Jesus Barquín, my guide during my fascinating short visit to Jerez last April, was wonderfully well informed about almost all aspects of sherry, except for one. Indeed his area of ignorance, or at least confusion, seemed to be shared by virtually everyone I encountered in sherry country. The mystery was: who exactly owns all the major sherry brands?
In a way it seemed incidental while tasting all these inspiring wines straight from the butt to concern myself with which international conglomerate happened to own, say, Harveys that particular day. But as an ex editor of a wine trade magazine, I...