, plus the solera already used for sherry, is how Brandy de Jerez became a separate drink. Taxation has made life harder for Spanish brandy in recent years. The bodegas are still there.

The Regulatory Council watches the three towns. The spirit ages in 500-litre butts that previously held sherry. Which sherry was in the wood — fino, amontillado, oloroso, Pedro Ximenez — changes the brandy. The grades are:

• Solera — the youngest. Average age at least six months. Fruitier.
• Solera Reserva — average age at least one year.
• Solera Gran Reserva — average age at least three years. Most well-known bottles are older than the legal minimum.

A tour in Jerez or El Puerto is the same morning as a sherry tour: one bodega, two rooms. Sanlucar is the manzanilla town; some houses there bottle brandy as well. Book the visit. You will not walk in off the street into a Gran Reserva tasting.

In Cordoba province two towns still talk about brandy: Montilla, the wine town, and Rute, better known for anise liqueur. Montilla already works Pedro Ximenez and a solera for wine; brandy is a smaller line from the same cellars. Rute’s stills are built for anís. If you are there for the Anise Museum, ask what else they bottle. Do not drive to Rute only for brandy if Jerez is open the same week.

La Palma del Condado, in the wine country of Huelva, keeps a bodega that distils and ages brandy beside Condado wines. It is a stop if you are already on that road, not a reason to skip the Cadiz triangle.

Malaga has long had a large distillery and a local brandy. The bottle you see in a Costa supermarket may be that house style, not Brandy de Jerez. Read the label. If it does not say Brandy de Jerez, it was not aged in the three towns.