Ep. 1069 Map 34 Sherry | Jumbo Shrimp Maps

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I'm Joe Gordon Smith, and I'm talking about Sherry. So Sherry is a fortified wine from Andalucia on the southern coast of Spain. It was a British favorite by the eighteen seventies and became one of the first protected appellations in nineteen thirty three. Hereth is the hottest wine region in Spain and the home of Sherry production, and it's located within the coast province of Cadiz. There are three towns. We have Harris de la Frontera, El Porta de Santa Maria, and San Luca de Baramada, and Lisa at the center of Sherry production and Deoregulations. The Deoregulations require Sherry to be matured in and shipped from one of these three areas. On the coast, the cool Atlantic breezes alleviate the heat of the region, but as you move further inland, the temperature can be much hotter. And that's because of a couple of things. One is the Lavante, which is a hot dry wind that blows from the East It's said to drive men mad. It actually cooks the grapes on the vine during ripening. There's another wind. It's a very humid, Atlantic wind, and that's called the Poinente, and that promotes the growth of floor. So both very important for sherry The trade is controlled by the Sherry makers. They have their Bodegas warehouses in the town of Perez or one of the smaller seaside towns of San Luca de Baramada or Porta de Santa Maria. They're grown by grapes or base wine from the corporate tips. Who are not permitted to age or sell sherry. There's a small group of producers called Alama Janistas, and they can mature but not sell wine. The climate's warm Mediterranean. It's very sunny. There's over three hundred sunshine days a year, and the temperature is affected and moderated by the prevailing winds. As I mentioned, the Ponientes cool and humid and the Lavante's warm and dry, and it can actually raise temperatures right up to forty degrees. Being on the coast, the rainfall is actually higher compared to other Spanish regions. The soils, most important would be Albertha, and that's a high chalk content. It's very chalky and needs the right root stock to avoid chlorosis of the vine. It has very good drainage so it's deep enough to retain moist and they did rectangular pits between the rows to trap water and to reduce runoff. Alberitha soil also forms a very hard crust, and that's really important because that limits evaporation from the soil. There are three grape varieties permitted in Harith, so palomino, which is very low in acid and extremely neutral, and that's preferred for sherry. And ninety five percent of the vineyard acreage in Harris, is planted to Palomino. It's got very good disease resistance and has quite high yields. Pedro Jimenez, there's very little in Harris. Most is in Montula Moriles in that d o, and the grapes are dried prior to being pressed. Also muscat of Alexandria. It's best in the arena soils, which are quite sandy soils, and it's used like Pedra Jiminesse for sweet wines. Many of the region's grapes are machine harvested and they've got to be pressed very quickly after picking as they're prone to oxidation. They take about seventy two liters from a hundred kilograms. So let's talk about the dry styles. So in the winery, Palomino is used to make the dry wines of Herev and given the high temperatures at harvest time, the grapes have to get to that press very, very quickly because we want to avoid oxidation. The fermentation is typically in stainless steel in roughly twenty to twenty five degrees, and it's quite high for a white wine, but it does produce a very neutral base wine by having those higher fermentation temperatures. And the base wine that's produced is around about eleven to twelve percent ABV. So the yeast is very active during the first seven days, and then there's a very slow ferment for up to twelve weeks. The wines come out at around eleven to twelve ABV and they're very dry. And at the conclusion of fermentation, the wines are classified. So each tank is marked as being either parlo with a vertical slash or godura with a circle. It's then wrecked from its leaves and left in large unsealed tanks in order for floor to form. Those that are being sent for biological aging will be differentiated from those that are sent for oxidative aging, and these decisions are based on the flavor characteristics of the wines. So typically the lighter paler wines with more finesse would be selected for biological aging, and the darker richer heavier wines will be selected for oxidative aging. And at this stage, you'll see that the film forming yeast known as floor would have started to grow on the surface of the tank. So the palos would be fortified to fifteen point five, and they're destined to become a pheno or manzanilla's style. The godura would be fortified to seventeen to eighteen percent, which would actually kill the yeast. There's several different strands of yeast that make up the floor. The floor is a very thick layer and the yeast feed off the alcohol in the wine and the oxygen in the atmosphere to produce c o two, and it's the acetaldehyde that gives Sherry its unique flavor. But in order to survive, the floor needs precise levels of alcohol, temperature, and humidity. It's so sensitive that each Bodega's position and conditions can affect the style. So floor can't survive in a wine with an ABV of over fifteen point five, and it likes cool moderate temperatures and high levels of humidity, so it grows more vigorously in the spring and autumn and then dies back in the winter and summer. So Fino and Oloroso cherries are made with the same grapes at the same wineries, but this is where the similarity ends. In flavor and texture, the wines are different and the aging process makes them even more different. So wines with a well developed floor and a light body in color would be classified as pheno. The fuller bodied wines with little to no floor would be classified as oloroso. The juice from the lighter pressing produce the best feno and the heavier pressings produce the best oloroso. They're fortified. An ideal level to promote floor and stop other microorganisms, which would be fifteen to fifteen point five. And then Olerosso's would be fortified to seventeen percent because that