Showing posts with label manzanilla. Show all posts
Showing posts with label manzanilla. Show all posts

Friday, 6 June 2014

Sherry Twitter Tasting

I'm wary of the twitter hashtag, which seems a lazy way of promoting a trend you haven't much thought about, but on Tuesday I found myself following the progress of, and contributing dozens of tweets to, #sherryTT. This was a live twitter tasting involving tweeters from all over the world contributing over 400 tweets, as part of International Sherry Week.

I don't know if there's a greater drink in the world than sherry - for its history, quality, variety, value for money, and its food-pairing potential - but it's one that suffers a severe image problem, so I was game to take part in the evening's tasting, hoping to spread the love and awareness of this much misunderstood drink. Some tweeters knew all about sherry, others were new to it but enthusiastic to take part, a combination which led to an engaging online conversation.

I've never been involved in a twitter tasting before and found it great fun. In many ways, it corresponded to a real tasting - the Andalucian crowd turned up late, some tweeters described the wines imaginatively, others engaged in contextual information. What I enjoyed about it most, though, was that it was a conversation many people were involved in yet which you could conduct at your own pace. If I wanted to, I could tweet constantly and breathlessly, or I could take my time and come up with a considered opinion of the drink - I did a bit of both, and felt more confident contributing to the online conversation and also felt I learnt more from the different observations of those involved than if we'd all been sat round a table discussing the drinks.

For it to work, though, it needs an organiser. In this case, it was Ruben from SherryNotes. He created the event, provided the samples of all the sherries, and made sure everyone was on board and understood the different styles of sherries. Many thanks!


I didn't expect the samples to look like actual samples



 

Gonzalez Byass Tío Pepe En Rama (April 2014)

For the last five years, Gonzalez Byass, the largest producer in Jerez, has been releasing its classic fino "En Rama". This means straight from the cask, unfiltered, and unclarified - you're drinking just what you would if you were in Jerez and stood in front of a barrel drawing the wine from it. Gonzalez Byass promote it further by saying the wine is from the very best casks ultimately destined to be part of Tío Pepe. It's a great marketing idea, which the sherry industry needs - it points to its distinctiveness (the solera system), its different styles (in this case, fino), and its different tastes (how decisions by the winemaker alter the appearance and taste of the drink).




tasting mat courtesty of @guillermomdv

 

Barbadillo Manzanilla Solear En Rama (Primavera 2014)

Manzanilla is, more or less, the same style of wine as fino, but it has to be made in the seaside town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda giving it more noticeable saline qualities. Many of the tweeters found the previous fino to have a definite saltiness as well, but I did think it was much more apparent in this classic manzanilla, which is also taken straight from the barrel (like the Tío Pepe En Rama during spring, when the flor is at its most active and the wine at its saltiest). It's a very different drink - more complex but less immediate; the Tío Pepe, whether in its classic form or from the barrel, is for a summer's day, while this is for a summer's day by the sea.


 

Fernando de Castilla Palo Cortado Antique

The difference between the fino and manzanilla were nuanced, delicate, and intriguing. The first sniff of this wine declared in an instant the astounding differences between styles of sherry. Palo Cortado is a complex style that's not always easily understood or explained - it's kind of like a cross between an amontillado and an oloroso. It's also the one that sherry connoisseurs rate as the most complex and involving, and this example had to be the wine of the night - in this line up that's quite a compliment.

 

Oloroso "Pata de Gallina" Almacenista Juan García Jarana (Lustau)

Lustau are another of sherry's top producers, and one of the best and most interesting lines they do is the "Almacenista" (referring to a maker of sherry who sells it on to another company), a range which showcases Lustau's best suppliers. I think this is a wonderful way of supporting and promoting the sherry community; during the evening I discovered that Juan García Jarana runs a motorbike dealership in his other life. Having said which, the nose was a little lacking but it did have a long, lasting, leathery finish.

 

Gutiérrez Colosía PX Colosía

Pedro Ximénez is the name of the grape, as well as the style of the wine; essentially, the grapes are dried to such an extent that they become raisins, resulting in one of the sweetest wines in the world. It can be a hard drink to take on its own, with layers and layers of complex sweet flavours. There are lots of sweet foods it can be paired with, but the classic match is pouring it over vanilla ice cream. Gutiérrez Colosía are based in the town of El Puerto, along with Jerez and Sanlúcar de Barrameda one of the three towns that make up the "sherry triangle." This was a great example of the PX style, with lots of appealingly chewy dried fruits.


There's not a lot much better than tasting five high-quality sherries with other wine enthusiasts, whether on- or offline. These two tweets sum up the tasting's best wine and the evening as a whole.

