The wines from Jerez, (or as it is better known, Sherry), exhibit a sense of magic more than any other, not just for their transformation from still wine to Sherry, but for the fact that once you fall under their spell, you will want them to become part of your day to day life.
Word of wisdom: The wines of Sherry will need a little time to make themselves known to you, and for you to fully acquaint yourself with them, indeed some will take longer than others, however this acclimatisation is part of the fun. Enjoy with aperitifs, in traditional Spanish tapas style.
The Sherry 'triangle'
The wines of Sherry come from what is known as the Sherry triangle, three towns in Andalucia in Southern Spain, Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlucar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa Maria. The soils are white 'Albariza' soils and the main grapes are Palomino, Pedro Ximenez and Moscatel; all are white grapes. Sherry wines start their life being vinified-or made into wine- as any other. They are picked, pressed and fermented, but where this is often the final stage for other table wines, wines destined for the Sherry D.O ( Denominacion de Origen) are then selected and put into barrels for a very long time.
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Fino Sherry
The finest of the wines ( those that are the palest and have the most finesse) are chosen to be made into Fino in Jerez and El Puerto, and Manzanilla in Sanlucar. The style of wine is very similar, and for this article I will treat them as such. These wines are put into barrel and a special yeast grows on the top of the wine. This yeast is called Flor ( or the flower). The yeast does add some of it's own flavours, but its most important purpose is to stop the wine having contact with air. It acts as a blanket, a protective layer, and stops the wine oxidising. Fino and Manzanilla Sherries can be in barrel for more than five years, yet they are still clean and clear and very fresh. These Sherries will typically be around 14% alcohol.
Amontillado
Some of the Fino Sherries lose the layer of Flor and will become Amontillado. Some Finos are also deliberately fortified to kill the Flor and the aging becomes an oxidative one, making a richer and deeper wine. They take their name from a region north of Jerez, Montilla Moriles, and the name means that they are in the style of these wines. The Amontillado wines are akin to aged Finos and they have the finesse of the Fino but also a much more pronounced nuttiness and greater complexity. They are darker in colour and have an alcohol content of around 17%. If you are unsure about Sherry then I would always start with an Amontillado, they are slightly richer and an easier starting place then Fino, and like all Sherry, totally delicious.
Oloroso Sherry
Wines that are not as fine or pure, or grapes grown on less than perfect soils are chosen to be made into Oloroso wines, which are not covered by the Flor and as such are rich and dark wines with wonderful complexity and a gorgeous mahogany colour. The Oloroso wines are fortified to around 18% alcohol, which gives them a richer texture. The word Oloroso means fragrant, and it is something that you will certainly notice with these wines as the smell will stay with you for hours. Notes of Christmas cake, roasted nuts and brown sugar in a dry and wonderfully complex glass of wine.
Palo Cortado
There is another type of Sherry that is rarer than the above, which occurs naturally, yet no one can tell when it is going to happen. The name of this Sherry is Palo Cortado, which means 'cut stick'. The wines that make a Palo Cortado begin life having been selected to be a Fino, so the base wine is very fine. For some reason during their life the Flor does not occur and the wine spends the rest of its life aging like an Oloroso. The reason it is called Palo Cortado is due to the markings on the barrel. At first the winemaker puts a single straight line on the barrel to show that it is going to be a Fino, and if the Flor does not develop the winemaker will then draw another line across the first one and cut the line, thus Palo Cortado (cut stick).
All of these wines are made from the white Palomino grape.
Solera Systems
The Solera system is really the heart of the Sherry wines. In an attempt to be as simple as possible, the Solera system is a system of 'fractional blending', whereby, each year the new vintage is added into the system. A Solera system consists of lets say five levels (criadera or nurseries), the youngest at the top and the oldest at the bottom. Each year one third of the sherry in the bottom layer is drawn off for bottling and wine from each of the other criadera's (only one third) is taken out and added to the next. So the new wine goes into the top criadera, one third of the top criadera goes into the second, one third of the second criadera goes into the third and so on. For a further explanation you can listen to Scott Wasley from the Spanish Acquisition describe it in this short video.
All styles of Sherry go through a Solera system, and they can consist of lots of criadera, or only a few.
Pedro Ximenez (PX)
There are two other wines that have made sherry famous, but none more so in recent years than Pedro Ximenez ( PX). This is another white grape, but before it is vinified, the grapes are dried under the sun to concentrate the sugars. The wine then spends its life in a solera system and the product is a black, sensous, peerless wine that will consume your tastebuds. See my review of a PX here.
Moscatel
The last wine I want to talk about is made from the Moscatel grape, it is a similar product to the Pedro Ximenez, yet the smell of the wine is far more savoury, I always find notes of tomato leaf and herbs, yet the mouth feel is amazing. It is the most unique of the Sherry wines that I have tried.
In all, the wines of Sherry deserve your attention. They fit into a meal at almost every level, from start to finish and once understood, they will be something that you will crave. I found myself searching through my wine collection for some Fino as I was writing this, it is a most remarkable product and incredibly cheap for such amazing quality.
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