Fortified Wine Exam

Much has changed since I started the WSET Diploma in January 2014. Then, I was working for a wine merchants in Manchester, now I'm working at a winery in Napa. Oh, and I'm also married. That's how much time it's taken to complete the Diploma, my studies prolonged by my move to California. It was a year ago that I took the exhausting and exhaustive day-long Unit 3 exam (Wines of the World); this week, I was back in San Francisco to take the final exam on fortified wine. This is one of the few exams I've genuinely looked forward to, if only because it would mean a welcome and overdue end to studying for the Diploma. I also love fortified wine, especially sherry, but that doesn't make being examined on it any easier. I'll find out in a couple of months how I did, but here's how it went on the day.

Unlike last year when I nearly missed the exam due to a three-hour car journey caused by faint drizzle, I made the exam in plenty of time by taking the beautiful ferry trip across San Pablo Bay into San Francisco. A fellow student and I met before the exam to taste a little bit of sherry to acclimatise our palates and to steady the nerves. 

At this late stage, I don't see much point cramming information into one's overloaded brain, but most students were busy reading books when we walked into the exam venue. Given the wide range of subjects covered, it's impossible to guess which pieces of information you're likely to need to know and which you're not. For me, it was more a case of staying calm and relaxed until the exam eventually began. 

theory

The exam is 65 minutes long, with a blind tasting of three wines and three theory questions, each of which take ten minutes to answer. I tackled the theory questions first, in part to get them out of the way but also because running out of time is a real danger with the theory questions. 

Turning straightaway to the questions, I felt a sense of relief as the topics were relatively straightforward. I left the trickiest topic (Key Madeira Shippers) till last, going straight to Fortification of Sherry. This involved describing when fortification happens (after fermentation which is different from most other fortified wines), and the different levels of fortification that result in the many styles of sherry. The next question was on Rutherglen, an area of Australia I would love to visit one day and about which there is a lot to write. Key Madeira Shippers I found trickier because there are only seven independent producers plus a co-op in Madeira and production is small, so it was hard to know what the examiners were looking for. I felt that I answered all three questions comprehensively, though, and that all my studies had been worthwhile.

Students taking the exam in Europe were asked about Key Madeira Shippers, The Fortification and Maturation of Vins Doux Naturels, and Pale Cream Sherry, while students in Asia were asked about Key Madeira Shippers, Sherry Varieties, and The Fortification and Maturation of Vins Doux Naturels - all questions I would also have been confident answering.

tasting

The tasting was harder. My ideal tasting would have been three distinct styles of sherry, but as soon as I saw the bottles of wine I knew we were in for a port tasting. The question revealed that the wines were indeed from the same region; we didn't have to answer which region, but which style each wine was. And this I found very difficult: the first and third wines were a similar deep ruby colour, while the middle wine was much paler and more faded. On first sight, I guessed this was a tawny but overthought it: the colour was more garnet than tawny and although there were lots of dried fruit aromas I didn't sense the nuttiness that is typical of a tawny, so I put that it was an LBV. Wrong: it was a tawny. Always go with your first instincts - at least when you're right. The other two wines were very similar and I really didn't have a clue what style each one was. The first was complex and intense, and I guessed it was a young vintage port: it was a ruby. The third was less complex and less intense, so I guessed it was a ruby: it was a vintage port. I hope my tasting notes were accurate enough to make up for mistaking the wines; if not, I also hope my theory answers were strong enough to compensate for the tasting. I really don't want to have to do this exam again; I want this Diploma over and done with.

wines tasted

Taylors First Estate Reserve Port ($20) 

I'm going to have to seek out a bottle, because I thought it was fantastic!

Niepoort Tawny Dee (not on sale in the US, sells for £6-10 in the UK) 

used to sell this wine in the shop in Manchester, so disappointed I didn't recognise it.

Ferreira Quinta da Leda Vintage Port 1999 (again not on sale in the US, but would be around $50) 

once more, disappointed I wasn't able to spot a vintage port that's nearly 20 years old - at the same time, I didn't find it that impressive.

I'll be getting the results in a couple of months, let's see how I do ...

Update, 16 August

I just got the results for this exam. As I hoped, I passed the theory with distinction; as I feared, I failed the tasting. That's frustrating, because that's the only element of the Diploma I didn't pass. However, my theory answers compensated for my tasting and I came away with an overall pass. Which means the Diploma is done and dusted!

The Sweet Stuff

There are different ways of making a wine sweet. The simplest sweet wines are made so by adding what is in effect unfermented grape juice. The greatest, most complex wines use other methods. The most famous is picking grapes when they are affected with noble rot (botrytis cinerea), a mould which causes the grapes to shrivel, concentrating the sugar levels in the juice. Noble rot is behind the sweet wines of Sauternes, Germany (for Trockenbeerenauslese), and Tokaj in Hungary. Other methods can be used, as outlined below, to create truly extraordinary wines.

Rutherglen

Hot, inland Rutherglen has been producing some of the greatest and most memorable sweet wines since the nineteenth century. These wines are so sweet, the Australians have an apt name for them: "stickies." There are two styles of Rutherglen, Muscat and Topaque (which used to be called Tokay, but the name was changed for legal reasons). The former, made from a dark-skinned version of Muscat à Petits Grains Blancs, can be aged for years and released very old (sometimes a century later); the latter is generally younger and less complex, made from the Muscadelle grape. Both are made in similar ways, however, in a solera system in tin huts accumulating heat in Rutherglen's warm climate. Instead of killing the wines, as one would expect from such conditions, the heat adds complex oxidative aromas as it does in Madeira. The grapes are picked when turning into raisins, fortified during fermentation to maintain high sugar levels, before being aged in oak barrels. Although producers regulate themselves, there are four tiers for both Muscat and Topaque, rising in maturity and quality: standard, Classic, Grand, and Rare.

