Since the 16th century sherry has been a well-known wine in Spain and also in England. Shakespeare frequently refers to the wine, as for instance in Falstaff where he speaks of "good sherris sack."

The center of the sherry district is the town Jerez de la Frontera. In 1873 the vines in this region which were producing sherry were valued at $2,000 an acre, and the new sherry wine was worth at the time of its making as much as four shillings (one dollar) per gallon. In the year 1873 there was imported into England more than 8,000,000 gallons of sherry wine.

The town of Jerez has about 60,000 inhabitants and is ranked as one of the richest in Spain, and its wealth was due largely to the selling of its wine to England. Since the above date the wine industry of Jerez has gradually declined, due without doubt particularly to the adulteration of the article, which spoiled its taste and diminished the demand for it as well as supplanted the real with the imitation article. The average price of sherry has also declined with its diminishing demand and with the increasing adulteration. To such an extent has this decline taken place that the sherries are worth but little more than half at the present time the price they brought 40 years ago.