Fortified Wines Flashcards
What region is Sherry usually made in?
Jerez de la Frontera
(Town in southern Spain)
What Grape is used to make Sherry?
Palomino
(white grape)
What are the basic steps to making Sherry?
- Crush and press grapes
- Ferment
- Fortify (with spirits)
- Place in Solara system
- Bottle
How does a Solera system work for making Sherry?
- A dry white wine made from Palomina grapes
- Fortified with alcohol to boost ABV%
- Placed in a series of old-oak casks
- Casks have different ages of Sherry
- Different ages of wine blended together to create consistent style.
What are the Three most important styles of Sherry?
- Fino
- Oloroso
- Amontillado
What is a Fino Sherry?
Ages under a thick layer of white yeast called Flor. (aka biological aging)
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What are the steps to make Fino Sherry?
- Base wine fortified to 15% ABV.
- Enters a Solara system
- Flor develops on surface of wine - protects wine from oxygen.
What is the profile of a Fino Sherry?
- Pale lemon
- Aromas of Apple, Almonds.
- Pronounced flavours of Biscuit, Bread Dough (from Flor)
Is Fino Sherry aged?
No
- Once bottled, wines rapidly lose freshness.
- Serve chilled
What is Oloroso Sherry?
- Sherry that doesn’t use Flor in production.
How to make Oloroso Sherry?
- Dry base wine fortified to 17% ABV
- Placed in Solara System - ages based on contact with oxygen.
Why is Flor not used in Oloroso Sherry?
- Flor cannot survive in the 17% ABV level of the fortified wine.
Typical profile of Oloroso Sherry?
- Brownish in Colour (due to oxygen contact)
- Flavours dried fruits (raisins, prunes)
- Notes of deliberate oxidization (walnuts, caramel)
What is an Amontadillo Sherry?
Something between a Fino and Oloroso Sherry.
How is Amontillado Sherry made?
- Base wine fermented
- Fortified to 15% ABV
- Ages under Flor for short time
- Refortified to 17% ABV
- Wine then ages oxidatively until bottled
What is the typical profile of an Amontillado Sherry?
- Deeper in colour than Fino
- flavours from Flor (biscuit and bread)
- flavours also from Oxidation (walnuts, caramel)
What are three types of Sweet Sherries?
- Pale Cream — (aka sweet Fino)
- Medium — (sweet Amontillado)
- Cream —- (sweet Oloroso)
What is a PX Sherry?
PX = Pedro Ximenez
- sweet sherry with white Pedro Ximenez grapes that have been concentrated by the sun.
How is a PX Sherry made?
- grapes concentrated by sun drying
- Fortified and oxidized in Solera
What is the profile of a Pedro Ximenez sherry?
- Almost black in colour
- Sweet
- Pronounced dried fruit flavours (fig, prune, raisin)
- Often used to sweeten cream sherries
What is Port?
- Sweet fortified wine made from grapes in Upper Douro region - Portugal
- Blend of local black grape varieties.
Is Port a blend or a single varietal?
Blend
- Typically a blend of several local black grape varieties.
- Most ports blends of different vintages.
List the steps in the Port winemaking process?
- After harvest, rapidly extract colour and tannins from grape skins.
- Traditionally (foot treading)
- Ferment
- Add Grape Spirit (stops fermentation)
- Results in sweet wine /high alcohol
- Maturef for period of time
- Blend
- Bottle
What are the Six styles of Port?
- Ruby Style
- Ruby
- Reserve Ruby
- LBV (Late Bottle Vintage)
- Vintage
- Tawny Style
What is a profile of a Ruby-Style Port?
- Deeply coloured
- Fruity
- Sweet
- Low Tannin
- Flavours of black fruit (black cherry, blackberry)
- Sometimes Spice (black Pepper)
How to Make Port?
- Crush and Press local black grape varieties
- Ferment
- Fortify
- Age in large oak casks (or stainless steel)
- Bottle
What is the profile of a Reserve Ruby Port?
- Better quality than Ruby port
- Greater flavour intensity
- Sometimes Matured longer to soften tannins and integrate added alcohol
What is the profile of a LBV (Late Bottled Vintage) Port?
- Similar in style to Reserve Ruby Port
- Single vintage
What is the profile of a Vintage Port?
- Made from highest quality wines from single exceptional vintage
- Can mature in bottle for at least 20 years or longer.
- Only declared in best years of vintage
What is profile of a typical Vintage Port?
- Garnet colour (changes from Ruby to garnet in long aging)
- Complex tertiary aromas (dried fruit, leather, coffee)
- Thick sediment
What is the profile of a typical expensive Tawny-Style Port?
- Tawny colour (from extended oxidative aging)
- Dried fruits (walnut, coffee, caramel)
- Can age from 10 - 40 years or more
What is the profile of a typical inexpensive Tawny Port?
- Simple
- fruity
- low tannin
- pale colour