Pfeiffer Classic Rutherglen Topaque NV ($40; 500ml)

A pale amber colour, with lots of dried fruits - raisins, sultanas, figs - on the nose, and quite floral too - roses and honeysuckle (Muscadelle is an aromatic grape). There are also oxidative aromas of toffee, fudge, and caramel. The palate is quite spicy (peppercorn, juniper), which perhaps comes from the alcohol (17.5%). I can imagine this with sticky toffee pudding, one of my favourite desserts.   ✪✪✪✪✪

 

Pedro Ximénez

As intense, dense, and sweet as the wines of Rutherglen are, those made from the white Pedro Ximénez grape are even more so. Although most of the wines are produced in the sherry region, the majority of the grapes come from neighbouring Montilla-Moriles where it's drier and disease-prone Pedro Ximénez escapes rot. After the grapes are picked, they are laid out in the sun to dry and turn into raisins. The sugar is so concentrated that the juice can only be fermented to around 5%, before being fortified and aged in a solera system. The wines are a dark brown, sometimes mahogany colour, and are intensely sweet, as much as 450g/l of residual sugar. They are so sweet that they can be difficult to drink on their own but make the ideal accompaniment to the sweetest of desserts. There is nothing more indulgent than pouring a PX - as the wines are usually abbreviated to - over vanilla ice cream.

Gonzalez Byass Nectar NV ($30; 750ml)

A characteristically brown colour, with a deceptively restrained nose that slowly opens up to a wonderful array of dried fruits - figs and prunes and blueberries - cloves and anise, coffee, leather, and tobacco, and oxidative aromas of toffee and caramel. The wine is intensely sweet, at 370g/l of residual sugar; the sweetness is intensified further by a low acidity (sherry is one of the few wines that can get away with low acidity because of the viscous acetaldehyde). The alcohol is relatively low at 15%, which lightens the wine a little. Those complex aromas from the nose are matched on the palate, with some ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon to add. A complex, expressive wine that's as good as PX gets. ✪✪✪✪✪✪✪

Eiswein

Yet another way of making a wine sweet requires a great deal of labour and dedication. For an Eiswein (Icewine in English), the grapes are left on the vine into the cold winter until they are frozen. They have to remain healthy and the varieties used must be ones with such a naturally high acidity they will retain it until November or December. The grapes are generally picked in the dead of night when temperatures are -8˚C or below. To ensure the grapes don't thaw, they are often pressed on site before returning to the winery. When pressed, all the water in the grapes is frozen and the juice which comes out is a sugary syrup, which leads to intensely sweet wines. This is a labour of love.

Rosenhof Orion Eiswein 2012 ($29; 350ml)

Rosenhof Blaufränkisch Eiswein 2012 ($37; 350ml)

The grape most commonly associated with quality Eiswein, due to its aromatic complexity and high acidity, is Riesling. It was interesting, therefore, to taste two Eisweins made from varieties not usually associated with the style. The Orion is from Grüner Veltliner, Austria's signature white grape and which is high in acidity. It has a rich, honeyed nose, with cooked apricots and peaches, honeysuckle, orange blossom, and orange rind, with white pepper - characteristically associated with Grüner - and ginger notes on the palate. ✪✪✪✪✪ Even more unusually, the Austrian producer also make an Eiswein from Blaufränkisch, a black grape. It looks, smells, and tastes like a high-quality sweet rosé: a vibrant, light, yet intense orange colour, with perfumed floral aromas of rose petals and violets and ripe red fruit aromas of cranberries, pomegranates, strawberries, and raspberries. The acidity isn't quite as high as the Grüner, but nonetheless a refreshing, sweet wine. ✪✪✪✪ The Grüner I would enjoy with apple strudel, the Blaufränkisch with strawberry shortcake. Food is where sweet wines come into their own: they make desserts even better. 

Spain: A Destination You Never Reach

regions tasted

Spain has always been one of my favourite countries for wine, food, and its general appreciation of life. William Gaddis, the American postmodernist novelist, once wrote that, "Spain is a destination you never reach," an observation I've always liked. A country whose full character is impossible to grasp completely, Spain is edgily placed between the slow-paced, conservative, Catholic past and the fast-paced, outgoing, urban present. This is true of its wines too; the oxidative wines of sherry and Rioja must still taste much like they did in the nineteenth century and other regions and producers adhere to winemaking traditions of the past. At the same time, coinciding with the transition to democracy after Franco, Spanish wine has been transformed in the last thirty years, with modern, clean, crisp whites emerging from Rueda, Rías Baixas, and elsewhere and even conservative regions such as Rioja producing fruity, oaky reds that appeal to contemporary drinkers.

Over the last couple of months, my wife and I have been indulging in a series of Spanish wines to refresh our appreciation of the varied styles of wines being made in the world's third biggest wine-producing country. Here's what we've been drinking and have learnt about Spain.

regions & wines 

Arabako Txakolina

Txakoli (translated into Spanish as Chacolí) is a light, acidic white wine produced in the Basque country; it's often slightly fizzy, especially when poured from a height from the long, thin-necked bottle. There are three DOs, one of which is Arabako Txakolina. It's tiny, just 50ha, lying off the wet Atlantic coast and receiving 1,500mm of rain a year. The cool summers make grape-growing even more difficult but local growers are determined to preserve the historic tradition of txakoli. The Arzabro Txakolina winery is new, established in 2009, run by a local farming family based in the area for generations. Their txakoli ($19) is made from Hondarribi Zuri, which accounts for 85% of the grapes grown for txakoli production, and Izpiriotza Txikia (which is Petit Manseng across the French border). The wine's very zesty and acidic, with pronounced lemon and lime aromas: a good summer aperitif. ✪✪✪✪

