ES: Andalucia Flashcards
Málaga DO for dry wines?
Sierras de Málaga
Málaga Vinos de Lágrima
Free run of briefly dried Pedro Ximenez grapes (just a day or two) - no mechanical pressing.
Málaga DO grapes?
Recommended: Pedro Ximenez, Moscatel de Alejandria, Moscatel de Grano Menudo
Authorized: Lairén, Doradilla, Romé (ONLY red grape here)
Málaga ‘Pajarete’ Wines - what are they?
Fortified amber wine
* 45 - 140g/l.
* oak-aged wine
* NO arrope (concentrated grape must/syrup)
This is the most historically traditional style of Málaga wine.
How many months does basic Málaga DO wines age for in oak?
Min. 6 months
- 24 - 36 for Noble
- 36 - 60 for Añejo
- min. 60 months for Transañejo
(I doubt these matter)
Min. RS for Dulce Málaga?
45 g/l
Most northerly DO in Andalucia?
Montilla-Moriles
Montilla-Moriles Superior subzone soils?
High concentration of Albariza
Most planted grape in Montilla-Moriles?
Pedro Ximenez, with about 75% of DO plantings
Montilla-Moriles grapes?
Recommended: Pedro Ximenez (~75% of vineyard area)
Authorized: Baladí (Verdejo), Layren, Moscatel, Torrontes
Aging requirement for Montilla-Moriles Vino Generoso?
Min. 2 years in oak (same as Sherry)
Montilla-Moriles Vino Generosos may be made into what 4 styles?
Fino
Oloroso
Amontillado
Palo Cortado
PX wine from Montilla can legally be called PX Sherry after aging in Jerez for how long?
At least 2 years
What is a tinajas?
Large earthenware or concrete vessel
General differences between Fino or Amontillado from Jerez vs. Montilla-Moriles?
Both age under flor
BUT the yeast for the flor in MM isn’t as strong or active so the flor stays thinner - leaving more glycerol in the wine and more body and structure than the thinner lighter wines of Jerez.
less flor = more glycerol
Name a producer in Montilla-Moriles
Alvear
Toro Albalá
Pérez Barquero
Max. RS for dry Sherry styles?
Max. 4 g/l RS
*updated in 2023
aka Fino, Amontillado, Manzanilla, Oloroso
“Pale Dry” Sherry RS?
5 - 50 g/l RS
“Medium Dry” Sherry - RS? Made from?
4 - 45 g/l RS
usually Amontillado
“Medium Sweet” Sherry - RS? Made from?
45 - 115 g/l RS
Usually Amontillado
Pale Cream Sherry
- 50 - 115g/l RS
- Fino or Amontillado base
- 15.5 - 22% ABV
*relatively recent addition - added in 1960’s
Cream Sherry
- RS
- ABV
- blend of what types
- 115 - 140 g/l RS
- 15.5 - 22% ABV
- Blending of (usually) Oloroso + some PX
Vino Dulce Natural in the Sherry DO - min. RS? Varietals?
Dulce / Varietal Moscatel = min. 160g/l RS
PX = min. 212 g/l RS
Fino Sherry ABV?
15 - 17%
Amontillado Sherry ABV?
16 - 22%
Oloroso Sherry ABV?
17 - 22%
Palo Cortado ABV?
17 - 22%
Dry/Medium Dry Sherry ABV?
15 - 22%
Min. aging for all Sherry styles?
Min. 2 years in solera
Which styles of Sherry can carry an age designate?
Amontillado
Oloroso
Palo Cortado
PX Vino Dolce Natural
(certified age designate = VOS/VORS)
VOS & VORS Sherry
Vinum Optimum Stignatum/ Very Old Sherry
*avg age at least 20 years old
Vinum Optimum Rare Stignatum / Very Old Rare Sherry
*avg age at least 30 years old
(can apply to Oloroso, Palo Cortado, Amontillado, PX Dolce Natural)
Sherry DO’s required pruning technique?
Vara y Pulgar
(Each vines trunk is trained into 2 branches. Each branch is pruned on alternate years, leaving a stick that will bear fruit with at least 8 buds on it - and a thumb that will only have 1 or 2 buds and that will become the stick the following year)
Jerez latitude?
36˚ N
3 towns OG towns for aging Sherry? New towns? (9 total)
Sanlucar de Barameda
Jerez de la Frontera
El Puerto de Santa Maria
NEW TOWNS (2022): Trebujena, Lebrija, Chipiona, Rota, Chiclana and Puerto Real
What year was Sherry’s DO established?
1935
Names for ridges between vines in Jerez? What are they for?
Aserpia OR Alumbra
- built up after harvest. Rectangular pits that catch/store winter rain
- prevents runoff on the downhill slopes
- demolished/leveled in spring
Jerez’s special method to catch fall/winter rainwater?
Aserpia OR Alumbra
- built up after harvest. Rectangular pits that catch/store winter rain
- prevents runoff on the downhill slopes
- demolished/leveled in spring
Name for straw mats used to dry grapes in Jerez? What varieties would be dried on them?
