In the best of examples, it can look to the future as well. But in the last decade or so, a small group of winemakers have focused intently on the region’s past. In short: They are producing some of the most exciting wines in the world. But the industry has been declining since the 1980s as consumers in Britain, the biggest market for inexpensive sherry, began to lose interest in those mediocre sweet wines. Many producers went out of business and the land planted to vines dwindled from roughly 70,000 acres to around 15,000.

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Persons: Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Sherry Organizations: Jerez de la Frontera Locations: Spain, Jerez de, Sanlúcar, El Puerto, Santa, Britain