Rioja

Part of Rioja lies within the Basque country, but on the other side of the Cantabrian mountains where it's drier (500mm of rain) and warmer. Rioja is the most famous of Spain's wine regions and is known for its red wines, but white wine is made too. Traditionally, the whites are oxidative, oaky, and mature, but an increasing number of modern wines are made, usually from the Viura grape (called Macabeo elsewhere in Spain) alongside a form of Malvasia, Garnacha Blanca, and Tempranillo Blanca. The Acodo Blanco 2010 ($30) from Basilio Izquierdo is a nice combination of old and new: it's five years old but still has fresh green and citrus fruits; it hasn't seen any oak ageing but has been left on its lees for eight months, giving it a nutty, yeasty character traditionally associated with white Rioja. ✪✪✪✪

Rioja is traditionally a blend of vineyards from different parts of the region and of different grape varieties - which is why this blend of the four major black grape varieties interested me. 75% of the grapes planted in Rioja are Tempranillo, which produces wines of red fruits and firm tannins. Garnacha is grown in the warmer Rioja Baja, and adds alcohol and red fruit, liquorice aromas. Mazuelo (Carineña eleswhere in Spain and Carignan in France) gives black fruits and tannins, while Graciano, plantings of which have increased since its lowpoint in the 1970s, has attractive floral, perfumed aromas. The Colección Vivanco 4 Varietales 2010 ($70) from Dinastía Vivanco - which is not just a winery but also a museum and educational centre - combines all these fruity, perfumed elements with a powerful structure from its sixteen months in French oak. ✪✪✪✪✪

Priorat

Inland from Barcelona in Catalunya, Priorat had all but been abandoned by the 1980s although wine has been made there since the 12th century. It's hilly with very steep slopes and stony slate soils (called llicorella), all of which makes growing vines there incredibly difficult. A group of winemakers took on the challenge of making wine there in the late 1980s which led to a revolution in quality, and now some of Spain's most exciting red (and white) wines are made in Priorat. Garnacha and Carineña, with small proportions of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah, produce intense, concentrated high-alcohol wines. Planetes de Nin is the project of young female dreadlocked winemaker Ester Nin. This is a classic Priorat (70% Garnacha, 30% Carineña; $45): deep red and black fruits, spice and French oak, and a fearless amount of brett with farmyard, earth, and animal aromas. ✪✪✪✪✪

Montsant

The small hill of Priorat is surrounded by Montsant ("Holy Mountain"), which produces similar but less expensive wines. Finca l'Argata are a fairly new producer, but they practise some old-fashioned techniques: they're biodynamic, they crush the grapes by foot, only partially de-stem, mainly use old oak and concrete tanks, and don't fine or filter. The 2012 is 85% Garnacha and 15% Syrah ($30). It's quite taut and restrained, with red fruits and liquorice, and surprisingly different from the powerful bombshell of Priorat. ✪✪✪✪

Ribera del Duero

For a century and a half, Ribera del Duero was only known for one producer, Vega de Sicilia. That changed in the 1980s, when a wave of new producers started making wines on the high-altitude slopes above the river Duero, making it one of the most sought-after regions in Spain. Becoming part of the establishment doesn't suit everyone, however, and Alfredo Maestro refuses to work within the DO regulations. A self-taught winemaker since 1998, Maestro feels that contemporary Ribero del Duero producers use too much oak and limit themselves to one grape variety, Tinto Fino (Tempranillo). Instead, he seeks out old vines from traditional local varieties such as Garnacha and Albillo (a white variety), as well as Tinto Fino. He also refuses to use any chemicals in the making of his wine, including even sulphur. In the beautifully-labelled Lovamor ($28), the absence of sulphur is a little too noticeable. Made from one-hundred-year-old Albillo vines, it's a deep golden-yellow colour, heavily oxidative, and tastes much more like a cider than a wine. ✪✪✪ The Castrillo de Duero ($25) is much more successful; from seventy-year-old Tinto Fino vines and aged in neutral oak for 12 months, the wine has a deep, intense, tannic and fruit structure which is classic Ribera del Duero while refusing to call itself so. ✪✪✪✪✪

Castilla y Leon

Many producers in Ribera del Duero and neighbouring Rueda also classify their wines under Castilla y Leon Vino de la Tierra (the IGT level of classification which has more flexible rules). La Fábula Cebreros ($30) - another wine with a beautiful label - is made from one-hundred-year-old Garnacha (which isn't permitted in any of the local DOs) and is a wonderful expression of that grape. It's an intense, powerful, old-school Spanish wine that needs decanting. Leather, mushrooms, and quite a bit of brett eventually give way to dried strawberries, raspberries, and roses. ✪✪✪✪✪

Ribeira Sacra

Many of the wines we tasted are from areas with a long history and old vines, but made from young producers rediscovering the area. Ribeira Sacra ("holy riverbank") is another region undergoing a revival, although it's still small. The major grape is Mencía and again the vines can be up to one hundred years old, grown on steep, stony slopes, battered by rain from the Atlantic. There's an obvious Priorat connection in this revival and Dominio do Bibei's winemaker Javier Domingues has enlisted the help of Priorat producers used to difficult soils and slopes. Lalama ($30) is 90% Mencía, with a handful of Garnacha and other local grape varieties Brancellao and Mouraton. The 2011 is a very attractive wine, with floral, herbal, and red fruit aromas. ✪✪✪✪✪

