The origin of the term Pajarete is to be found in the vineyards of the area around Prado del Rey and Villamartín in the mountains of Cádiz, in southern Spain. These were situated at the foot of a ridge where even today, the ruins of a Moorish watch-tower can be seen. The Pajarete Tower, also known as the Castle of Matrera, gave its name to local wines.
 
From the XVII century onwards, the mainly sweet, fortified wines produced in this area became renowned, and were comercialized through Jerez and Málaga ,both in Spain and abroad .Their fame was reflected in a profusion of literary references to Pajarete wine in different works throughout the XVII; XVIII; and XIX centuries, (Clemente y Rubio, Ford, Townsend, Grimod de La Reynière, Fernán Caballero, Pardo Bazán, Pérez Galdos).

Pajarete trade was at its height by the middle of the XIX century, and was copied by the other great wine- producing areas of the time,Jerez and Málaga, who each asserted their own claims as to its origin. Not surprisingly, the wine was awarded seven medals at the Great Exhibition in Paris in 1875, in spite of having come from such distant places as Málaga, the city of Cádiz or Moguer in Huelva.
 
Pajarete has also traditionally been associated with Scotland, where wine casks were used to mature whisky.
In 1894 the province of Cádiz was officially declared to be affected by the phylloxera epidemic and De La Rosa reported that:
 
      “In Prado del Rey and Villamartín, wherein the famed Paxaret vineyards, twenty hectares have been lost...”
 
From that moment on, production of Pajarete was limited to demand by local and surrounding areas, continuing so through the XX century.However, at present, a group of young farmers have commenced the planting of new vineyards in the area, with the support of the regional government and the European Community.