A sherry time had by all

Bodega Obregon

"Here is our palo cortado," Alvaro Obregon says, pointing to the barrel in the corner of the bar and bodega his family has run in El Puerto de Santa Maria for four generations. Bodega Obregon is the rare bar in Andalusia where there is no bar. It is simply a tall room, lined with bullfighting posters and filled with barrels. A few seats are interspersed, like the break area of a warehouse, and Obregon and his brother and his father walk the room with plastic funnels to direct the bodega taps into glasses.

"My grandfather thought it was not very personal," Obregon says about the decision not to have an actual bar for resting a drink or an elbow. For a sip, he retreated to the back room, where pictures of his family hung amid the old barrels.

Unlike other sherries they offer, his family's palo cortado is not advertised. If you want a glass, they won't turn you down. But good luck trying to pay for it. Here, the palo cortado is treated like a tradition, one that the family has kept alive for generations. So it's also pride that they are serving, and pride that they want to share, not profit from. It's best to enjoy with friends, and paired with an aged cheese.

Zarza, 51; El Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz; 34-95-685-6329.