Monterrei

Near Ribeira Sacra on the Portuguese border, Monterrei is another newly emerging region drawing on old, local varieties. Quinta da Muradella are one of the leading producers of this still small DO, and the Alanda ($33) is a blend of four varieties of different degrees of obscurity. Doña Blanca (which is called Síria in Portugal from where it probably originates) gives intense floral and orange aromas. Treixadura (Trajadura in Portugal) has apple and pear aromas and is best in a blend as it has low acidity. The wonderfully-named Monstruosa is even rarer and was rescued from extinction by Muradella; it has aromas of wild, alpine flowers. Finally, the wine also has Verdello (Verdelho in Portugal and Madeira), which is in the blend for its acidity. The wine itself has extraordinarily intense citrus aromas of oranges and lemons, along with orange blossom. A refreshingly high acidity means that it is a very good food wine - we drank this with a chicken, carrot, leek, and turnip stew. ✪✪✪✪✪

sherry

All of the above wines come from north-central Spain, where either the sea or altitude moderate the climate. Once as far south as Madrid and beyond, the climate is generally too hot for quality wine production. The area around Jerez in hot, dry Andalucia is one historic exception. Close to the Mediterranean, more rain falls than in northern Rioja; most of it is during the winter, with the irrigation system introduced by the Moors over a thousand years ago storing the water for the dry summer months. Sherry is one of the contradictions emblematic of Spain. One of the country's best known wines, it was for the most part created for the British (who still drink almost as much as the Spanish). With its oxidative aromas, it's old-fashioned and out of time; nonetheless the region is now creating some of the most vibrant, evocative, and affordable wines of anywhere in the world. I would say that, because I am a huge sherry fan - regardless, I dare anyone to resist the attractive aromas of lightly baked apples, salt, and almonds of this fino, priced at under $20. ✪✪✪✪✪✪

Szamorodni

One of the great winemaking regions of the world is Tokaj. First mentioned in the fifteenth century, the wines are made in north-east Hungary near the Slovakian border. The area was the first to create rules to oversee the production of its wines, including on the use of manure. The most famous wines are sweet, but as I wrote in a blog late last year, there is considerable variety to the wines, with some extremely good dry wines being made from Tokaj's most important grape, Furmint.

Over the centuries, many different styles have emerged, from bone dry to the syrupy sweet Eszencia - at up to 600g/L of residual sugar, it was used as a medicinal in the nineteenth century. While I was studying for my Diploma Unit 3 exam, I became interested in one of the styles called Szamorodni, because it's aged under a film of yeast like a fino. I tracked down a bottle, but, as there was no chance of it being in my Diploma tasting exam, I only just got round to drinking it.

Szamorodni

The grapes used for sweet Tokaji are dried, shrunken, and often botrytised, carefully picked very late in the harvest (historically, on the third hoeing). In contrast, grapes for Szamorodni are not specifically selected, instead being a mixture of healthy, shrivelled, and botrytised berries. Very popular in Poland in the early 1800s, Szamarodni means "as it comes off the vine" in Polish.   

Szamorodni can be made in both a dry (száraz in Hungarian) and a slightly sweet (édes) style. Although it has the same name, the dry style is quite different from the sweet. Dry Szamorodni is aged in cellars covered with a mould called Claspodorium cellare; it also has a layer of yeasts, which are native to the area, on top of it, protecting it from oxygen and other bacteria. Over the ageing period, alcohol evaporates from the wine without any water loss, meaning that the wine loses half a percent of alcohol. Unlike a fino, there is no fortification, although alcohol is naturally high (at around 14%) due to the sugar content in the shrivelled and botrytised grapes.

Samuel Tinon Szamorodni Száraz 2007 ($45.99; 500ml)

Samuel Tinon is a Frenchman who travelled all around the world - including Jerez and Jura, where similar wines to Szamorodni are made - before settling in Tokaj. The wine was aged on its lees for six months, before spending five years in small oak barrels. It's best served at cellar temperature, so refrigerate for 20-30 minutes before serving.

The oxidative nature of the wine could be smelt as soon as I opened the bottle: potent, nutty, and, for want of a better word, sherry-like. A light amber colour, on the palate it was richly textured, more like an amontillado than a fino, with baked apple and crème brûlée flavours. In fact, as the wine opened up, the aromas made me think of a just-developing palo cortado. The Furmint and Hárslevelű grapes also provide naturally nutty and spicy aromas, such as marzipan, all-spice, and paprika. A quite extraordinary wine: reminiscent of different styles of sherry, but with higher acidity and more aromatics from the grapes. ✪✪✪✪✪✪

with cheese

I tasted the Szamorodni with three different cheeses - manchego (thinking of the sherry connection), gouda, and English cheddar. I thought the rich, nutty texture of the wine would complement the manchego particularly well, but it may be that the two were both too dry together. Instead, it was the English cheddar - quite a simple one bought in a supermarket - that worked wonderfully with the wine: the crumbly creaminess of the cheese softened the nutty, oxidative wine while also soaking up the rich, creamy flavours.  

This Szamorodni was a complex, engaging wine that makes me want to seek out other examples. Despite being drawn to it by its similarities with fino, it was nevertheless something very individual. Aged in small oak barrels in mouldy cellars from grapes grown on volcanic soils, it was different both from the famous sweet wines of Tokaj and the classic wines of sherry. Expensive, unusual, and great with cheddar: my kind of wine.

World Cup of Wine Round Three

The final set of group matches saw Italy and Portugal crash out, and Luis Suarez bite an opponent for the third time in his career. Sadly, these will be the last Italian, Spanish, and (less surprisingly) Australian wines of this World Cup, but the next blog will feature the first Argentinian wine as well as beers from Belgium and the USA.

Spain v Australia

Spain: I'm never going to stop banging the sherry drum, as I firmly believe it's the greatest drink in the world: for variety of styles, value for money, and sheer quality, there is no other drink that can rival it. Its problem is that it's not well understood, and drinkers are easily put off by their lack of knowledge of what sherry actually is. In a nutshell, sherry is a fortified, usually dry, wine that spends a long time ageing in permeable old oak casks; the style of sherry depends on how long the wine has spent ageing. Fino and manzanilla are young, delicate, and fresh; amontillado a little older and rustier in colour; oloroso older again, darker, with lots of dried fruit character; palo cortado a complex wine that combines the fresh nuttiness of amontillado with the mature aromas of oloroso; Pedro Ximenez is made from grapes that have been dried to the point of raisins, making the wine intensely sweet. Simple, right?

