Coming from the city of Jerez, at the tip of Andalusia, the wine is naturally locally named "Jerez".
"Xérès" is the French name (though sometimes pronounced "Rerrrees" rolling the R's in Spanish).
The British, on the other hand, in memory of the ancient Arabic name of the city ("Seris") speak of "Sherry". Do not confuse with "cherry", the cherry liqueur pronounced "Tchery").
Xérès Jerez and Sherry are therefore the same wine. It is the oldest Spanish designation of origin (D.O.). The three names are used interchangeably.

Crushed under a summer sun of over 40°C / 100 °F, without any rain during the summer (and this until the harvest), the vines suffer severely.
The plants, mainly made up of Palomino grapes, draw water deeply from the very white limestone soil.
The harvested grapes give a very sweet juice. But it is then completely fermented to transform it into a very dry wine (less than 1 g/l of residual sugar).
Then it is fortified by adding alcohol up to 15% ABV. Finally, it is placed in a system of stacked barrels (a "Solera") to age for at least two years.
In the barrels, where part of the wine is left to evaporate (without regularly replenishing the level), a strange flora develops on the surface of the liquid.
This prevents the oxidation of the wine and gives it very particular flavors.
This technique is a mix of the Port technique (mutage/fortified) and the Jura yellow wine (wine under veil).
The barrels are stacked one on top of the other, sometimes up to ten rows. The wine of the new year is placed in the upper barrels.
When the wine is to be bottled and marketed, it is taken from the bottom barrels (those on the ground, "Sol" means ground in spanish, hence the name "Solera").
Then we move a little of the wine from each level to the lower level. Thus, the whole is gradually mixed, and this gives uniformity through time to the bottled wine.

The sherry described here is the Fino. Due to its maturation, this very dry white wine develops strong aromas of hazelnut, almond and freshly cut herbs.
High in alcohol, it is served cold (6 to 9 °C) in a "copita".
Once opened, a bottle can only be kept for a week in the refrigerator.

In the region of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, the proximity of the sea produces a slightly different sherry called Manzanilla. It develops iodine and chamomile notes.