Over the past few decades, sherry’s story has resembled the somewhat tragic idiom “always the bridesmaid, never the bride.” It seems like just about every aspect of the historic fortified wine from southern Spain is valued, except for the liquid on its own: Solera aging is a method gaining steam across a number of categories from Champagne to rum. Sherry barrels are traded as a coveted commodity among the world’s most prestigious Scotch makers. And bartenders rave about the subtle complexities a touch of fino or manzanilla can add to a cocktail build.
But even as beverage enthusiasts preach the virtue of the wine’s distinct process and flavor profile (legend has it that Paul Grieco, owner of Manhattan’s Terroir, even attempted to serve free glasses of sherry at happy hour to woo possible converts), the drink itself has failed to reach mainstream success in our modern drinking culture.
Though the fortified wine continues to miss its moment in the sun, another sherry-adjacent trend has recently sparked new energy in Jerez. Palomino, the grape variety that’s quietly fueled the region’s industry for much of its history, is building its own fan base — but this time as a still, unfortified wine.
The sherry appellation is essentially synonymous with fortification, so the increased focus on unfortified wine, also known as vino de pasto, might come as a surprise. But many producers in the region are eager to showcase the potential of Palomino on its own — without the influence of solera aging or the addition of spirit.
Wine pros stateside have noticed this surge in compelling unfortified wines, and interesting examples from a crop of talented winemakers are popping up on more and more menus in New York and beyond. Spanish-influenced restaurants are, of course, leaning into the trend, with spots like NYC’s Bartolo, Lita in Aberdeen, N.J., and Mirador in Kingston, N.Y., offering extensive selections, but you can also find Palomino on by-the-glass lists at popular wine bars like East Village newcomer Stars or Midtown’s esteemed Aldo Sohm Wine Bar with more frequency as well.
Without the baggage of hard-to-explain techniques and challenging oxidative flavor profiles, does Palomino offer Jerez the opportunity to appeal to a broader audience? And will this emerging category of quaffable vino de pasto wines help the region escape the confines of niche wine-nerd curiosity?
Defying Fortification
Making up about 95 percent of the vineyard area in Jerez, Palomino has long been the backbone for sherry’s fortified wines. Though essential to the region’s industry, the grape has a not-so-great reputation, known to be bland and generally uninteresting to taste.
Rather than grape variety or terroir, the focus of sherry has always been process: defined by the solera system, aging under flor or with exposure to oxygen, and fortification with a neutral grape spirit. These methods give the wines an intense — if somewhat divisive — flavor profile. Depending on the style (of which there are many, including fino, manzanilla, oloroso, and amontillado), the wines can range from saline and briny to deeply nutty and rich, all with that extra punch of booze.
Since the conversation around sherry in both educational and professional circles typically surrounds this complex set of fortified wines, the region’s vino de pasto expressions have largely fallen by the wayside. And masked by the intensive production methods, Palomino as a standalone grape variety has faded into the background.
But over the past decade or so, a number of producers in the region have pushed for the industry and consumers to recognize Palomino as a grape with great prospects. While wine pros generally consider Palomino a neutral grape, many winemakers believe this gives it a unique ability to express the region’s terroir, not unlike another producer-favorite.
“Much like Chardonnay, Palomino has a natural affinity for lees contact and oak aging, gaining texture, depth, and quiet complexity over time,” says local winemaker Raúl Moreno. “It’s a variety that speaks fluently of the place where it is grown. It carries its terroir with transparency and precision, allowing soil and climate to take center stage.”
Among the producers pushing Palomino forward is Willy Pérez, second-generation winemaker behind Bodegas Luis Pérez. Pérez started experimenting with unfortified expressions in 2005, inspired by the region’s history of making vino de pasto, which was popular far before fortification was introduced to the area.
“The motivation was historical and technical, not ideological. I wanted to understand what the vineyard, the albariza soils, and the Palomino grape truly gave before intervening with alcohol,” he says. “Fortification is a brilliant tool, but it should not be the only possible way to express the territory.”
When left to shine on its own, Palomino often delivers a distinguished mineral-driven salinity. Many producers in the region also use old sherry barrels for aging, adding just a touch of the region’s signature nutty complexity to the wine, without overwhelming the grape’s inherent properties.
Emphasizing Terroir
In order to properly showcase the region’s history (and promising future), Pérez, along with esteemed winemaker Ramiro Ibáñez, have worked tirelessly to gain recognition for this category. A large part of this effort has been to share the details of winegrowing and winemaking traditions across the 19th century, uncovering and compiling historic documents to emphasize the importance of unfortified wines to the region’s identity.
The two have also focused on mapping the diverse soils and vineyard sites of Jerez, with the hope that the region’s terroir would be considered similar to that of a region like Burgundy — with different sites providing different characteristics or quality. Moreno suggests that the current era of winemakers brings “an almost surgical focus on the classification of ‘pagos’ and ‘climats’ within each village.” (Pago being the local term for a distinct vineyard site.)