Valdespino Manzanilla Deliciosa En Rama (c.£12 for a half bottle)

I had an accident this week: I broke a bottle of this wine in the back of the shop van. It's painful to think of such a waste, but the van smelt so beautiful. Manzanilla is very similar to fino, but the wine has to have been aged in the coastal town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda which gives it saltier qualities. This manzanilla, from one of sherry's most historic producers, is classic: fresh, delicate, yet with a woody structure from 5-6 years' ageing, with aromas of apples, salt, and almonds.

Australia: Australia too has a long history of making fortified wine, though it makes far less than it used to. Both "sherry" and "port" have long been made, although those names cannot be used for wines sold within the EU - red fortified wine, often from Shiraz, is instead called "Tawny." Its most famous fortified wine is Rutherglen Muscat, from the hot inland town of Rutherglen in Victoria. Like sherry, it's aged and blended in a solera system, and like Madeira, it ages in hot conditions, together creating a rich, intensely sweet wine quite different from any other.

Stanton and Killeen Rutherglen Muscat, 12 years old (£16 for a half bottle)

Australians refer to their sweet fortified wines as "stickies," which is the perfect term for this mature, lusciously sweet, treacly, Christmassy wine. An ideal accompaniment to Christmas or sticky toffee pudding.

wine result a thrilling contest between two of the world's great fortified wines. Spain just comes out on top, as the Muscat is just so richly sweet it demands the further indugence of a pudding. Spain 4-3 Australia

actual result with both teams being eliminated and Australia missing their star player, Tim Cahill, this was a rather one-sided and inconsequential match. Spain 3-0 Australia

Italy v Uruguay

Italy: besides being home to some of the most famous wine names in the world, such as Valpolicella, Chianti, and Barolo, interesting wines from non-Italian varieties are being made in Italy. Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot (both cheap and higher quality) are found in the Veneto region in the north east, Pinot Noir (or Nero) in the Alto Adige, and Merlot in Lazio around Rome.

Marchesi di Grésy Monferrato Merlot 2007 (c.£20)

Marchesi di Grésy is one of the top producers in the Piemonte region of Barbaresco, and they also make this exceptional wine from Merlot in the small DOC of Monferrato, a hilly area where non-Italian grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay are grown. This wine has spent several years in old oak casks to mature, only released when ready to drink. It has a lovely balance of oak and fruit, with sweet spices and dried fruits coming through too. For such a good wine, this is great value.

Uruguay: the fourth-largest wine-producing country in South America, with much of its exports going to neighbouring Brazil. There's a strong Italian influence, which is why many growers are small farmers, as well as from the Basques, who introduced the Tannat grape to the country in the 1870s. More than a third of plantings are of Tannat, a grape which, as it name suggests, is high in tannins and is found in Madiran, in south-west France. The wines produced are quite different, however: whereas Madiran is heavy in tannins and ages over many years, Uruguayan Tannats are softer and fruitier, and drunk younger.

Alto de la Ballena Tannat-Viognier 2011 (c.£20)

A very unusual blend of Tannat and Viognier, a white grape which is used in the northern Rhône and Australia to soften and give fragrant aromas to Syrah. It performs a similar function here, with floral, perfurmed aromas overlaying the spicy oakiness.

wine result two high-quality wines offering power with a touch of finesse. A close victory for the Italians, with just a touch more sophistication and maturity. Italy 3-2 Uruguay

actual result a bitty game won by Uruguay, which saw them qualify from the group at the expense of Italy but will be remembered more for Luis Suarez's actions than the football. Italy 0-1 Uruguay 

Germany v USA 

Germany As mentioned in the first round of matches, Germany may not be particularly known for its red wines, but it produces high-quality Pinot Noir (Spätburgunder). The grape, which in Germany produces generally earthy, gamey wines, is grown in the regions of Rheingau to the west of Frankfurt (particularly around the wonderfully-named village of Assmannshausen), sunny, dry Pfalz near the border with Alsace, and Baden in the Black Forest, Germany's warmest and most southerly region.

Franz Keller Spätburgunder Ahr 2011 (c.£20)

An earthy, smoky, spicy wine from Baden, with red cherries and plums, which goes well with hearty meat dishes. Franz Keller is a family-run winery that's been making wines for several generations, and also owns several highly-regarded restaurants in the area, including the Michelin starred Schwarzer Adler. Matching this wine with the local food in the beautiful surroundings of the Black Forest would certainly be a heavenly experience.

USA the region of the USA most known for Pinot Noir is Oregon. Until the 1960s, virtually no wine had been made in the state, but a small number of intrepid oenologists started wineries in Willamette Valley south of Portland during the decade, including David Lett, a young student and avid fan of the wines of Alsace and Burgundy and convinced that Willamette Valley had the ideal conditions for the same grapes. His 1975 Pinot Noir was entered into a competition in Paris in 1979, where it performed so well that Joseph Drouhin, a noted Burgundy producer, invited Lett to enter the wine into another, more formal competition in Beaune in 1980, where it came second. All of a sudden, this unknown state became the centre of attention for Pinot Noir lovers.

Domaine Drouhin Cuvée Laurène 2010 (c.£40)

Drouhin was so impressed by the Pinot Noirs being produced in Oregon that he persuaded his daughter Véronique to visit there, where she became winemaker at the newly-established Drouhin Oregon off-shoot in 1987. Oregon is the one New World region that makes Pinot Noir comparable in style to Burgundy, as this wine proves: red fruits, integrated oak, an earthy nose, a gamey texture, and plenty of ageing potential.

wine result two exceptional wines, but the quality, longevity, and class of the Drouhin wins the day. Germany 2-4 USA

actual result another close run thing, the US competing gamely, but Germany's class was ultimately too much. Germany 1-0 USA

in the next blog, the competition expands to include the beers of Belgium and the USA, as well as featuring Argentina v Switzerland.

