After last week’s Coming of Jesus, and just to prove that Spanish editors are equally partial to borderline blasphemous Easter-related headlines this week’s El Pais Semanal, the Sunday supplement of one of Spain’s biggest newspapers, had an 8 page reportage on Jerez under the title “Jerez, the resurrection of the wine“.

And a pretty good one it is too. They managed to interview most of the movers and shakers: Armando Guerra (Der Guerrita), Willy Perez (Bodegas Luis Perez and Studio 54), Ramiro Ibañez (Cota 45), Paola Medina (Williams & Humbert), Antonio Flores (Gonzalez Byass), Eduardo Ojeda (Estevez and Equipo Navazos), Jesus Barquin (Equipo Navazos), Juan Carlos and Carmen Gutierrez Colosia (Gutierrez Colosia), and Rocio Ruiz (Urium). It even references the legendary Cuatrogatos wine club.

[May 1: There is now an abridged translation in English on the Sherry.wine site – enjoy.]

The article manage to cram in a lot of the history and describes a lot of the promising green shoots that have lead to so many “sherry revolution” pieces lately: the interest of critics like Luis G, the support by top class restaurants like Can Roca and Aponiente, and the sherry bars popping up all over the place. Best of all, it does a good job of capturing the convivial enthusiasm and invention of the young winemakers that are shaking things up.

If I were to have one criticism it would be that there isn’t all that much discussion of the wines themselves – or the new ideas that have helped bring them back (such as the Magic Numbers and the rebirth of interest in vintages and terroir). It is fantastic that a widely read publication like this is celebrating the wines of Jerez and Sanlucar , but it would have been even better if the piece could have explained just why they should be celebrated. (If they intend to translate this for the international edition I would also recommend removing the reference to Sir Francis Drake being a “pirate”.)

Still, it is really great to see a lot of people I admire getting at least some of the recognition they deserve. I duly bought the newspaper for the first time in ages and hopefully will look back at a faded copy of this a few years from now when these ladies and gentlemen are all household names. (In fact maybe I should try and get it autographed now …)