sherry, spain's little-known treasure

 "If penicillin can cure those that are ill, Spanish sherry can bring the dead back to life." - Sir Alexander Fleming 

"So fine, varied and noble a wine is sherry - and so intriguingly complicated is it to make..." - Jancis Robinson

Sherry is a fascinating wine with a rich and colorful history. Luckily for us the Sherry wine styles haven’t changed much over their 3,000 years of production, allowing us the opportunity to explore an ancient wine untouched by modernization.

the Sherry triangle

The “Sherry triangle” consists of three cities in the southwest of Spain: Jerez de la Frontera (from which Sherry derives its name), Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and El Puerto de Santa María. This area has been making wine since a Canaanite tribe, the Phoenicians, brought grapes here from the Ancient Middle East in 1100 BC. Later the Moors introduced alembic distillation to the region, creating a precursor to brandy.  Spanish and Portuguese explorers during the Age of Exploration loaded up their ships with Sherry in order to have the comfort of wine while traveling far from home. Sherry was likely the first wine that came to the New World aboard explorers’ ships. The English love for “Sherris sack” (literally translated from “Jerez saca” as “extracted wine from Jerez”) began with Sir Francis Drake’s raid on the Spanish Armada in Cadiz during which he captured many barrels of the coveted wine and brought them home; William Shakespeare’s Sir John Falstaff has been famously quoted as saying “If I had a thousand sons, the first humane principle I would teach them should be, to forswear thin potations and to addict themselves to sack.”

Sherry clearly has quite a history. This story would never have come about, however, were it not for the unique soil in the Sherry triangle and the two crucial winds that blow across it. 

Albariza is a fine white chalky soil composed mainly of miniscule fossilized sea creatures. This powdery mixture absorbs water like a sponge and dries like cement. Introduce the hot, dry levante wind blowing from the east and you get a perfect situation for the unlikely vineyards in the region: moist soil providing water to the roots of the vines, kept in place by a blow-dried hard crust on top. Another wind, the humid poniente, blows from the west providing additional moisture that becomes trapped in the soil little by little. This presence of groundwater and a bit of humidity allows the vines to grow healthy grape bunches, and lets ambient yeasts that will later form flor ensconce themselves on the skins of the Pedro Ximénez, Palomino, and Moscatel grapes growing in the Sherry triangle. 

Palomino vines in albariza

Now for the winemaking. After the grapes are harvested and fermented, the desired Sherry style is determined. If the wine is destined to become a crisp, pale Fino (or Manzanilla, which is a very light Fino made only in Sanlúcar de Barrameda), brandy is added to raise the alcohol level to around 15%. If it is made in the Oloroso or Amontillado style, alcohol is added until the wine reaches 18%. This very important distinction determines the style of the Sherry. 

a Sherry cask with flor

Finos have a low enough alcohol content such that a special native yeast that forms a film known as flor can survive in it and grow into a protective layer on top of the wine. Finos then begin aging “biologically” as tiny amounts of oxygen seep through the layer and the yeasts in the film slowly convert the acid and sugar in the wine. Biological aging increases acetaldehydes in the wine, producing the characteristic bite Fino is known to have. 

an Oloroso, Amontillado, and Fino, left to right

Amontillados and Olorosos have too high an alcohol content to support the film of flor for long. The layer dissipates, leaving the wine exposed to oxygen. This darkens the color and gives a nutty flavor to these Sherries. Palo Cortados are a very interesting hybrid of the two styles which originally start off as Finos until the flor dies off (intentionally or accidentally), after which oxidative aging occurs. These wines have the bite and salinity of Finos and the complex nuttiness of Olorosos.

Sherry wines are aged in a complex system called a solera. This is a process of fractional blending which mixes wines from each new vintage with wines from all previous vintages. The aging process is sped up by blending; Sherry derives its unique style partially from this process.

a drawing of a solera system

Sherry is often misunderstood in the international wine market. This is largely due to the many imposters, including that bottle labeled "Sherry" you can find in the supermarket... that bottle, in fact, typically does not even contain wine. It often is a mix of distilled cheap alcohol and artificial coloring. Also, the many confusing styles of Sherry are intimidating to would-be consumers. But hopefully a little clarification of Sherry will pique interest in this ancient wine. 


If you’d like to have a taste of these delicious wines, sample a few with a flight (our Sherry flight can be seen on our menu at The Barrel Room here) and delve into the traditional and generally unappreciated world of Sherry!

-    - Sarah