FORTIFIED WINES: SHERRY

SHERRY
Formally known as Scheris, sherry takes its name from the town of jerez (de al frontera), and is made in and around the region surrounding the town of jerez de la frontera in south western spain. Within the region there are three main centres of production.
  • Jerez de la Frontera
  • Puerto de Santa Maria
  • Sanlucar de barrameda



GRAPSE VARIETIES FOR SHERRY
Grown on the white coloured soil called albariza, the grapes used for Sherry are the:
  • Palomino Bianco
  • Pedro Ximenez
  • Moscatel Fino
Among these three varieties Palomino bianco is the main grapes which is used for Sherries, while Perdro Ximenez  and Moscatel Fino are usally used to blend with palomino Bianco wines and act as ‘sweetening wines’ to produces sweeter versions of sherry.


PRODUCTION OF SHERRY
The heat and sun of the region allows the grapes to develop the great deal of sugar. The sugar in grapes meant for making  ‘sweetening wines’ are often further concentrated by simply laying them on straw mats in the hot sun to evaporate their water content. The harvested grapes are left in the sun for 12 to 24 hours for between 10 to 21 days in this manner. At night these are covered with straw mats called esparto  soleo to protect them from the night dew.

The very hot climate also produces grapes with relatively low acids and since well balanced wines must have sufficient acid levels, the harvested grapes are actually ‘plastered’ to achieve this. Prior to pressing, the stalks are removed and a small amount of gypsum, the raw  material of plaster of Paris, called yeso by the locals is dusted on the grapes to eventually allow the wines to precipitate tartaric crystal and to increase its tartaric acid levels which provides balance to the wine.

Traditionally the rape grapes are tipped into shallow vats called lagares where men in special nail studded boots called zapatas de pisar would stomp on them, crushing them. This tiring process is carried out throughout the night from midnight till noon the next day.

The free run juices are collected in barrels and the remaining pulps is then pressed to extract the remaining juice. The must (called mosto) is then pumped into large vats and selected cultured yeast is then added.
After some 12 hours, fermentation begins and it carries on 36 to 50 hours at temperatures that very from 25 to 300 C . The fermented wines is then pumped into small oak casks to allow the fermentation to run its full course. At the end of the two months of the fermentation period of time . the sugar in the wine is exhausted and the fermentation stops. With the exception of Pedro Ximenez and muscated the wines are always fermented till dry.

A layer of gray white microscopic yeast (saccharomyces beticus) called ‘flor’ forms a naturally as a thin white scum that floats on the wines in only some of the barrels his film of yeast like organisms prevent the oxidation of the wine allowing the vines to eventually become paler, drier, lighter styles like Fino or Amontillado. Those wines in barrels that do not develop the flor becomes darker and richer tasting destination to become Olorosos.

While there is no way to ensure the formation of the flor, it is possible to create conditions that would encourage its growth:
  • Alcoholic strength must be between 13.5 and 17.5%  with optimum concentration being about 15.3% , the level at which the vinegar  producing acctobacter is killed off.
  • Temperature of 15 to 30o C .
  • Sulphur dioxide content of less then 0.018%
  • Tannin content of less than 0.01%
  • Absence of fermentable sugars.

The cellar master uses a series of chalk marks on the ends of the barrels to denote the style of wine in each barrel which it is likely to develop into. The wines are classified several times and are marked in the following manner according to the style of wines.


STYLES OF SHERRIES
There are six style of sherry
  • Fino Sherry
  • Manzanilla Sherry
  • Amontillado
  • Oloroso
  • Palo Cortado
  • Cream, Milk and Brown Sherries

Fino Sherry
This sherry is only made when nature blesses the winemakers with the development of flor in the casks. This pale, light and well known style of Sherry is known as Fino.

Manazanilla Sherry
Made  when finos are stored and matured at the coastal town of sanluccar de Barrameda. The finos acquire a salty tang  which is distinguishable on the palate as a style different from regular Finos and is now known as Manzanilla.

Amontillado
For the long period of time these fuller flavoured Finos  and develop into slightly darker wines with fuller flavours and nutty tang, this type of wines are called Amontillados. Their names are derives from the wines of similar character produced at Montilla, which were greatly sought after before jerez became famous.

Oloroso
Wines left on open air do not generally do well and spoil easily, turning into vinegar. The layer of the flor protects the Finos from this fate as it covers the surface of wines where Oloroso do not have this advantage.

Palo Cortado
Palo Cortado is the another type of sherry which is occasionally found. This is very rare style of wine, originally an oloroso, these wine develop Fino characteristics later during the final classification. These are usally rare and very expensive.

Cream , Milk and Brown Sherries
These are the sweet sherries that are usally based on the Oloroso and sweetened with sweetening wines made from Moscatel and Pedro Ximenez.

Information about fortified wines

FORTIFIED WINES
Fortified wines are that wines which ahave been strengthened (fortified) with the addition  of a spirit during its production. While most still table wines have strength of 8 to 15% alcohol by volume, fortified wines contain alcoholic strength between 16 to 21% alchol by volume.

The added spirit  is usually a local brandy made from wine or from mare. The brandy has an affinity with the wines, and is also cheaper to use since surplus wine is always available in for distillation into a spirit.Produced in many part of the world, in any country or area where brandy and wines are made, the range of fortified wines ranges from very sweet Malmsey Madeiras to veey dry Fino Sherries. They also may be based on red or white wines and eventually made into a golden brown or pale amber wine.
The fortified wines of the world includes the following 
  • Sherries
  • Port wines
  • Madeira
  • Marsala
  • Malaga

WINES OF ITALY


wines of italy The ancient Greeks used to refer to Italy as Enotria – the land of wines. Truly, the tremendous and very varied range, styles and sheer number of wines produced in italy boggles the mind. Today, there are an estimated 2000 types of wine, though most of them are ordinary wines for everyday drinking, there are an increasing number of world classed wines now being produced by moderm viticulture and vinification methods. Italian producer have moved so rapidely that they have created wines of undeniable class in every region such as north and south also.


ITALIAN WINE LAWSwines of italy
The wine industry in italy has managed to make great progress in the past 15 years. According to new law in 1992, the effort of the italian government to effectively control and regulate the often chaotic and archaic italian wine laws now seems within reach. In line with the rest of countries in the European Union, Italian wines are classified in a system known as the DOC system. The requirement of the system are similar and in line with those of the other member of the European Union.

The categories in this system are
  • Vano da tavola
  • Vino da tavola con Indicazioni Geografica
  • Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC)
  • Denominazione di Origine Controllate e Guarantita (DOCG)

Vino da tavola
The simply and most basic level in the italian wine law classification.
These tablwines of italye wines are equivalent to French vins de table and Germany’s Tafelwein. The quality of these wines can vary greatly. In their pursuit to make better wines, some younger winemakers have tried newer techniques and used non-traditional grape types with excellent results. Excellent wines like Sassicaia and Tignanellow are actually rated as vino da tavola though they certainly deserve atleast a DOC status. However, since they are made from or blended wih non-traditional grape varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, they do not qualify for DOC rating and are relegated to table wine status. However, these well made wines enjoy international recognition, high price and request despite being da tavola.

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