Jerez
Jerez - or Sherry, or Xérèz - has been the home to Sherry making for around 3000 years - find out more about this ancient city with a thoroughly modern atmosphere.
Tasting Guide
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One of Britain's most popular wines for nearly 500 years - learn about the multi-cultural influences that have added to Sherry's rich history.Newsletter
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The region
Sherry is grown and made in what is known as the "Sherry Triangle" defined by the towns of Jerez De La Frontera, Sanlucar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa Maria.
In this area vineyards covering 25,000 acres benefit from a climate (sunny and hot), geography (open, rolling land close to the cool, moist winds from the Atlantic) and soil (chalky white loam which locks in moisture) that together conspire to create the perfect growing conditions for the Palamino, Pedro Ximénez and Muscat grapes that are used in Sherry production.
The harvest
Grapes are harvested in September - usually by hand to ensure the fruit is not damaged. Palamino grapes - the predominant variety in Sherry-making are transported straight to the wine-making plants; however, the sweeter varieties (especially PX and Muscat) are laid out on grass mats to evaporate, raising the sugar content and simultaneously lowering the moisture content. This usually lasts around a week depending on the weather, during which time the grapes are covered at night to protect them from the dew.
The "mosto de yema"
After sorting, the grapes are crushed and pressed - this yields what is known as the "mosto de yema" or First Must, usually around 70l for every 100kg. Only the First Must is used for Sherry, although sometimes a second or even third pressing may be used for wine production.
Fermentation
The First Must goes straight into tanks or oak barrels to be fermented. This takes place in two stages. The first few days are known as the "stormy" stage when 90% of the sugar is converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide. The next stage is much slower - usually lasting until the beginning of December - during which a dry white wine with an ABV of 11% - 12% is obtained.
The flor
The flor is the key factor in determining a Sherry's character - essentially this is a layer of yeast on the surface of the wine. After the flor develops, wine tasters will be able to determine what will then happens to that particular batch of wine: paler, lighter wines are set aside for Fino and Manzanilla while others with more body will be classified as Oloroso.
All are fortified with grape brandy to differing degrees to bring up the alcohol content to the required level and this plays a crucial role in determining the development of the wine during the ageing process.
Running the scales
Ageing takes place in oak barrels; Sherries of different years are blended for consistency with barrels stacked in layers according to their age, each of which corresponds to a scale. The lowest, know as the "solera", is the oldest while those above get younger with each row.
Wine for bottling is drawn from the bottom row only and then later replaced by the same quantity from the butt above and so on up the scales to the highest (youngest) row of butts, which is then topped up with wine from the latest harvest. This process is known as "running the scales".
Ageing
The minimum age for a Sherry is three years although most are aged longer, frequently for ten years or more. However, most Sherries are non-vintage because they are blended from several years' harvest.
In rare cases when a Sherry house enjoys an exceptional year they will separate out the wine to be aged along with other exceptional varieties creating a kind of "vintage". All Sherries were vintage wines until about 1800, and the solera system was not in general use until 1850. But it is wrong to think that vintage wines disappeared completely. Many bodegas keep exceptional butts to one side, sometimes for blending into a solera later. It's very seldom that vintages come on to the market, but with the surge of interest in these unique and individual wines, it seems likely that we shall be seeing further releases of vintages as time go by.
Age Dated Sherries - 12, 15, 20 and 30 Year Old Sherries
The Age Dated category was introduced in July 2000 to categorise very old wines and to let potential buyers know the approximate age of the wine which is, after all, one of its major selling points. The classification has to be approved by the Consejo Regulador and, as calculating the exact average age of a Sherry solera is extremely difficult, the criterion is that the wine must exhibit the characteristics of a wine of the stated age.
VORS (Vinum Optimum Rare Signatum or Very Old Rare Sherry) is a wine of at least 30 years of age, though some may be very much older. Several bodegas are turning out aged PX wines as the fall in the market for ‘everyday' sweet Sherries has left quite large stocks of fine old wines which would formerly have been used in small quantities to sweeten mainstream Olorosos.
VOS (Vinum Optimum Signatum or Very Old Sherry) is a wine of at least 20 years, in the same way as the 30-year-old above.
Two further categories were confirmed in July 2003, 12 year-old and 15 year-old categories.
Since their introduction, Age Dated Sherries have shown a huge increase in popularity in the UK:
- • VOS and VORS Sherries combined are up 55%* year on year (2003-2004)
- • 12yo and 15yo Sherries up 99%* year on year (2003-2004)
Source: Consejo Regulador