This is seen in Ibáñez’s line of wines under his Cota 45 label, a project that showcases site-specific bottlings from three pagos in the Sanlúcar subregion: Carrascal, Miraflores, and Maina. Each site is composed of different varieties of the regional albariza soils, with the Pago de Maina’s soils notably containing the distinct Tosca de Barajuelas subtype. The name translates to “a deck of cards,” for its appearance with layers of white chalk and high concentration of marine fossils, leading to lower yields and wines with more concentration, structure, and minerality.
“Much like Chardonnay, Palomino has a natural affinity for lees contact and oak aging, gaining texture, depth, and quiet complexity over time.”
Beyond Moreno, Pérez, and Ibáñez, there are several notable producers approaching Palomino with a similar mindset. Alberto Orte is known for his dedication to documenting Palomino’s many different clones. The young winemakers behind Bodegas Forlong are experimenting with different levels of skin contact and blending. Winemaker Juan Jurado Gómez, who started Agrícola Calcárea (a reference to the region’s limestone-rich, calcareous soils) in 2022 to make unfortified, low-intervention versions of Andalusia’s local grapes. And Muchada-Léclapart, (yes, of the Champagne Léclaparts) biodynamically farms 10 acres of vineyards, aiming to showcase the purity of the grape that can be expressed from great vineyards, without fortification, aging under flor, or use of barrels.
Changing the Game
Producers in the region will insist that regulatory changes aren’t a driving force of this movement, but nonetheless, significant alterations in the sherry D.O. have supported the rise of unfortified wines over the past several years. This includes the approval of several long-ignored local grape varieties to be used in regional wines; the recognition of pagos as specific designations of origin on the label; and lower mandatory alcohol percentages.
Then in July 2025, a new motion allowed for unfortified wines to be labeled under the sherry designation. According to Pérez, this new development has the most potential to truly change the way wine is marketed and sold from the region.
“The most important change has been that sherry no longer needs to be fortified in order to be sherry,” Pérez says. “Beyond technical or regulatory adjustments, this removes a conceptual boundary that defined the denomination for decades. Fortification was historically a tool, not the essence of the wine, and its removal brings the focus back to vineyard, origin, and natural aging,” he adds. Though the regulatory changes didn’t spark this movement, Pérez suggests the updates might help validate the category as authentic to the region, rather than just an aimless offshoot of “real” sherry wines.
Easy to Love (and Sell)
Spanish-influenced bars and restaurants across the U.S. have long championed classic expressions of sherry, billing finos as an ideal aperitivo; olorossos as an after-dinner treat; or angling to pair a complex amontillado with a main course. But the wines are often a tough sell for sommeliers.
Broaching the topic of sherry with a guest inevitably unearths a deep discussion delving into the wine’s history, process, and many styles. When casual diners look to order a glass of wine to go with a plate of seafood pasta, it’s not often they want to sit through a lecture about the merits of solera aging. Plus, the flavor profile itself is generally an acquired taste, far from the typical flavors of popular wines like Italian Pinot Grigio and New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
“The most important change has been that sherry no longer needs to be fortified in order to be sherry.”
But the unfortified Palomino wines provide a great introduction to the region that more closely resembles the wines consumers are familiar with drinking day to day. This gives somms better reference points for comparison, while still providing a sneak peak into the world of sherry.
Nick Africano, chef and owner behind Kingston’s Andalusian tapas spot Mirador, has been deep in the world of sherry for years — he even has his own sherry brand and throws an annual sherry festival — but even as one of the wine’s largest advocates, he will even admit that it needs a more accessible entry point. “The language around vino de pasto wines is a bit easier than jumping straight into that sherry conversation,” he says. “Wine pros and connoisseurs are like, ‘Oh you’re talking about terroir and place? Cool, I get that.’”
At New Jersey’s Iberian-influenced restaurant Lita, wine director Nicole Castro Garro tries to sneak unfortified wines from Jerez onto the tasting menu pairing, and always keeps a slot for Palomino by the glass — the option to pour guests a small taste helps them open up to the idea of trying something new. Most recently, she featured an expression from Louis Pérez. “We try to steer anyone who is asking for Chardonnay to this wine,” she says. “There’s a nice roundness to it, which makes it friendly for people looking for something like Chardonnay.”
Daryl Coke, the wine director for NYC’s new Madrid-inspired haunt Bartolo, first discovered her love for vino de pasto wines while working at its sister restaurant Ernesto’s four years ago. Soon after, she started building a deep cellar of unfortified expressions from Jerez. This extensive selection is now a centerpoint of Bartolo’s list, and, similar to Castro Garro, she makes it a point to keep a Palomino on the by-the-glass list to help guests discover the category.
By featuring bottles that more easily fit into drinkers’ definition of a still white “wine,” wines from Jerez have gained real momentum. There’s an excitement around these wines seeping into other corners of the wine industry that could provide the jolt of energy that the region really needed.
“Five years ago no one was really drinking or talking about these wines, but the narrative has totally flipped,” Coke says. “At Bartolo, people have been receiving these wines so well. I like to joke that it’s my gateway. If you trust me on this, maybe I can get you to try a fino or even a manzanilla.”