Esparto - straw mats
PX, Moscatel
3 press stages in Sherry vinification and %?
Primero Yema: 65%
Segundo Yema: 23%
Mosta Prensa: the rest
Term for a Spanish DO’s list of rules and regulations?
Pliego de Condiciones
Max. press yield for Sherry?
70 liters per 100 kg of grapes
Spanish term for racking?
Desfangado
Term for the sun-drying process in Jerez?
Soleo
Vertical slash on Sherry barrel is called? It means?
Palma
*destined for flor aging
Barrel mark for Sherry destined for flor aging?
Palma
Vertical slash
Barrel mark for Oloroso Sherry?
A circle
The flor survives between what alcohol range? Flor yeast dies at what ABV?
15 to 17%
Trasiego
the movement of Sherry, performed by the trasegadores with care not to disturb the flor or the lees
What does a “palma” marking on a sherry cask indicate?
- Surviving/flourishing under flor and will continue under flor. Will become fino
- 2nd classification
Cabaceo (Sherry)
blending of Generoso Wines with Naturally Sweet Wines, or in certain cases with concentrated must
Preferred barrel size/type for Sherry?
600L American Oak
What is an arroba?
An old unit of measurement for Sherry, equal to 16.66L
How much is one arroba? Where is this measurement used?
16.66L
Sherry
What percentage of Sherry evaporates yearly from each barrel, on average? What is the name of this evaporation effect?
3 to 5%
Merma
What is “cabezuelas”?
Fine lees
Almacenista
A firm registered as an Aging and Storing winery with the DO.
* keeps stock of ageing wine; sacas are used only to replenish, not for direct consumption
(wholesaler)
Raya
“raya”: clean wines marked for Oloroso; had some body but weren’t developing
Rayas y Punto (/): good but less density than a Raya
Dos Rayas (//): slight defect; usable for blending/sweetening
Tres Rayas (///): bad. Future is vinegar.
Palo Cortado
What does this symbol indicate?
Palma
Fino/Manzanilla
What does this symbol indicate?
Manzanilla
Amontillado
Oloroso - determined during 1st classification
Manzanilla can be made from what varieties?
Palomino Fino
What styles of wine are allowed for production in the Sanlúcar de Barrameda DO?
Vino de Licor only
Fina, Pasada, Añada
Manzanilla ABV? RS?
15 to 17%
max 4gl RS
Manzanilla Pasada aging requirement?
Minimum 7 years
* equivalent to Sherry Fino Viejo
Manzanilla
- location
- grapes
- styles
- ABV, RS
“chamomile”
Same geo boundaries as Jerez DO - but only made from Palomino Fino and must be aged in Sanlucar
* left bank of Guadalquivir; proximity to Atlantic tempers the climate. Flor can thrive year round.
* STYLES: Fina, Pasada, Añada
* 15 - 17%; max 4 gl RS
Aging requirements for Manzanilla
Fina: min. 2 years in solera
Pasada: min 7 years in oak
Anada (Vintage): aged in a static system (not solera)
Just fun trivia: what was one of the big catalysts for England’s affinity for Sherry during the Elizabethan era?
The English fleet captured over 1 million liters of Sherry in 1587. They got a taste for it.
Sanlucar accounts for what % of Sherry production?
15%
Sanlúcar de Barrameda sits at the mouth of what river?
Guadalquivar River
% of grapes from pago named on a bottle of Sherry?
min. 85%
Carrascal, Añina, Macharnudo are in?
Jerez de la Frontera
*don’t be confused by the other Carrascal in Sanlucar
Macharnudo
Important Pago in Jerez de la Frontera
*split in Alto (bigger, better section) and Baja (fine but lower elevation, poor drainage)
*Innocente, Ojo de Gallo are important plots within
*biggest owner = Valdespino, with 260ha of the total 600
Miraflores, Pastrana are pagos in?
Sanlúcar de Barrameda
The Los Tercios Pago is located in _________?
El Puerto de Santa Maria
Valdespino/Grupo Estévez has a partnership with what Scotch producer?
Macallan
Largest pago in Sherry?
Macharnudo
Just trivia: what was the historical name for the Miraflores pago?
Las Caleras - named so for the extraction of lime needed for pottery. Later, there was a park installed in the area so the new name.. fittingly.. means “look at the flowers”
What is Misericordia?
La Guita’s historic bodega for aging Manzanilla; highest point in Sanlúcar de Barrameda
Reliquia
The oldest and rarest wines from Barbadillo - they bottle an Amontillado, Palo Cortado, Oloroso, and PX, all are 100+ years old. They bottle from one cask and use another cask to top it up.
Who produces the Sherry “Toneles” and what is it?
A super rare selection from Valdespino: an 80 - 100 year old Moscatel. 100 half bottles are produced yearly.
Who produces Tio Pepe?
Gonzalez Byass
“Del Duque”, “Apóstoles”, “Matusalem”, and “Noah” are wines produced by ________?
Tio Pepe
What is unique about Valdespino’s Tio Diego and Inocente bottlings?
Both are barrel fermented with natural yeasts.
