Spanish
Sunshine - Bottled. That is Sherry, Spain's famous fortified wine. This
is the first part of a series on this delightful drink. Learn where it
is made and how the grapes are crushed. Are the grape crushers feet
bare, or is it just a myth from a movie? Find out in this series!
Sherry is a fortified wine, made in Spain from three types of grapes:
Palomino, Pedro Ximénez, and Muscat (Moscatel). Sherry-style wines made
in other countries often use other grape varieties.
Sherry differs from other wines because of how it is treated after
fermentation. It is first fortified with brandy and then if destined to
be fino style a yeast called flor is allowed to grow on top. Oloroso
style is fortified to a strength where the flor cannot grow. (In
contrast, port wine is fortified to a higher percentage of alcohol than
sherry, effectively preventing the growth of any yeast.)
REGIONS
JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA or JEREZ for short, the Scheris of the Moors, one
of their fortresses in Spain, was long a walled city of great strategic
importance. Today it is a busy town, and the hub of the Sherry Trade.
It stands upon the main road from Seville to Cadiz, some 9 miles north
of Port St. Mary at the top corner of the Bay of Cadiz and at the mouth
of the Guadalete; and 12 miles east of Sanlucar, upon the left bank of
the Guadalquivir, immediately before it flows into the Atlantic.
JEREZ has given its name to Sherry, the wine of Jerez (both names Jerez
and Sherry being corruptions of the old .Moorish name of the town,
Scheris), which Shakespeare and all Elizabethans loved and praised
above all others. To the Victorians, Sherry and hospitality were
synonymous: few, indeed, were then the homes without a welcoming
decanter of Sherry upon the mahogany, awaiting the pleasure of your
company. Today, in spite of the notorious fickleness of fashion; in
spite of high taxes and of bureaucratic controls, Sherry, the wine made
from the white grapes of the Jerez vineyards, still is still first
favorite among all the wines imported into Great Britain.
ANDALUCIA
Andalucia no longer comprises three kingdoms as it once did, nor is it
any longer the great Moorish Province that it was once, but still is
the richest and sunniest part of Spain, stretching from Castile, in the
North, to the Straits, in the South; and from the Mediterranean, in the
East, to Portugal and the Atlantic in the West.
SEVILLE the capital of Andalucia, is one of the fairest cities in the
world, but sea-going ships have long ceased to come up the Guadalquivir
to its once busy quays with the gold and goods of the Indies. The
inexhaustible wealth of Andalucia is in its fertile soil and genial
climate, its wheat, oil and wine; its oranges, figs and other fruits;
its light-hearted, hard-working people.
Vines flourish and wine is made in many parts of Andalucia, but the
vineyards which produce the finest and most distinctive white Spanish
wine, Sherry, that which brings solace and joy to all men and women of
taste and discerning thirst, are the vineyards scattered twixt
Guadalquivir and Guadalete, during the last lap of their seawards run,
the first reaching the Atlantic at Sanlucar de Barrameda, and the other
the Bay of Cadiz, at Port St. Mary.
For the rest of this series please visit www.thewinelover.org where
Michael has prepared an ebook all about sherry. There are other books
in preparation and many articles all about wine and its enjoyment.