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).

I wish it were sunnier here in Manchester to appreciate the cool freshness of the En Rama Fino... #sherryTT
— Matthew Gaughan (@mattattheditch) June 3, 2014

I always find En Rama rounder and fewer sharp edges than Tio Pepe - love Tio Pepe though ;-) #SherryTT
— Criadera (@criadera) June 3, 2014

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.

Manzanilla an incredible mix of tabasco sauce, banana bread and seaweed #sherryTT
— Sean Tennyson (@seantennyson) June 3, 2014

the salty seaside flavours of the Manzanilla remind me of the bracing walk to the tram stop in Blackpool on the way to school #sherryTT
— Matthew Gaughan (@mattattheditch) June 3, 2014

Agree the farmyard notes are there thanks to the flor, with a bracing saline zip. Doesn't evoke sunshine like a fino does #SherryTT
— Criadera (@criadera) June 3, 2014

 

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.

moving on to the Fernando de Castilla Palo Cortado now. One sniff, and it's like being in a different world! #sherryTT
— Matthew Gaughan (@mattattheditch) June 3, 2014

You could say Palo Cortado is a hybrid of an elegant, sharper Amontillado on the nose and a full-bodied, rounder Oloroso in mouth #SherryTT
— SherryNotes - Ruben (@SherryNotes) June 3, 2014

The complexity of this Palo Cortado is astonishing, yet it's such an immediate, drinkable wine #sherryTT
— Matthew Gaughan (@mattattheditch) June 3, 2014

Palo Cortado Castilla 30+y: old,brownish colour. Intens nut aromas. Sweet dried raisins & dried fruit. Mandarin, caramel, cigar #sherrytt
— Olaf Leenders (@Vinama) June 3, 2014

Wine 3 in the world's first twitter sherry tasting - Antique Palo Cortado - que lujo #sherryTT pic.twitter.com/01p9VrVPx9
— Criadera (@criadera) June 3, 2014

Looks like Palo Cortado sales will be up this year, based on these reactions! When you fall for #sherry, you fall hard! #SherryTT
— Criadera (@criadera) June 3, 2014

 

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.

It's great to see @BodegasLustau honouring the work of the smaller almacenistas! #sherryTT pic.twitter.com/Jd0vabZGWb
— SherryNotes - Ruben (@SherryNotes) June 3, 2014

As often in great Oloroso, there’s a slight peppery heat coming out towards the finish #SherryTT
— SherryNotes - Ruben (@SherryNotes) June 3, 2014

would love to taste this Oloroso alongside an old Verdelho or Bual Madeira #sherryTT
— Matthew Gaughan (@mattattheditch) June 3, 2014

@galg @SherryNotes This makes you appreciate sherry cask whiskies even more... #sherryTT
— Sven De Guise (@S_DeGuise) June 3, 2014

Notice the immense variety of sherry, we've started with light and mineral, now complex with totally different aromas #sherryTT
— SherryNotes - Ruben (@SherryNotes) June 3, 2014

 

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.

The Pedro Ximenez is like a Christmas cake of dried fruits #sherryTT
— Matthew Gaughan (@mattattheditch) June 3, 2014

#pedroximenez nose of figs, raisins & prunes. Palate soft, sweet licorice, coffee & warm spice. Unctuous, obviously! #SherryTT
— Sinead Cabot (@sineadcabot) June 3, 2014

Why eat desserts when you can drink this #sherryTT Dates, figs, raisins with such a long finish
— Erik Burgess (@TheWhiskyKiwi) June 3, 2014

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.

My favourite of the line-up is #palocortado Fernando de Castilla Antique. Complexity, precision, balance, punch and depth. #sherryTT
— Sinead Cabot (@sineadcabot) June 3, 2014

#sherryTT @SherryNotes a fantastic line up! Loved the Palo Cortado. Thank you for organizing. What a brilliant idea. More please!
— Lyndsey (@LyndseySpellman) June 3, 2014

Follow the whole tasting on Storify

Gonzalez Byass Sherry/Champagne Tasting

Drinking sherry in a fancy restaurant in historic surroundings is just about as close to my idea of heaven as it can get, and that's what I found myself doing on Friday afternoon.

the venue

The Midland Hotel in Manchester is where Rolls met Royce, and is a beautiful, commanding example of Manchester's Victorian history. Like much of the rest of Manchester, it was rundown over the years, but now it's once again an example of Manchester's new vibrancy and self-confidence. The French restaurant has been reinvented as a modern institution for contemporary cuisine by award-winning chef Simon Rogan, and last year Mr. Cooper's House and Garden opened, designed as a more accessible and less exclusive alternative to the French. It's still a pretty luxurious setting, and sat around a table drinking champagne I felt I could have been in a high-class Parisian restaurant.

the champagne

Gonzalez Byass distribute Deutz champagne in the UK, so we got to taste their wines as an opener. Deutz is an historic champagne house, dating back to 1838. They're known for their vintage wines - the 2006, which we tasted, came top in a recent Decanter tasting, ahead of perhaps more famous names. It was certainly an exceptional wine; fresh and lively, with power and structure from the Pinot Noir (60% of the blend), with complex yet delicate autolytic notes, with a beautiful finish of red apples and cinnamon. We also tasted the William Deutz 2000, which was still incredibly lively despite its age (it was only disgorged last April; Deutz have the welcome practice of putting disgorgement dates on the bottles). Its palate was more mature and developed than the 2006, though, a bit earthy, with mushrooms, bruised apples, and crème brûlée. My favourite wine, though, was the Rosé 2008 - biscuits and toast with delicate red fruits. A subtle, complex wine.

