43. Sherry Flashcards
The name of the region of Sherry production comes from the name of the village…
Jeres de Frontera
Sherry must be matured in which city/towns?
- Jeres de Frontera
- Sanlucar de Barrameda
- El Puerto de Santa Maria
What is the climate of Jeres?
Hot Mediterranean. Vineyards near to the coast are little cooler
What are the 2 winds that affect Jeres region?
- Poniente: Cool, humid wind from west
- Levante: Hot and dry wind from east which can seriously stress the vines and damage grapes
What is the soil in Jeres called? What are its properties?
- Albariza
- Very chalky soil with good drainage and excellent water holding capacity
- During summer it forms a hard crust on the surface, which that limits evaporation
What do the grape growers do in Jeres to maximize the amount of water retained by the soil?
They dig rectangular pits between the rows of vines to trap water and reduce run-off
What are the grape varieties that are used to produce Sherry?
- Palomino
- Pedro Ximenez
- Muscat of Alexandria
What are the characteristics of the base wine produced from Palomino?
- Low acidity
- Lack obvious varietal aromas
Where are the most of the Pedro Ximenez grapes grown?
Montilla-Moriles
Describe the grape handling and fermentation process for dry style Sherries
- Grapes are presses as quickly as possible to avoid oxidation
- Fermentation is done in large stainless steel tanks at temperatures between 20 to 25 degrees Celsius
What is the alcohol level of base wine for dry sherry?
11-12 % abv
How are the base wines selected for biological and oxidative maturation?
- Biological maturation: Lighter, paler wines with more finesse. Wines made from grapes that are grown in relatively cooler coastal vineyards and/or fermented at lower temperatures
- Oxidative maturation: Darker, richer, heavier wines. Wines made from grapes that are grown in warmer inland vineyards and/or fermented at higher temperatures
What is used to fortify the base wine for Sherry production?
96 % abv neutral spirit
Sherry wines destined for biological aging are fortified to what percentage? Why?
- 15% to 15.5% abv
- It is the ideal strength for the development of flor
What happens if the wines destined for biological aging fail to develop a style and character that is suitable for its respective solera system?
Either refortifed, sent to oxidative aging or rejected altogether
What is sobretabla?
After fortification, the wines are set aside for a few months before they are incorporated into the solera system, which is called sobretabla
Why is sobretabla is not critical for the wines for oxidative aging?
Because there is no need to wait and see if flor flavours develop or not
Describe the grape handling and fermentation process for naturally sweet style Sherries
- After picking, the grapes are sun-dried
- This process increase the sugar concentration and leads to development of raisin flavours
- Because of very high sugar, the yeast struggle to ferment the sugar and the alcohol level is only a few degrees when the fermentation stops
Sherry wines destined for oxidative aging are fortified to what percentage?
17% abv
What kind of vessel is used for maturation of Sherry?
600 lt oak barrels called butts (used before to mature unfortified wines to eliminate any oak flavour)
How is the maturation environment kept cool in traditional Bodegas in Jeres?
- Thick whitewashed walls
- High ceilings
- Windows pointing towards cooling Poniente
- The earth floor is kept damp to maintain correct level of humidity
Is the solera system used for biological or oxidative aging?
Both
What are criaderas?
They are levels of group of butts in different average ages
What is the number of criaderas?
Between 3 to 14
What is the final level of criadera called?
Solera
What is the advantage of solera system?
Wine taken out for bottling or blending is the same every time
What practices can damage the consistency of the wine obtained from solera
- Feeding poor quality wine
- Taking too much wine each year
Why are the criaderas of the same solera system kept in different buildings?
To reduce the risk of losing the entire solera system in case of a catastrophic event
What is flor made up of?
Number of yeast strains
What does flor consume? What does it produce?
- Flor consumes alcohol and other nutrients in wine and oxygen in the atmosphere
- It produces carbon dioxide and acetaldehyde
Which compound gives the unique flavour of biologically aged Sherries?
Acetaldehyde
What are the favorable conditions that promotes the development of flor?
- Alcohol levels less than 15.5% abv
- Moderate temperatures
- High humidity
In which seasons flor grows vigorously and in which seasons it dies back?
- In spring and autumn, it grows vigorously
- In summer and winter, it dies back
What does flor provide other than giving unique flavour?
It keeps the wine from oxidation
What do the Sherry producers do, to maintain the needs of flor?
With regular additions of new wine from the solera system at frequent and regular periods throughout the year
After which average years, the flor can start to fail and oxidative characteristics can develop due to insufficient nutrients?
7
Which Sherries are aged oxidatively?
- Olorosso
- PX
- Some Muscat Sherries
- Amontillodo (after a period of biological aging)
What is the advantage of solera system for oxidatively aging Sherries?
Introduction of young wine helps to preserve the base Sherry, which would otherwise be overly oxidized
How log can the Sherries be matured oxidatively?
30 years, but very few wines make it to this age
Alcohol levels rise to what percentage abv, in the wines aged oxidatively? Why?
- 22% abv
- Due to the evaporation of the water content
Do the wines used for the production of Sherry come from one solera system?
Most are blends of wines from several solera systems
Do the Sherries undergo fining and filtration?
Most Sherries do. New trend is to minimize the interventions especially for biologically aged wines
What are the types of dry Sherries?
- Fino and Manzanilla
- Olorosso
- Amontillado
- Palo Cortado
Tasting notes for Fino Sherry
- Pale lemon in color
- Aromas of citrus fruit, almond and herbs
- Bready notes from the action of flor
Does bottle aging improve Fino Sherries?
No, they should be consumed as fresh as possible
What is Manzanilla?
Wines matured in Sanlucar de Barrameda qualify as Manzanilla de Sanlucar de Barrameda, a seperate DO
What is the difference between Fino and Manzanilla?
- Due to cooler and more humid conditions on the coast, a thick layer of flor survives throughout the year in Sanlucar de Barrameda
- It results in wines that have a more intensely tangy aroma
What are the types of Manzanilla? (E)
- Manzanilla Fina: Manzanilla Sherry bottled around 3 to 5 years
- Manzanilla Pasada: Manzanilla Sherry bottled around 6 to 7 years in which flor starts to fade
When do the Fino Sherries laballed as “en rama”?
When they undergo minimal fining and filtering
Tasting notes of Olorosso Sherry
- Brown color
- Toffee, leather, spice and walnut aromas
Tasting notes of Amontillado Sherry
- Amber or brown color
- Less bodied than Olorosso
- Combines yeast derived aromas with oxidative aromas
What is the characteristics of Palo Cortado?
It has the aroma character of Amontillado but the body and richness of Olorosso
Tasting notes for Pedro Ximenez
- Lusciously sweet (500 mg/L residiual sugar)
- Pronounced aromas of dried fruit, coffee and liquorice
Tasting notes for Muscat
- Similar to PX
- They retain varietal orange peel character
How are pale cream, medium and cream produced?
Pale cream: Fino + RCGM
Medium: Amontillado + PX
Cream: Olorosso + PX
What are the tasting characteristics of pale cream, medium and cream?
Pale cream: Rarely have pronounced flor character
Medium: Show both biological and oxidative characteristics
Cream: Show only oxidative characteristics
Tasting notes for premium wines sweetened with PX wine
Balanced toffee, leather and walnut flavours from the dry wine with the dried fruit notes of the sweet wine
What are the top two categories of age-indicated Sherries?
- VORS (Vinum Optimum Rare Signatum): At least 30 years old
- VOS (Vinum Optimum Signatum): At least 20 years old
