Many modern wine drinkers will look at this section and wonder why on earth I think it worthwhile devoting so much space to such a dinosaur of a wine as sherry. The answer is plain to anyone who has tried a good quality version. The trouble is that most people have not. —Jancis Robinson
By Chef Dad
I hesitate to give too much space to wine critics. People should drink what they like, and it’s more fun to explore and figure out what that is for yourself, rather than being told by someone else. Before our visit to Spain, however, my experiences with Sherry basically led me to conclude that it’s terrible. Now? I have gone from one of Jancis Robinson’s “most people” to a much more enlightened explorer. Sherry will become a fixture in our cellar.
Our second Spanish apartment was in Arcos de la Frontera, just a short drive from the town of Jerez, one corner of the so-called Sherry triangle and the place where Sherry gets its name. Our first visit was to the Sandeman Bodega, one of the oldest Sherry bodegas in existence and a place with some sweet logos.
Sandeman has been around since 1790, and as far as we can tell, some of the wine in the barrels may have been there for that long as well. We took the tour of the facilities, and learned quite a bit about the process. Basically, the barrels are stacked four rows high, and every year, a third of the wine in the bottom barrels gets turned into Sherry, then a third of the wine in the next row gets moved to the bottom and so on, until a third of the wine in the top row gets filled with new stuff.
This means that the stuff in the bottom barrels never gets completely emptied, and the longer they keep making the wine, the older, on average, the stuff we’re drinking becomes.
The whole process is fascinating, actually. The floor is basically exposed gravel under the barrels, and they use a watering system in the summer to keep the inside of the building at the right temperature and humidity. The barrels, believe it or not, are American oak, and kept for as long as possible rather than rotated out after just a few years like you might with fine red wine. This keeps things as neutral as possible, and to some extent, the goal is to have consistency from year to year, rather than have distinct vintages.
After the tour, we got to taste three Sherrys, a Fino (dry), an Amontillado (medium-dry) and a Crema (sweet). All were excellent, fun, and a far cry from my perception of the Sherry we get at home. The prices are very reasonable too, for as much personality as these wines have. We picked up a bottle of the Armada, which is a crema. It’s thick and sweet, something you’d have with desert, and very interesting. It’s a long distance away from the Fino, which would easily match with food.
Also in Jerez, we visited the Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestra for a horse show. It was a spectacular facility and a spectacular production! Sadly, we weren’t allowed to take pictures in the stadium, but we did get a few pictures on the grounds. Kristy was seriously moved by the horse show.
We were able to get some pictures of this herd of sheep later on, though not until they’d just been herded through us. It’s a little nerve-racking to be in the middle of a herd of anything, even these cute, docile sheep who were way more scared than we were, but it didn’t seem right to whip out the camera in the midst of the morass.
Andalucía and the Sherry-producing region is a beautiful slice in the world, and after our visit to Jerez, we headed out to the second vertex (the kids are keeping travel dictionaries where we write down words they don’t know and find out their meanings–see if you can catch me slipping in some test-words) of the triangle, el Puerto de Santa Maria.
El Puerto is tucked between Cadiz and a mostly protected bay that opens into the Atlantic Ocean. It’s also home to the Osborne Bodega, another purveyor of fine Sherries and one of my favorite tasting experiences yet.
Through much of Spain, we’ve found that wineries and bodegas aren’t set up for you to just drop in and taste wine like you can in the United States. Rather, they’re set up so you can taste at the end of a winery tour. Unfortunately for me, wine does not get old, but winery tours do. Osborne sets you up with a private, self-guided tour that is exactly how I want to taste wine. It’s expensive, but they make it up in wine (look at the size of the pours!)
We were set up in a seriously Class A conference room, with simple tapas and five different Sherries to taste. We were also given a 16-page booklet with some history on the wines and winery, along with tasting notes and room for our own observations. Then, they left us alone to enjoy things in our own way and on our own time.
You can see how they progress from dry to sweet in the color of the glasses in front of Kristy. The two palest ones are Fino, made with Palomino grapes and very dry. The next two are Oloroso, which are darker and sweeter. The middle one is also Palomino grapes, while the fourth one contains a small amount of Pedro Ximenez grapes as well. The darkest one is also the sweetest, made with Pedro Ximenez grapes entirely.
Sherry is fortified, which means that alcohol is added to the wine in a second stage of production. I always thought this was basically like dumping a bunch of grain alcohol in the vat, but it’s much more interesting. Essentially, the grapes are pressed like normal, then the leftover skins and guts are processed again to create the alcohol that gets added later on. The different methods of doing this second step are an important part of what gives the different kinds of Sherry their unique characteristics.
