Jerez
Also like Champagne, Sherry owes its character to unique terroir and complex winemaking practices that are emulated the world over but never matched in terms of quality and distinction. Both produce white wines from distinctive white, chalky-type soils that undergo primary and secondary winemaking procedures as well as years of maturation before they develop their marvellous complexity.
HISTORY
The first vines were probably brought to the Jerez region by the Phoenicians circa 1100 BC. The Phoenician name for this trading region was Xera.
The Romans also enjoyed the vinous produce of this region - until the Moors occupied Spain in 71 AD. The Moors' influence spanned many centuries, but Sherish, as they called Jerez, remained a large wine-producing area, despite the Koran's tenets.
In the mid-13th century, Jerez was conquered by Alfonse X, a great supporter - and grower - of wines in the region. It was around this time that the "Sherish" wines were shipped to England, where they found a ready market.
Growth in popularity and demand for Sherry among English, Flemish and French merchants led to the first ever denomination of origin rules - in August 1483.
MAKING SHERRY
Jerez is unique principally because of its Albariza soil - bright, white and chalky in appearance, composed millions of years ago from organic sedimentation. Remarkably absorbent, it's able to suck up this hot, dry region's meagre water (500mm rain annually). Because of the extreme heat, the surface soil is soon baked hard, which prevents evaporation and retains the water deep in the root zone.
The high lime content also promotes higher acidity levels than is usual for a hot climate.
Two winds prevail - the hot, dry, easterly levante, which bakes the earth and the grapes, and the moist, Atlantic pontete, which stimulates the growth of flor yeast. This yeast is essential for the production of sherry.
Three grapes are sanctioned for Sherry production: Palomino, Pedro Ximenez and Moscatel. Traditionally, the grapes were laid out in the sun to increase the sugar level for anything between 10 and 21 days and then foot-trodden. Today modern pneumatic presses are used.
Fermentation is initially vigorous with almost 90% of the fermentable sugars converted within the first 36 hours. Then things slow down and at the end of three months a delicate, dry white wine with an alcohol content of 11 to 12% is obtained.
It's at this point that samples are taken and categorised. The palest wines, clean to the nose and particularly light will be set aside for ageing bajo flor (under the veil of yeasts) in order to produce Fino and Manzanilla styles. Other wines, also clean on the nose and palate, but with more body, will be classified as Oloroso style.
The wines classified as Fino or Manzanilla are fortified with wine-distillate up to 15% alcohol while those destined to be Olorosos are fortified to 17% or more. Unlike other wines in barrel, Sherry butts are not kept hermetically sealed and are filled to 5/6 of their capacity - so that air can play its ageing role.
Fino and Manzanilla Sherries are protected from oxidation by the layer of flor yeast that forms on top. The interplay between the yeast and the wine is known as biological ageing.
In the case of Oloroso, which is fortified to a higher alcohol level, no flor can survive and the wine consequently undergoes an oxidative ageing process.
If Fino and Manzanilla wines lose their flor and switch from biological to oxidative ageing, they turn into Amontillado Sherry.
Central to Sherry's complexity is the solera system. The various bodegas have wooden butts stacked many levels high, each row containing a wine of a different age. The top level is the criadera - or nursery - that is filled with new wine. Each year a quantity of wine is drawn off the bottom level. Those barrels are then topped up with wine from the preceding level - which is then topped up from the one preceding it.
The wines drawn off from the bottom level are then classified, finally, and bottled. Some are bottled as is while others are blended and sweetened, depending on the style.
Marvellously complex and distinct, Sherry wines offer a rich array of styles to accompany any kind of food.
FACT FILE
Grapes: Palomino, Pedro Ximenez and Moscatel
Soils: Albariza soils, a white soil that looks like chalk but is actually
organic, a soft marl formed by algae sedimentation millions of years ago. The
soil is crumbly and highly absorbent when wet, but amazingly hard when dry.
Climate: Hot and dry, the levante is an easterly wind that alternates
with the pontete, a wet, westerly wind that blows in from the Atlantic. Only
500mm of rain falls in winter and spring.
