sherry Flashcards
Jerez is the centre of the sherry industry and the wines must be matured either within the city limits or one of the two smaller seaside towns of _____ and _____.
San lùcar de barrameda
El Puerto de Santa Maria
what about the climate and the soils?
1) Jerez has a hot mediterranean climate
2) although the vineyard nearer the coast are on average a little cooler and benefit from the prevailing (heersende) Humid westerly wind called Poniente
3) sometimes the temp can be soaring(stijgend) by the hot and drying Levante wind, blows from the east
- – this extra hot wind can stress the vines and damage the grapes
4) coastal region annual rainfall is high compared with other spanish regions
- – rainfall in growing season is limited
5) albariza: high chalk content
- good drainage
- good waterholding capacity
- enough water to sustain the vines during the hot dry summers
6) to maximise retaining water retaining during autumn and winter
- rectangular (rechthoekige) pits are dug (gegraven) between the vines
- – this is done after harvest and in the spring the soil will be smoothend out again
7) moisture retention (vocht vasthouden) is enhanced during the summer when the albariza soil forms a hard crust that limit evaporation from the soil
what are the grape varieties ?
1) Palomino:
- vast majority of the region
- - low in acid, lack from varietal aromas (neutral)
- – good because the sherry style gets his aromas from either biological or oxidative maturation
2) Pedro Ximénez (PX):
- thin skin: ideal for sun drying
- - for sweet sherys
- – a little planted in Jerez, th emost comes from Montilla moriles
3) muscat of alexandria:
- only a very small production
- - also for sweet sherrys
how about dry styles in the winery ?
1) grape handling and ferm:
- Palomino for dry wines
- - due the high temp during harvest, the grapes needs to go as fast as possible to prevent oxidation
- - ferm large stainless steel 20- 25°c
- — this is high temp for white wine, but producer want a neutral basewine
- — basewine is dry with approximately (ongeveer) 11-12 abv
2) first classification: in autumn the wines are classified in:
a) lighter paler wines for biological (coastal)
b) darker wines for oxidative (inland and ferm at higher temp)
- – at this stage the film-forming yeast (flor) starts to grow at the surface of all the wines
- —-exact criterea depends on housestyle
3) fortification and sobretabla: after the classification: - wines are fortified using 96% abv --- then the wines are set aside before going into the solera ----- this stage called soretabla
4) wines for biological:
- fortified to 15-15,5%abv (ideal for flor)
- - then the sobretabla needs to be checked for ideal forming of flor. so they know the potential of the wine in the solera system
- — if not suited, the wines get refortified (opnieuw versterkt) and are suited for oxidative ageing or rejected altogether
5) wines for oxidative ageing:
- wines are fortified to 17%abv
- - at this strength the flor dies
- –the period of sobretabla is not as critical for the quality of these wines because they dont need to wait and see if the flor flavours develop
how about sweet styles in the winery?
1) grapehandling:
- destemmed for sweet wines: the grapes are sun dried to concentrate the sugar levels (develops flavours of raisin)
2) ferm and fortification:
- once the desired must weight is achieved the grapes are pressed and ferm starts
- - the juice is highly concentrated with a lot of sugar and the yeast struggle to ferment so there is is just a fwew degrees of alcohol
- — ferm stopped, the must is fortified to 17% abv
sherry has to be aged in 600 l oak barrels called ____. they are allready used for unfortified wines to:
butts and are used to eliminate the oak flavours
the butts of are allways kept full.
false:
theyre just needed to allow oxygen te reach the wine
– the butts are kept 5/6th full
how do they keep the maturation environment cool ?
The traditional bodegas has high white chalked ceilings (hoge plaffonds) with windows pointing towards the cooling poniente wind
- – the earth floors are kept wet to maintain the correct level of humidity
- – some bodegas have airco
what is a solera system ?
1) its a very versatile (flexibel) system that can be used to sustain biological and oxidative maturation
2) its made of a number of groups of butts
– referred here as a level, which hold wines from different stages called criaderas
3) the maturing proces involves moving wines between the criaderas over time to time to achieve blend of youngerand older wines
4) attention: solera system: the system for the maturing of the wines
Solera: last stage before bottling
How does a Solera system works?
1) wine for bottling is taken out of ‘solera stage’:
- - an equal amount is taken of each butt in this level
2) the solera is not fully emptied and the butts are replenished (heropgevuld) with a equal volume of wine taken from butts in the next levels
- - these wines have a slightly younger average
- - this level the first criadera
- – all the wines of the butts of the 1st criadera ar taken by an equal volume, blended and ready to put in the solera
3) the first criadera is replenished in exact the same way, with wines from the 2nd criadera
- — and this criadera is replenished in turn with younger wine (sobretablas)
it is only possible to talk about an average age of wines tat are taken out for bottling or blending.
true
how does the biological ageing under flor goes ?
1) its made up of a number of yeast strains (soorten)
2) together these yeast form a thick layer on the surface
3) they feed off the alcohol (and other nutrients) in the wine and oxygen in the air
- to produce CO2
- - to produce acetaldehyde: this gives the unique flavour
4) in order to thrive flor needs a precise lvl of alc, temp and humidity
5) it is sensitive to the ambient (omringende) conditions
- temp, humidity and even the position of the butts can influence the maturing sherry
6) flor cannot thrive in wine with an abv of above 15,5%
- and it favours cool to moderate temp and high levels of humidity
- - flors grown vigorously in the spring and autumn
- – dies back in summer and winter
7) The solera system is able to sustain a permanent culture of flor in every butt
8) the butts are only part filled
- - flor has easy access to oxygen
9) the flor also protect the wine from oxidation
10) the flor is also constantly consuming alcohol and other nutrients therefore regular additions of new wine is needed to keep the flor supplied with these nutrients
11) at several vast stages in the year, there will be wine tapped from the solera
What can you tell me about oxidative ageing?
olorosso, PX and some muscat sherries are aged oxidatively, without the present of flor:
- amontillado is aged oxidatively after a period of biological ageing
1) the impact of oxygen is greatly enhanced by the air that is left in the part filled butts
2) in these solera system the introduction of young wines helps to preserve the base character of the sherry - – who will otherwise be overly oxidised
3) sherries could be aged oxidatively or upwards of 30 years, although very few wines make it to this age
4) with age the alc level of these wines rise till 22% abv - because the water content (inhoud) evaporates
most sherries, including many of the very best, are blends of different solera systems. eg:
in case of very old olorossos this blending can bring together the intense flavours of very old wines (who will be unbalanced on their own) with fresher young wines.
most sherry will undergo a fining and fyltration before bottling, but why some not ?
because some producers believe that filtring and fining, takes away the vibrant character of the biological ageing.
