sherry

from

A FORTIFIED WINE made in the JEREZ-XÉRÈS-SHERRY Y MANZANILLA DE SANLÚCAR DE BARRAMEDA DO, a designated area located around the town of JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA in southern Spain’s Analucía region. Along with PORT and MADEIRA, sherry is considered one of the three great fortified wines. Sherries range broadly in color, flavor, and sweetness, but there are fundamentally only two types—fino and oloroso. The difference between these two originates with a peculiar yeast called FLOR and relates to the level of ALCOHOL. Fino: Flor develops only on fino-type wines and imparts a sharp, tangy characteristic. It also forms an insulating layer on the wine’s surface that protects the wine from OXIDATION and keeps the wine’s pale color. Flor won’t develop in wines with over 15¹⁄2 percent alcohol, so fino-style wines are generally lower in alcohol than olorosos, which are fortified up to 18 percent alcohol. Oloroso: Since all sherry barrels are only filled about five-sixths full, air gets to the olorosos and—because they’re not protected by a layer of flor—causes them to oxidize. This oxidation turns the wine’s color from deep gold to deep brown and endows the aroma and flavor with rich, nutty-raisiny characteristics. Because olorosos are usually aged longer than most sherries, they’re also more expensive. In Spain, most olorosos are DRY. Cream sherries are usually lower-grade olorosos that have been heavily sweetened. Amoroso (also called East India) is also a sweetened oloroso, as is the very dark, extremely sweet brown sherry. Rayas are also lower-grade olorosos. Because of their color, lighter olorosos are sometimes called golden sherries. There are several different variations of fino-style sherries. Fino: This pale, delicate, very dry, tangy wine is considered by many to be the world’s finest sherry. Finos are excellent when young and should not be aged because they don’t improve and may lose some of their vitality. A fino amontillado occurs when a fino has lost its flor (at about 6 years) and begins to turn amber-colored and gain a little of the nutty flavor found in an oloroso. Amontillado, still a fino-style wine, is aged longer and is darker and softer than a fino amontillado. It should have a distinctively nutty flavor and retain some of the pungent tang. Manzanilla is the lightest, most delicate, and most pungent of the fino-style sherries. It’s made in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, a seaside town whose location is said to give the wine a hint of saltiness. A manzanilla pasada occurs when the flor fades (at about 7 years) and the wine takes on some of the characteristics of an amontillado—nutty flavor and darker color— while still retaining its pungent character. Pale cream sherry is a fino that has been sweetened. Palo cortado is a cross between an oloroso and a fino and varies from producer to producer. Supposedly, a palo cortado starts life as a fino—developing and gaining a tangy character from flor. At some point in its evolution, it deviates and evolves as an oloroso would by oxidizing and developing rich, nutty characteristics and a darker color—all while retaining some of a fino’s tanginess. This style is very rare and greatly sought after by sherry connoisseurs. Generally sherries are non-vintage (see VINTAGE), and the quality is consistent year after year because the Spanish use the SOLERA SYSTEM of topping off older wines with the more recently made sherry. Simply described, the solera system consists of a number of tiers of sherry casks from oldest to the most recently made. Usually one-quarter to one-third of the oldest wine is drawn off for bottling and then replaced by wine from the next oldest tier and so on up through the sol-era system. This process lets the old wines infuse the younger wines with character, while the younger wines give their nutrients to the older wines. In fino-style wines, this latter activity gives the flor something to live on. In 1994, GONZALES BYPASS introduced two unusual vintage-dated sherries, a 1963 and a 1966. Both sherries bypassed the normal solera system aging process and were aged separately in their own oak casks. Spanish sherry is made primarily from the PALAMINO grape along with small amounts of PEDRO XIMÉNEZ and Moscatel (MUSCAT). Sherry-style wines are now also made in the United States, as well as in other parts of the world including Australia and South Africa. Many wines that call themselves sherry are inexpensive potables that aren’t produced anything like the Spanish originals. A few, however, attain a close approximation by using flor inoculations and the solera system. Sherries can be drunk before or after dinner. Dry sherries are usually served chilled; sweet sherries are served at room temperature.