the sherry

This was where the afternoon got truly exciting for me: fifteen sherries, ranging from young unfortified wine to thirty-year-old PX. We started with Mosto Palomino, mosto referring to the unfortified base wine and Palomino the most important sherry grape. Quite how such an uninspiring wine can develop into a drink as wonderful and complex as sherry is difficult to understand, but it's all about the fortification, ageing, and blending. The mosto is taken from the first pressing of the grapes; delicate juice is classified as suitable for fino, more robust juice for oloroso. This mosto was quite full on, smelling and tasting of a roomful of apples, and was probably destined for an oloroso.

sherry rainbow

We then moved on to Sobretablas Fino, a wine still developing into a fino. It was only a few months old, fortified straight after fermentation, not yet transferred to oak barrels, and still in an early stage of development, with rough, aggressive, volatile flavours. This wine would turn into Tío Pepe, which we sampled next. It was extraordinary to trace the gestation of the fino, from a simple base wine, to a volatile young wine, to one of the greatest drinks in the world: fresh and delicate, yet full and mature, with flavours of apples, wood, nuts, yeast, and chalk, I don't think there's a drink I fall in love in with so easily as a fino.

Tío Pepe's probably the most famous fino. The firm now known as Gonzalez Byass was established by a banker back in the day when there was more money to be made from sherry than banking. Although he knew about money, Señor Gonzalez knew nothing about sherry and enlisted the help of his uncle, Pepe, who promised to help but only if they made a pale, dry, and deeply unfashionable style of sherry. That drink's still called Tío Pepe. Gonzalez Byass's rep, Paul, who guided us through the tasting was proud of the drink and rightly adamant about how it should be drunk: chilled, in a white wine glass, and with food. 

The structured tasting continued with Viña AB Amontillado, a style which began life as a fino but is refortified to kill off the flor, and then is aged for a further period of time to develop oxidative qualities: in this case, the wine was aged under flor for four years, followed by a further six years of oxidative ageing. I loved this wine: it still had the woody delicacy of the fino, but with creamy apples, caramel, and vanilla.

The next wine was, at thirty years, a very old amontillado. Del Duque was described as being like an antique shop and was really leathery - perhaps too much so. We were able to compare this to Cuatro Palmas, a special blend of four different unfiltered wines of up to forty-five years of age. This was creamier, richer, not as drying, and more complex. Unfortunately, there's only enough wine left for two years' worth of bottling.

We then returned to the base wine and followed a different tasting path. The mosto we tasted was probably ready to become an oloroso, and we began again with the Sobretablas Oloroso, which was a lot more stable than its fino equivalent and was already tasting of raisins - it had begun oxidising from the moment of fortification. This was followed by Alfonso Oloroso, an eight-year-old wine which was probably a little too young, though it had nice orange peel and nutty flavours.

Perhaps the best wine of the tasting was the Leonor Palo Cortado. This had the unusual characteristics of a palo cortado - the delicacy of a fino and the depth of an oloroso - resulting in a unique profile of poached pears and dried fruits.

It was then that we moved on to the other important sherry grape, Pedro Ximénez, of which there was 25% in the Solera 1847. There was a little bit of syrupy treacle sweetness from the Pedro Ximénez, but it was balanced by the dry oloroso's nuttiness and dried fruits - a fresh, complex wine. The Apostoles Palo Cortado was another great example of palo cortado's unique personality, and I can see why it's a style that aficionados consider to be the greatest expression of sherry. This is a thirty-year-old wine, an oloroso and PX (15%) blended together when they were twelve. Rich fudge notes, with apricots - a great, if unexpected, combination.

We finished with the truly sweet stuff. The Matusalem Oloroso Dulce had not only a mahogany appearance but aroma, with a rich bitterness from the oloroso and dried fruits from the PX. Nectar PX was a young and not especially complex wine, dominated by raisins, currants, and sultanas. The final wine, Noe PX, was PX at its most intense and craziest: 450g/L of residual sugar, with intense, chewy flavours of raisins, currants, figs, and Christmas pudding. This is a great after-dinner wine - and one that's been used in wine and cigar tastings.

Gonzalez Byass are determined to make sherry fashionable again. With wines like these, I really hope they succeed.

Thanks, uncle Pepe

A Vegetarian Christmas

Christmas can't be an ideal time to be a vegetarian; all that turkey and when it's not turkey it's goose, or some other game. However, there are plenty of vegetarian food options - the BBC, Jamie Oliver, and the Vegetarian Society have some good recipes - which can be as rich and decadent as a traditional Christmas meal - and, after all, all those side dishes are meat free.

Matching wine with vegetarian food is not as obvious as with meat or fish. The great wines of France, Spain, and Italy have developed in tandem with the local gastronomic culture, which has usually involved meat or fish dishes, and these are countries where vegetarian food can still be difficult to find.

What this means, though, is that matching vegetarian food with wine is not based on tradition but innovation, and you can really experiment with both food and wine. Thinking about matching flavour intensity rather than specific flavours, here are some pairing recommendations based on styles of wine.

Champagne

Any Christmas meal should start with a bit of fizz, and the yeasty, bready, toasty flavours of Champagne make it a great match for canapés, pastries, tarts, bruschetta, or even poppadoms.

Sauvignon Blanc

The aromas of Sauvignon Blanc are intensely green - apple, gooseberry, green bell pepper, asparagus. Goat's cheese salad is a perfect match: this polenta and goat's cheese stacks recipe would be a much more indulgent and Christmassy option.

Gewurztraminer

This is where you can really start to experiment. Gewurztraminer is often off-dry (particularly if it's from Alsace) and has rich, opulent flavours of tropical fruits (think lychee and mango) that makes it a great pairing for spicy Asian food, particularly Thai or Vietnamese. It may not sound that Christmassy, but that just depends on what you want to eat on Christmas day.