would kill the floor because they can't exist over that fifteen point five percent. They're then transferred to oak barrels, and they rest in this stage, and this is called Sabratable. So after six to eight months, they'd undergo another classification. So if the floors developed really well, they remain a feno. If not, they're either going to be an Oloroso or a Paloado or they'll turn into vinegar. So biological aging. Are you enjoying this podcast? Don't forget to visit our YouTube channel, mama jumbo shrimp for fascinating videos covering Stevie Kim and her travels across Italy and beyond. Meeting winemakers, eating local food, and taking in the scenery. Now back to the show. Fino Sherry is a biologically aged. Sherry, and it's been protected from the effects of oxygen by the floor. And that's that white blanket. The floor metabolizes most of the acid and some of the ethanol in the wine and allows a controlled oxidation through that semi permeable barrier. The floor produces aldehydes and fusil oil and inhibits bacterial growth, and sherry floors actually native to the region and nowhere else, which is why sherry only comes from sherry. The wine needs to be acidic, because acid is the floor's main food. The barrels are seasoned. The winery has to be aerobic and humid, so lots of oxygen, and the wine has no residual sugar. Alcohol can't get to more than just over fifteen and a half to sixteen percent. Otherwise, it'll kill the floor. Oloroso, which is the other style of of wine. So oxidatively aged, the wine changes because of direct contact with the air. So Oloroso means fragrant. So with no layer of floor, the wines are oxidize rapidly and the high alcohol protects them from bacteria. The wines gain in body and become really dark. Evaporation may concentrate alcohol to above twenty percent. Some oloros is also classified as rare and they're put into these wines are put into cask in the sun for up two years and they lose volume from evaporation and further concentrate flavor. So once a wine has been marked to become espresso, its future's pretty certain wines underfloor enter the intermediary stage. The Sabra Tableis for six months to a year and the wines course of evolution could be redirected. The wines get classified for a second time. So as the pheno develops, the floor may disappear. And if that floor disappears, the wine then begins age oxidatively and takes on a more robust hazelnutty character and slowly increases in alcohol. So if the loss of that flaw's not too bad and the wines of good quality, that then becomes an amontillado almost like a failed pheno because the flavor, strength, and color deepen, and sit between a pheno and an oloroso. So let's talk about the solera system, which is the maturation system. So We know that Sabra tablets are first stage in the Salera where the wines are fortified and then they're rested. And then after six to eight months, they'll be reclassified. So because this is a form of fractional blending, the wine will be taken from one level to the next and only a third of the wine may be taken out in a year. And what this enables is consistency. A Salera is a number of groups of butts or levels that hold wines of different ages. The maturation process involves moving wine between those levels. And the final level where the sherry comes out for sale is actually the silera. The levels in between are called cryoedema. The cryoedema with the youngest wine is only replaced with the Sabra tablet wine. So the new one from the nursery. The systems can also move into another, so a pheno might start to feed in a Monteado. Other styles such as manzanilla and age indicated styles are something we should really think about. So a manzanilla is a feno, but it's a feno that's been matured in the coastal town of San Luca de Baramada, and it needs to be aged there to qualify as a manzanilla to San Luca de Baramada. It is a separate deal to that of her ears. They're made in exactly the same way as Finos from Harris, but the cooler more humid conditions on the coast guarantee a really thick layer of floor, and they have a intensely tangy aroma. The most famous would be Mancini or Feena. If a wine has undergone minimal fining and filtering, you might see it labeled as on Rama because you can actually see the yeast in there. There's also cherries with an indication of age, and there's four categories of age indicated cherries, and the top category would be VINum Optimum rare Cygnatum or very old rare Sherry and VINum Optimum, very old Sherry. And these indicate the average age of the blend is at least thirty years old and for VOS, at least twenty years old, and each batch is tested to see if it complies. The lesser categories would be say twelve year old and fifteen year old. They apply to the whole Salera system, so they're used more flexibly. It's only a Monteado, Palacortado, Olarosa, and p x that can qualify for age indicated status. Vinted cherries with an age date are known as an ada. They're rare. They're aged statically because floor can't be sustained without adding new wines. So they're aged oxidatively, so they're not aged in the Salera. That really covers everything we need to look at when we're answering a question on Sherry. You need to think about biologically aged and oxidatively aged. Think about the styles of Sherry, places that they come from. For example, Fino and manzanilla being a Fino that's been matured in Sanlucida Baramada. Think about wines with age indication. It's important to know about VOS, very old rare, Sherry, VOS, very old, and also that the twelve and fifteen year olds are more likely to be aged in a solera system because it has more flexibility. And then Anada, which is not aged in a solera and is really rare. And that one is aged statically. Thanks for listening to this episode of Italian wine podcast brought to you by Italian wine Academy, offering WSET levels one, two, and three in English. Visit our website at italian wine academy dot org for more information and sign up today to start your personal adventure in global wine education right here in the heart of verona. Remember to subscribe and like Italian wine podcast and catch us on Sound spotify, and wherever you get your pods. 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