My first taste of Sherry was in 2018 on a visit to a British senior. He greeted me with a glass of Sherry at 4pm. On an almost empty stomach, I almost collapsed.
A thousand faces
Sherry is produced around Jerez in the autonomous region of Andalucía in the south of Spain, mainly made from three grape varieties: Palomino, Moscatel and PX.
After the base wine has been made, it is tasted by experts, who decide if it should later go through biological or oxidative maturation. In the case of biological, a grape spirit is added to raise the alcohol level to 15-15.5% ABV, which encourages a layer of yeast (called flor) grow on the surface of the wine. The flor prevents oxygen from contacting the wine. The Sherries made this way (e.g. Fino, Manzanilla) are elegant and refreshing.
Amontillado is a combination of biological and oxidative maturations. The wine is first fortified to 15-15.5% to allow the flor to grow. After a period of time the wine is further fortified to 17% to kill the flor, which removes the protection for the wine from oxygen, resulting in a more nutty flavour. Oloroso is made using only oxidative maturation, showing a caramel flavour on top of nutty.
The above are all dry Sherries.
Sweet Sherry is classified as either naturally sweet or sweetened.
Naturally sweet Sherry is usually made from Moscatel or PX grapes. The grapes are harvested and left under the Andalucian sun for a bit to reduce the water content and concentrate the sugar. In fermenting grape juice obtained this way, the yeast usually struggles to work after producing 4-6% ABV alcohol. The winemaker then adds in a grape spirit to raise the alcohol level to 15-16% ABV. This type of Sherry is very sweet and has a syrupy texture.
Sweetened Sherries are Pale Cream, Medium and Cream. Pale Cream is biologically-matured base wine with the addition of rectified concentrated grape must(RCGM). Medium is first biologically- then oxidatively-matured base wine with the addition of RCGM. While Cream is oxidatively-matured base wine with the addition of RCGM.
Let’s stack up the casks
Sherries are aged for anywhere from two years to 10 or 20 years.
All of the above mentioned Sherry wines, regardless of the type, are sent to “sobretablas” after fortification for a brief maturation, then to “solera”, a stack of casks, for a longer maturation.
The top layer of the stack is the newest wine. The lower down the layer, the older the wine. When the winemaker decides that the wine on the bottom layer is ready, no more than 40% of the wine would be taken out of the bottom-layered casks to be bottled and sold. The space in the casks freed up is then filled with wine from one layer above. And wine from still one layer above fills the second oldest layer. As you must have already guessed: The top-layered casks are filled with the youngest wine from sobretablas.
The blending of different vintages means the age of a Sherry can only be an average, not a definitive vintage.
Key points about Sherry
- Sherry is an umbrella term for a wide range of wines, from dry to sweet
- The maturation process is characterised by filling wine through different layers of casks
- Sherry is how the Brits used to call Jerez