Pinot Gris

Pinot Gris is the same grape as Pinot Grigio, but it's picked much later on in the harvest, meaning that it has much deeper, richer aromas and may be quite a bit sweeter. Whereas Pinot Grigio is an easy-drinking aperitif, Pinot Gris can accompany an array of foods. Again, like Gewurztraminer, the nutty depth of Pinot Gris can stand up to spicy food: I recently had a New Zealand Pinot Gris alongside an aubergine and cauliflower rogan josh curry (at Green's in West Didsbury) and its nutty spiciness added further complexity to the meal. This Christmas curry would similarly benefit from being paired with Pinot Gris.

Italian Reds

Due to their high acidity and high tannins, Italian reds are at their best as food wines. The reason that Italian reds are so high in acidity is to match the sauces in pasta, so it doesn't matter whether there's meat in the pasta dish or not: it's all about the rich sauce accompanying it. Jamie Oliver recommends a couple of spinach-based pasta dishes that a Chianti or Valpolicella would be great with.

Pinot Noir

A grape that tradition pairs with game, but the earthy characteristics of Pinot Noir mean that it will go perfectly with any mushroom-based dish. This vegetarian Christmas roast almost demands a bit of Burgundy.

Sweet Wine

At the end of the meal, veggies and carnivores can get together in sweet harmony and share a sherry and Christmas pudding or port and cheese. For sherries, seek out in particular the intensely sweet Pedro Ximénez style. The French may not make their wines to suit vegetarian palates, but there's one combination that works well: Sauternes and blue cheese. Now there's a way to end Christmas day...

Drinking (and eating) for Christmas

Last Thursday, I celebrated my first ever Thanksgiving, followed on Friday by my second. I can now see why Americans make such a big deal of it - the cold, dark days of November are brightened by food, wine, friends, and family. It also introduces the festive season, and got me in the mood for Christmas much earlier than I usually am.

This had me reflecting on food and wine pairings for the Christmas season and what wines I should be thinking of getting in. Like Thanksgiving, Christmas is a time for rich foods and you need to find wines to match. That doesn't limit your options though; instead it increases the range of food and wine pairings you can come up with.

food & wine

 

Pairing food and wine is taken very seriously by some, with extremely specific recommendations offered. Trying to match flavours in both wine and food is great up to a point, but it's difficult to find such exact matches. It's much more fun experimenting and you'll discover surprisingly successful pairings. However, there are some guidelines that are useful to follow. Don't try and match the flavours, but think instead about their intensity: neither the wine nor the dish should overwhelm the other. Likewise, think about acidity and sweetness: the two should roughly correspond.

the line-up from Thursday's Thanksgiving, showing just how many styles of wine fit this kind of meal

turkey

 

Turkey is a food high in acidity, so you need a wine to match. But with all the sauces and side dishes that come with it at Christmas, the wine has to have enough depth of flavour. For whites, think of a dry Riesling: the crisp acidity and lively citrus flavours will cut into the turkey's richness. We had Billi Billi Riesling from Mt. Langi Ghiran in Victoria, Australia (hangingditch, £12.50); although delicate, its fresh acidity provided an invigorating contrast to the heaviness of the food. Alternatively, a full-bodied white will fit in with a weighty Christmas meal. For the second Thanksgiving celebration, we tried an aromatic blend from Prieuré de St-Jean-de-Bébian, Languedoc (Spirited Wines, Deansgate, around £18); rich, creamy, and nutty, it went well with the mash and béchamel sauce.

For reds, Pinot Noir is a classic pairing. With its high acidity and red fruits, Pinot Noir is not just a great match for turkey but also for the accompanying cranberry sauce. We tried two very different Pinot Noirs, which demonstrated how two wines can interact with food in varying ways. I brought one that I had tried on a recent trip to Oregon. White Rose Estate (unavailable UK; $60) describe themselves as "neo-classical"; the combination of upfront red fruits (New World style) and grainy tannins (Old World style) paired deliciously well with the turkey: like adding a juicy sauce to add on to the cranberry. The Digioia-Royer Chambolle-Musigny Vieille Vignes 2004 was a maturer, more reflective wine and quite a contrast (hangingditch, £35). Here, the earthy flavours acted more like a mushroom sauce. When choosing a wine, do think of its age: a youthful, fruity wine will be quite a different match than an older wine.

Oregon 2011 v Burgundy 2004

goose

 

Not something we had at Thanksgiving, goose is an increasingly popular alternative to turkey on Christmas Day in the UK. Again, acidity is all important; you also need a wine that will cut through the fat. An Alsatian Riesling will do just that, while something richer and creamier like oaky Chardonnay or aromatic Pinot Gris will add so much flavour. For reds, you can stick with Pinot Noir, but, as goose is a bigger, fattier dish than turkey, you can go big and get a wine with lots of oak and tannins - wines from South-West France, such as Madiran, are great options. A less obvious alternative could be a Portuguese red, particularly from the Douro.

pudding

 

Here, you really are spoilt for choice as there are so many great sweet wines out there. The important thing to remember is that the food should have at least the same level of sweetness as the wine. As puddings at Christmas are full of all sorts of rich, sweet flavours, that shouldn't be a problem. Pedro Ximénez sherry is the perfect option: its rich, dark, toffee flavours are sublime with Christmas pudding. And, of course, port is the ideal drink to finish off a long meal. There are two particular styles that work especially well at Christmas: the chocolate and dark fruits of a Late Bottled Vintage or the more mature fruits of a Vintage Port. Two wines I would recommend from hangingditch are Portal LBV 2008 (£20) and Delaforce 1994 (£55), the latter of which we tried with our dessert at Thanksgiving: the balanced fruity sweetness went so well with the pumpkin pie. Quite simply, there is no better way to end a meal than with a decadent dessert and a sumptuous sweet wine: roll on Christmas!

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.