Tabanco Plateros – The soul of Sherry?
Jerez is rightly famous for its prestigious Sherry wine, and one place that ought to be famous is the tabanco on Plaza Plateros. It takes its wine seriously, but without pretension – and with a huge local following.
A tabanco is a traditional wine shop, with the booze poured from wooden barrels right into your glass, or into a bottle to take away. These establishments are dying out, facing steep competition from bars and cafes.
Plaza Plateros has enough of these. As I sit outside with a glass of dry oloroso and a rapidly diminishing bowl of olives, this is the busiest of the five other eating and drinking options I can see.
Tasting plates of sherry and cheeses are available, with written notes in English, but there’s little touristy. Each night I walk past, this place is full of local voices — and they’re easy to pick in Andalusia.
Your best bet is to order a few glasses at the bar, pick them up along with your olives or other snacks, then do just what I’m doing: find a wobbly wooden bar stool on the cobblestone street, enjoy the smell of orange trees overhead, and try to ignore the garish glare of the flashing neon pharmacy sign from next door.