Both spend a prolonged amount of time under flor- Inocente (Fino) ages 10 years under flor. Tio Diego (Amontillado) spends 12 years under flor followed by 5-6 years aging oxidatively.
What mountain range separates Andalucia from Extremadura?
The Sierra Morena range
In Andalucia, Jaén Blanco is a synonym for ________?
Cayetana, a grape widely planted in Extremadura + Andalucia for brandy production.
The base wine for fino/manzanilla/amontillado would be fortified to what %?
15%
The base wine for oloroso would be fortified to what %?
17%
*cause that’s where the flor yeasts die
Preferred soil type for Moscatel in Jerez?
Sandy soils, closer to the beach
5 grapes authorized for sherry production?
- Palomino Fino
- Palomino de Jerez
- Perruno
- Beba
- Vigiriega
- Pedro Ximénez
- Moscatell de Alejandriá
(2022 additions: Beba, Cañocazo, Mantúo Castellano, Mantúo de Pilas, Perruno and Vigiriega)
2 winds affecting Jerez?
- Poniente: cool, humid, from the west
- Levante: hot, dry, from the southeast
What is the average grade of Sherry’s vineyards?
10 to 15% - this is a landscape of gently rolling hills
Sherry soils
Albariza (limestone)
clay (barros)
Sand (arenas)
Sherry’s Moscatel is which Muscat?
Moscatel de Alejandria
What is the traditional planting pattern in Jerez?
Marco Real: a 1.5 x 1.5M grid
(a rectangular 1.15 x 2.30 grid is the norm now for mechanization)
Purpose of an Añada in Sherry production
Holding area for young Sherry before it is used to top up the solera (or do whatever it is that Olorosos are doing while the 15%ers go through the Sobretablas)
Sobretablas
Term applied to must that has just been fortified for various purposes, and which from then on is referred to as wine
Criadera y Solera: explain the system
Criadera = “nursery”; top of the system
Solera = floor; this is the oldest tier and the section that will be bottled next
In Sherry production, what is the “saca”?
“Taking out” - a portion of wine is taken from each section of the solera, leaving the butts partially empty
In Sherry production, what is the “rocío”?
Refreshing.
* younger (but same) wine is added to a criadera or solera. // Acad. A brief shower of rain.
In Sherry production, what is “running the scales”?
Sacas and Rocío - moving wine down through the criadera to the solera and then refreshing it from the top
*takes a lot of skill - need to be careful to disturb neither the flor nor the lees
En Rama
“on the branch”
reserved to wines that are not subjected to clarification or cold stabilisation processes (2022)
The objective is to transfer the closest possible version of the wine that is found in the solera to the bottle, to approximate the experience of enjoying it directly from the butt.
*will have undergone a very light filtration but not the full stabilization process
Sherry communes of production outside of the main 3? (7)
Chipiona, Chiclana de la Frontera
Puerto Real
Rota, Trebujena
Lebrija, San José del Valle
[The OGs: Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, El Puerto de Santa María]
Major rivers in Jerez?
Guadalquivir River is the main one
Guadelete also important
Origin of name Sherry?
Phoenicians called it Xera, Moors took over in 711AD and called it Sherish - the name by which the Brits knew the wine
What area of Jerez is best known for Moscatel?
Chipiona
2022 changes to Sherry DO
- expansion of aging zone beyond the OG 3
- recognition of pagos
- pre-phylloxera grapes added to DO
- Jerez Supérieur now a technical term, not limited to vineyards
- Fino Viejo category
- sugar level modifications
- fortification not mandatory
- no more fino from Sanlucar - it is all Manzanilla now
9.
3 varieties added to Sherry DO in 2022 update
Beba, Cañocazo, Mantúo Castellano, Mantúo de Pilas, Perruno and Vigiriega
* pre-phylloxera varieties
Jerez Superior
Pre-2022: limited to vineyards in the chalky albariza core of the DO
NOW open to vineyards in any part of the D.O. that meet the technical standards; any can apply, will be subject to approval by the DO
3 towns adding to Sherry DO aging zone with 2022 update?
Trebujena
Lebrija
Chipiona
Rota
Chiclana
Puerto Real
Jerez Fino Viejo
Min. average age is over 7 years
(Equivalent to Manzanilla Pasada)
Sweetening agents used for Sherry
Dulce pasa - must of sundried Palomino
Dulce de almibar- blend of invert sugar and Fino
Mistela - must of dried Moscatel and PX
Jerez name for a copper pot still
Alquitara
Brandy de Jerez - method
Ages in solera - used Sherry casks
* typically Airen base (Castilla la Mancha, Extremadura)
* 1 distillation required - resulting in “holandas” (60 - 70% ABV; highest level of congeners)
** finished product must be min. 50% holandas (flavor)
Brandy de Jerez aging
Min. 6 months in solera
RESERVA: min 1 year in solera
GRAN RESERVA: min 3 years in solera
** min avg age
Brandy de Jerez brands
Cardenal de Mendoza
Terry Centenario
Osborne Magno
** Veterano, Soberano = formerly 2 market leading products; lowered ABV so no longer in DO but still commonly associated
