Sherry Flashcards
What is the name of the town that gives the region its name (in Spanish)?
Jerez de la Frontera
Describe the climate of the Sherry region.
Hot, sunny and Mediterranean, slightly cooler by the coast
High rainfall but limited in the growing season
Name the two winds that influence the region:
The cool, humid and westerly wind?
The hot and arid wind?
Poniente = cool, humid, westerly
Levante = Hot and arid
What is the soil in Sherry region?
What is it largely made up of?
What positive attributes does this soil have for wine quality?
What do vinegrowers do to help retain water?
Albariza
Very high Chalk content
Good drainage of winter rain but retains water at deep levels to sustain vine through hot summers.
Forms hard crust to seal moisture in and limit evaporation
Pits dug in Autumn to catch water, smoothed over in Spring.
What grapes are used to make sherry?
Palomino - vast majority
Pedro Ximinez
Muscat of Alexandria
After Palamino is made into a base wine with primary aromas only, what are the 2 maturation/ageing options?
Biological maturation/ageing (under flor)
Oxidative maturation/ageing (no flor)
To what % is base wine fortified?
Biological ageing wines abv?
Oxidative ageing wines abv?
With what are the wines fortified?
With what? What strength is it?
Biological ageing wines - 15%~15.5%
Oxidative ageing wines - 17%
Fortified with pure grape spirit at 96% abv.
What is the term for the period of time a new wine spends before it goes into the solera.
Sobretabla
How are PX/Pedro Ximenez wines made?
Sun dried to raisin them
Ferment to a few % abv as yeast struggles with so much sugar
Fortified to 17%
What size are the barrels in the Solera system?
What are they called?
How full are they kept?
600 ltr
Butts
5/6th full to allow oxygen
What does flor need to survive? List 5
-Ambient cool temperatures
-Ambient humidity
-Alcohol
-Nutrients
-Oxygen
consumes alcohol and nutrients in the wine
What are the different levels of the Solera system called?
Criaderas
How is wine removed from the Solera System and how is it topped up?
Taken from the bottom level called the Solera
Blended wine from 1st Criadera tops up Solera
Blended wine from 2nd Criadera tops up first
Blended wine from 3rd Criadera tops up 2nd etc etc etc
Wine in Sobretabla used to top up the top level Criadera.
(See diagram page 186. )
What does acetaldehyde do to sherry?
Gives Biological Sherry its unique aromas and flavours of almonds, herbs and bready aromas (created by flor)
Which sherries are aged Biologically with no oxidative influence? List 3.
Which two sherries start under flor before being transferred to oxidative Solera system?
-Fino,
-Manzanilla
-Pale Cream
Amontillado and Palo Cortado starts Biologically then transferred to Oxidative Solera. Also Medium sherry
Which sherries are aged Oxidatively? List 4.
-Oloroso,
-Cream Sherry
-PX/Pedro Ximenez
-Amontillado (after a period of time ageing biologically).
Why, in particular, does the Biological Solera system need to be kept fed with young wine?
Replenishing/feeding the flor.
Are sherries fined and filtered?
Yes, but kept to a minimum to maintain flavour
Fino sherry from Sanlucar is known as what?
How does it differ from that of Jerez and why?
How is it labelled if minimal fining and filtering?
Manzanilla de Sanlucar de Barrameda.
Cooler coast keeps Flor active all year = more expressive flor character.
Minimal fining and filtering = En Rama
Which ageing method is used for Oloroso
Give simple tasting notes
Oxidative
Brown, full bodied. Toffee, leather, spice and walnut
What ageing process is used for Amontillado?
Give simple tasting notes
Biological then Oxidative
Amber or brown, lighter than Oloroso. Yeasty plus oxidative aromas
Describe Palo Cortado and why is it unusual?
It is a high quality Amontillado.
What is Pale Cream and with what is it sweetened?
Sweetened Fino, sweetened with RCGM
What is Medium sherry and with what is it sweetened?
Give simple tasting notes
Sweetened Amontillado, sweetened with PX
Balances toffee, leather and walnut of dry wine with dried fruit of PX
What is Cream sherry and with what is it sweetened?
Give simple tasting notes
Sweetened Oloroso, sweetened with PX
Balance of toffee, leather, walnuts of dry wine with dried fruit of PX
Which sherries are naturally sweet?
Give simple tasting notes
PX - Deep brown and lusciously sweet (up to 500g/L sugar)
Pronounced dried fruit, coffee and liquorice
Also the less common Muscat - Similar to PX but keeps dried citrus peel character. (Not often featured in exams).
What are the age indications for Sherry?
VORS (Very Old Rare Sherry) - 30 year old
VOS (Very Old Sherry) - 20 yo
Each batch tested to ensure it complies
(Not a typical question so don’t sweat this one)
Where do grapes used to make Pedro Ximénez sherry come from?
Montilla-Moriles, neighbouring the Jerez region
Which grape accounts for the majority of plantings in Jerez, what sort of base wine does it make?
Palomino
It produces a wine with natural low acid and very little varietal flavour.
Wines made from grapes grown in the warmer inland vineyards are more likely to be made into a biological or oxidative style?
oxidative . riper/richer = balance