Follow the whole tasting on Storify
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Tuesday, 26 November 2013

Sherry - for life, not just for Christmas

Like German wines and Beaujolais, the sherry industry boomed in the 1970s and 80s and its reputation has never recovered since. It's too often seen as sweet and to be drunk at Christmas - and it's probably the same bottle that's used each year before it finally runs out ten years later. I hope things are changing. The UK is the traditional market for fortified wines and when I started working at hangingditch last year I was pleased to see how many people came in asking for sherry and how knowledgeable they were about the different styles. It's time more people knew just how good sherry is.

So why drink sherry?


Sherry comes in a vast array of styles, which can be understandably bewildering, but there's likely to be a sherry out there which suits your tastes. This also means sherry goes with lots of different foods; from a bowl of salted nuts to vanilla ice cream, there'll be a sherry as a perfect accompaniment. So, different styles for different tastes and different foods, and, what's more, it always presents incredibly good value.

What is sherry?


To be called sherry in the EU, the drink has to come from the area around Jerez in Andalucia. Sherry is made from white wine which is fortified with a brandy spirit after fermentation. This means that sherry is a naturally dry wine; unlike port, whose sweetness comes from fortifying the base wine during fermentation, sweetness in sherry comes from adding a sweet liquid to the wine (there's one exception to this, see Pedro Ximénez below). Sherry is nearly always a blend of different years, aged in large oak barrels where exposure to air is all important. This interaction with oxygen is where the characteristic sherry aroma comes from.

Sherries to try


Sanchez Romate Fino Perdido - a fino that's been aged much longer than standard, simply because the winemakers forgot about the wine. This wine is nutty, yeasty, and bready; wonderful depth of flavour, yet delicate. Widely available at less than £15 a bottle - a seriously good wine at a seriously great price.

Valdespino Manzanilla Deliciosa - Valdespino have been making wine for 700 years and are one of the area's best producers. This single-vineyard manzanilla is sensational - bready, salty, nutty, spicy, with apple peel. Another steal at £12.50 a bottle from hangingditch.

Osborne Venerable Pedro Ximénez - ebony black in colour, intensely sweet, flavours of treacle and toffee, this will turn plain vanilla ice cream into one of the most decadent meals of your life. £26 from the Wine Society.
 

The different types of sherry


Although it can be confusing, knowing about the different styles of sherry will help you pick the right sherry for the right occasion. Here's a table to sort out the different levels of sweetness and oxidisation in sherries:



fino (15.5%) - the sherry that defies stereotypes of sherry as a sweet, rich wine to be drunk with trifle. A fino is golden in colour, bone dry, best drunk chilled, and perfect as a summer apertif. It's generally 15.5% ABV, but delicate and fragrant. It's aged for a relatively short time and is designed to be drunk young (always try and finish the bottle off the night you open it!). Food pairing: cured ham or hard cheese.

manzanilla (15.5%) -  made in the same way as fino, but it has to come from the seaside town of Sanlucar de Barrameda. The proximity to the sea gives manzanilla a fresh, salty character. Food pairing: seafood, particularly langostinos.

amontillado (17%) - is exposed to air much more than a fino, meaning that the oxygen in the atmosphere turns the drink a rusty brown colour, also giving the wine a nutty character. Food pairing: goat's cheese salad.

oloroso (17-20%) - whereas finos and amontillados are initially protected from oxygen by the layer of yeast that forms on top of the wine (called flor), an oloroso is exposed to oxygen throughout its maturation, which means that an oloroso is always a rich, dark brown colour - the darker it is, the older the wine. Expect caramel and nutty flavours. Food pairing: red meat or game; get out the artichokes and asparagus too, because, unlike a red wine, an oloroso will stand up to their flavours. 

palo cortado (17-22%) - the most unusual of sherries, in that it's a mixture of amontillado and oloroso, undergoing one or more refortifications. It's fuller bodied that an amontillado, but less heavy than an oloroso - and the style will differ according to the producer. Food pairing: something Asian; sherry is one of the few wines that won't be overpowered by spicy food and the robust yet delicate nature of palo cortado is ideal.

Pedro Ximénez (PX) (17-22%) - one of the maddest drinks there is, especially if it's gone through a long ageing process. Its colour is dark, sometimes to the point of jet black, its flavours intensely sweet, which comes from drying the grapes to the point of being like raisins. One of the best dessert wines, as it can stand up to any food no matter how sweet. Food pairing: pour a tablespoon of PX over vanilla ice cream, giving the ice cream rich toffee and treacle flavours. So indulgent and decadent, and so fantastic!

Amontillados and olorosos are sometimes sweetened, either by adding unfermented grape juice or PX to the wine. A sweet oloroso is also called Cream Sherry. Food pairing: a chocolate- or fruit-based dessert.



 

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