Condado de Huelva

Spanish denominated wine zone in andalucía, close to the city of Huelva between the jerez region and the Portuguese border (see map under spain). Nowadays few of its wines, which have typically been fortified and made in the image of its neighbour sherry, are exported but the region has a long history (see spain, history). In ‘The Pardoner’s Tale’, Chaucer refers to the wines of Lepe, a small town just outside the modern Condado de Huelva do and a notorious source of blending wine, and by the early 16th century the wines of Huelva were being exported to northern Europe and the emerging colonies in South America. But from the 17th century, much of Huelva’s production was sold to Jerez, where it was blended anonymously into sherry soleras. Huelva became a DO in its own right in 1964. The principal grape is the rather neutral zalema along with a little palomino (15% of the vineyard area).