The Spanish Wine of Distinction

Sherry

     The common misconception of Sherry today, is that all Sherry is a sweet, creamy wine similar to Harvey’s Bristol Cream. This is not the Sherry that Edgar Allen Poe’s, Fortunato, in “The Cask of Amontillado”, perilously but avidly traipsed through dank underground caverns, filled with “nitre” to taste.

    Sherry devolved into this sweet creamy styled wine to meet the needs of a mass consumer export market and as a result lacks the nuance and complexity that fine Spanish Sherry is endowed with. “Real” Sherry is a unique wine from Spain’s bygone era of an empire with conquistadors sailing the seven seas in search of treasure and new trade routes. This Sherry, the Sherry of old Spain is an intriguing and often times a beguiling white wine; and then there are times it is an amber hued opulent wine to savor.

     As with fine Champagne, Sherry takes its name from its place of origin, Jerez de la Frontera, a town in southwest Spain. The name “Jerez” morphed into “Sherry” by the British, those age-old lovers of all wines, who mispronounced the name Jerez, as Sherry; as it is known today. “Jerez”, its proper Spanish name, is a fanciful wine that is delightful with food, as it was originally intended, or as an aperitif. Also similar to fine French Champagne, Jerez requires long and special treatment, setting it apart from ordinary wine. Some forms of Jerez mature in barrels under a protective coating of yeast called the flor, imparting fine and delicate qualities to it that other wines do not have. Almost all Jerez is made from a unique, time consuming blending system called solera, in which older barrels of Jerez are topped off with younger ones of the same style. The solera manner of transferring young Jerez from recent vintages to barrels of Jerez from older vintages, year after year, is similar to French vintners blending different grapes to produce outstanding wines in Bordeaux France.

     The Andalusia region of Spain, where Jerez comes from is steeped in the culture and tradition of “old” Spain, dating back to its Moorish and Arabic origins. One folk tale attributed to Jerez is how Tapas, which is the Spanish practice of serving small plates of food started. The word tapa means lid or cover. What we call Tapas today started long ago in Spanish bars as a practical means of keeping fruit flies off of a glass of Jerez with a simple piece of bread. This eventually led to small amounts of food on the bread, such as olives, cheese, ham and sausage, to encourage more drinking. Today there are innumerable Tascas (bars that offer Tapas) throughout Spain offering a vast array of delectables known as “Tapas”.
    Jerez is fortified with additional alcohol after all of the grape’s natural sugar has been converted to alcohol, making it a naturally dry, not sweet, white wine. There are two basic types of Jerez, Fino and Oloroso. Usually the finest batches of grapes are reserved for Fino because it is fortified with less alcohol than Oloroso and it is the most delicate of all the different versions of Jerez.

The Beautiful Fino and the Beastly Flor


     The Fino style of Jerez matures in wood barrels under a fascinating protective covering of yeast called the flor. The yeast or the flor grows naturally on the surface of the wine in the barrel, creating a beastly, foamy layer of bubbling yeast. The flor prevents the wine from oxidizing and lives on the air in the barrel and feeds off of the alcohol and glycerin in the wine. Underneath the unsightly layer of yeast a magical transformation takes place. Beneath the murky covering of the flor is a beautiful pale, straw-like colored wine that is thinner and more delicate than it otherwise would be and is teeming with a profusion of extraordinary aromas and pungent flavors.
     Once the Fino loses the protective coating of the flor by bottling, it becomes susceptible to oxidation spoilage and loses its youthful exuberance. To experience Fino at its peak, it should be consumed as fresh from the barrel as possible. Unfortunately, it is impossible for us to savor the fresh, pungent flavors of Fino straight from the barrels. Freshness aside, Finos are worth experiencing to discover the real dry, elegant taste of Jerez.
     Another version of Fino is Manzanilla, made only in Sanlúcar de Barrameda on the western coast of Spain. Sanlúcar de Barrameda is one of the three towns that make up what is know as the “sherry triangle” in Andalusia; the other two towns are Jerez de la Frontera and Puerto de Santa Maria. The Jerez of Sanlúcar de Barrameda is heavily influenced by the moist, salty air of the Atlantic Ocean that fosters a thicker flor in the barrel. Manzanilla also has a pale-straw hue, as other Finos, but is the driest and most pungent version of Fino, owing to the salt-water air in the flor. This too should be consumed at its freshest to fully appreciate the aromatics of the flor enhanced by the salty sea air.
    Oloroso on the other hand is a Jerez that we can enjoy now and one that is at its best long after bottling. This version of Jerez is traditionally barrel aged, without the protective coating of the flor and is fortified with more alcohol than Fino. Since Oloroso has already been exposed to oxygen during its maturation it can age almost indefinitely in an unopened bottle. Depending on the length of aging in the barrel, the colors of Oloroso range from shimmering amber to luxuriant mahogany. It is lush and full bodied, with wonderful aromas of walnuts and still dry to the taste without the tart pungency of Fino. Unlike Fino, that is best fresh, we can enjoy the soft, rich, nutty flavors of Oloroso long after it has been bottled in Spain.
     In-between the pungent taste of Fino and the mellow Oloroso, is my favorite Jerez and also the wine that Fortunato lost his life trying to taste—Amontillado. Initially, Amontillado is made as Fino, maturing under the flor, and then allowed to age further without the oxygen depriving cover of the flor. The result is a marvelous, amber hued cross between Fino and Oloroso for us to savor as often as we like. Amontillado combines the distinctive pungency and delicacy created by the flor with the richness of Oloroso and manifests its own unique hazelnut aromas and nutty flavors. Happily, we do not have to undergo a perilous journey through musty caverns to relish the flavors of Amontillado.
     Yet another Jerez that starts off as Fino, aging with the flor and then maturing without it is Manzanilla Pasado. This is darker and fuller bodied than Manzanilla but is still crisp and pungent because of the thickness of the flor in Sanlúcar de Barrameda where it is made.
    The Jerez of Spain’s glorious past is not today’s sugary version that we associate it with but it is the pungently dry, delicate Fino or the rich, tawny Oloroso or the variations of Amontillado, Manzanilla or Manzanilla Pasado in-between. These are the intriguing wines that Spanish aristocrats sipped, while lounging on the patios of their gleaming white haciendas, overlooking the mountains of Andalusia or the cobalt seas of the Costa del Sol, while listening to the reverberating strings of Spanish guitars and the clacking castanets of flamenco dancers in the background. These are the tastes of Jerez!

Ole!