| Sherry is a very English drink, despite its Spanish | | | | the juice. After 45 to 50 days, the juice has |
| provenance. After a dip in popularity, sales are on | | | | fermented into wine, but is not yet Sherry. An |
| the up again. | | | | initial classification, taken after both rigorous |
| While reading the tavern bill of the loquacious and | | | | scientific analysis and subjective tasting and |
| bawdy drunkard Sir John Falstaff in 'Henry IV part | | | | perusal by expert winemakers, grades the wine |
| 1', Shakespeare's Prince Hal lamented, "O | | | | as either a potential Fino, the finest, or as an |
| monstrous, but one halfpennyworth of bread to | | | | Oloroso, the most fragrant. Finos are then |
| this intolerable deal of sack." In those days, the | | | | fortified with grape spirit to 15 degrees of alcohol, |
| cost of two gallons of sack, or sherri (sic), was a | | | | whilst the Olorosos are strengthened to 18 |
| mere 5s/8d. | | | | degrees alcohol. Both are then put into casks. A |
| Sherry, together with Port and Claret, are still | | | | year later, another analysis establishes which Finos |
| seen as archetypical English wines. Claret sales are | | | | are thought to have evolved more like an |
| relatively stable at the present, and Port is making | | | | Oloroso, and these are then re-fortified to the |
| a steady recovery, although it is still mostly drunk | | | | higher alcohol level. |
| at Christmas. But what of old sack? | | | | It is in the maturing system of 'solera y criadera', |
| Sherry comes from the region in southern Spain | | | | that the true magic of Sherry really begins. After |
| around the town of Jerez de la Frontera, originally | | | | fortification, each year's wine is placed on the top |
| named Xera by the earliest Phoenician settlers | | | | level, or 'criadera', of barrels in the maturing cellar |
| who brought vines with them in 1100BC. | | | | ('bodega'). To facilitate this, around 30 per cent of |
| Viciously fought over by successive invading | | | | the wine in the bottom layer of barrels, known as |
| Roman, Visigoth and Moorish armies, Jerez's | | | | the 'solera', is removed for bottling. The resulting |
| diverse cultural identity is amply displayed in its | | | | space is then filled with wine from the next level |
| two millennia of documented winemaking. This | | | | up, and so on until the new year's wine can be |
| tradition, including distillation into spirits for medical | | | | added to the top level, thereby refilling all the |
| use, began to flourish in the 14th and 15th | | | | barrels. In this way, a perfect blending system is |
| centuries with the first accurately recorded | | | | maintained, and constant quality and supply is |
| exports, or 'saca's' - the arabic derivation of Sack. | | | | balanced. |
| However, it was not until the 1800s that both | | | | During this ageing and blending system, a thin |
| British and Dutch traders set their minds to | | | | layer of 'flor', a yeasty veil, covers the surface of |
| exploiting the pale dry wines of Jerez, some even | | | | the wine in each barrel. 'Flor' is peculiar to this |
| basing themselves in the town to create the | | | | region, and helps to impart the complex nutty |
| household brands like Harvey, Croft Osborne and | | | | aromas and clean, crisp bite that is synonymous |
| Williams and Humbert. | | | | with Fino Sherry. |
| The superior zone | | | | Though Sherry fell in popularity after its heyday in |
| Most Sherry - 97 per cent, in fact - is made using | | | | the Sixties and Seventies, much is now being |
| a somewhat ordinary white grape variety, the | | | | done to re-establish the clean, fruity, nutty Fino |
| Palomino, a relative of the Riesling. The most | | | | style as a serious competitor in the dry white |
| favoured vine yards are located on soil to the | | | | wine market. With alcohol levels of some |
| north and west of Jerez, named the Superior | | | | oak-aged Chardonnay and Semillon wines now |
| Zone, being very rich in chalky calcium carbonate | | | | reaching 14.5 per cent, the strength of Fino at 15 |
| known as Albariza. The distinctive, almost white | | | | per cent is seen to be comparable. Freshly |
| soil holds the early season rainfall, enabling the | | | | marketed in fashionably sleek, green glass bottles, |
| vines to flourish during the searing 40C heat of | | | | with sharp informative labelling, Tio Pepe looks |
| the summer growing season. | | | | very similar to other crisp dry white wines on the |
| Once harvested, the delicately thin-skinned | | | | off licence or supermarket shelf. |
| Palomino is gently squeezed using a pneumatic | | | | It is, however, in the compatibility with food that |
| cushion press, so as not to include the skins, | | | | Fino Sherry comes into its own. It is time for UK |
| seeds or stems. From this initial pressing, the | | | | wine drinkers to reclaim Sherry for our own. |
| 'yema', comes around 80 per cent of the juice, | | | | Whether it be a cool, clean glass of Fino with |
| which is used to make the lightest and most | | | | tapas, mixed with tonic water as a long refreshing |
| delicate Fino Sherry. | | | | lunchtime tipple, or even a glass of pure Pedro |
| The wine making process | | | | Ximinez to accompany a chocolate dessert, |
| To begin the winemaking process, a natural yeast, | | | | Sherry deserves to regain its prestigious mantle |
| the 'pie de cuba', which occurs locally, is added to | | | | once again. |