Sherry 101
Sherry is not the stuff of grandmotherly sipping, forget that! Sherry appreciation making a resurgence - growing a wide base of younger consumers and aficionados. Here is a basic guide to all things Sherry.
Sherry is Spain’s top produced fortified wine in the Jerez DO. Fun Fact: Sherry is the oldest denomination of origin in Spain. The “sherry triangle” is formed by three key cities: Jerez de la Frontera (hence the name Jerez = Sherry), Sanlúcar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa María. Soils are Albariza, pure white soils with a high level of chalk and limestone.
How do they make Sherry? Sherry starts as a still wine and is then fortified with a neutral spirit - this helps increase Sherry’s ABV go up, kills off any remaining yeast and stops fermentation. That’s step 1. Step 2 it’s aged in part-filled 600L old oak butts. It’s a complex blending AND magical ageing system called Solera System. All Sherry is aged with the Solera system—basically a cask-rotation system where the final product is a blend of younger and older Sherries. Think of it as a waterfall system: the final wine is bottled from the oldest barrels at the bottom, which are then topped up with slightly younger wine from the previous stage or criadera, and so on. The youngest criadera receives the new wine from the latest harvest. The barrels are never emptied: in general they will never transfer more than 1/3rd of the contents at one time. So what exactly happens? Well, some sherries are oxidized—meaning allowed exposure to oxygen, which impacts the flavor—some are intentionally deprived, kept under a naturally occurring layer of yeast called a flor. Because the flor comes from ambient yeast in the winery, where Sherry is aged becomes part of its expression. When the flor disappears, on purpose or by accident, oxidation occurs and darker, richer flavors arise—which is one reason why sherry can achieve the incredible sweet, fruity, nutty aroma and a bone-dry mouthfeel - which makes it a great food pairing wine (hint hint).
Styles: There are many different styles of Sherry, both dry and sweet. Dry are Fino, Manzanilla, Amontillado, Paolo Cortado and Oloroso. Sweet are Pédro Ximinez, Moscatel and Sweetened Sherry such as Cream sherries.
Color: They range in color from very light green/yellow to amber to rich nutty brown.
Grapes: Palomino (98% of all Sherry), Pedro Ximenez, and Muscat grapes. Palomino is a high yielding variety which produces wines of low acidity and modest fruitiness – instead it is good at expressing the coastal minerality of the soil. Moscatel and Pedro Ximénez are used to produce sweet sherries with the same name.
Now let’s talk food - salty, rich, umami or sweet - you will find a Sherry that can pair well with all! Sherry goes hand in hand with tapas like Jamon Iberico, Marcona almonds or briny olives.
Pairs well with meat, meat and more meat - beef, pork, lamb or game. Pulled pork? Grilled lamb chops? Let’s go down the salty route - try Blue Cheese or Manchego with Oloroso. Lastly, sweet - try it with Dark chocolate
Lastly, Sherry is very affordable, couplex, well-made fortified wine.