We didn’t make it to Sanlucar, the third city in the Sherry triangle, but we did manage to wander around in el Puerto de Santa Maria and check out the restaurant scene. There’s no shortage of places to pick from, but of course that’s true for all of Spain, isn’t it?
Then, the beach!
It wasn’t quite bikini weather, but we had a chance to build a sandcastle, with the help of a little dog from Portugal making his way through Europe with a family from the U.K.
The method for making Sherry came about because fortifying the wine made it easier to ship to the U.K., where it has been historically very popular. Sherry gets its name from the inability of the Brits to pronounce Jerez, the modern form of Xérès, which is the name of the Andalucían region where it’s made. They still often print all three names on the bottle, connecting those of us who enjoy it with the wonderful producers and places that exist today and the traditions and families of the past. I’m glad we found this little triangle of the wine world. It’s complex, rustic, refined, traditional, exciting, relaxing and again, above all else, proud and passionate.
As for what’s coming home with us, a bottle of Fino, Oloroso and Crema as well as a bit of Andulicía in our souls.
Visit Sandeman Bodega: Sandeman offers three kinds of tours, from basic to premium. We did the basic tour for 14 Euros and three Sherries and that was perfect for us. Tours are at various times in various languages, depending on the season. I recommend calling to double-check. Email: visitors.jerez@sandeman.com, Phone: +34-675 647 177. Address: Calle Pizarro 10, 11403 Jerez de la Frontera, Spain
Visit Osborne: For a private, self-guided tasting, simply call or e-mail in advance for a reservation. Email: visitas.bodegas@osborne.es Phone:+34 956 86 91 00, Address: D. Calle Los Moros s/n, 11500, El Puerto de Santa Maria
Wow and you did some wine tasting as well! Love your trip
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“Some”?
(Stay tuned)
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Yay, Sandeman’s! We loved our visit there and actually enjoyed their promotional video – I like how they’ve sort of stolen the whole Zorro thing. As British visitors we were quite embarrassed by the fact that they really only still make cream sherry for export to the UK (and I think Germany). We always try to have a sherry in the fridge – a dry oloroso or an amontillado in the winter and a fino or a manzanilla in the summer. Perfect with some olives or roasted almonds.
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The cream Sherries we tried were good. I expected much less but was pleasantly surprised by them and by the range of styles.
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Gosh! This is some trip! From sherry tours in the Triangle to a day at the beach with a new furry friend, there’s a little something for everyone. How great is that! I’m not all that familiar with sherry,so, I would have found the tours fascinating. I must admit, though, that if the sherry was as good as you say it was, I’d probably be pushing through subsequent tours just to get to the tastings. Seen one vineyard … 🙂
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European wineries seem to love their tours. Until Burgundy anyway, where the tours are optional but actually kinda cool.
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What an interesting post. My experience with sherry is fairly limited. Every time my parents invited ‘old’ people to our house, they were always offered a sherry. I grew up thinking it was a drink for old people. Then when I was in my 20’s, I stayed with a family in England who were extremely wealthy and had a lot of functions (with butlers etc). At around 5pm pre-dinner drinks would be offered and it was, ‘Would madam prefer sherry or a G & T?’ I always went for the G & T. One of Drew’s forebears was the first to produce wine in Oz. He wanted to enter his wine in a competition back in England. In order for the wine to survive the journey, a little sherry was added to the bottle to help preserve it. I believe that bottle of wine won a silver medal. You all must be having the time of your lives on your travels and what a fantastic experience for your children xx
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Cool story. We learned on our trip that’s pretty much why Sherry exists, to survive shipping.
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Sounds like a great experience! I do think sherry is considered “uncool” in certain groups now, but there are some delicious ones out there.
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I dunno if I ever thought of it as uncool, I just never really thought of it.
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Sherry obviously is not a dinosaur but have to admit the ‘fino’ bottle coming out most often when preparing Chinese stirfries 🙂 ! In my case a definite lack of knowledge of the ‘real stuff’ and love of ordinary dry whites for my lunch!! And yes, Miss A and the pup-who-would-be-friends have kind’of pipped the amber liquids in the blog . . . luvverly . . .
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Thanks Sue! I’m sure we will.
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What a great post Mike, thanks for the sherry 101! I’m usually not much of a sherry fan (due to its heavy sugar content) but I do like it once in a while and I know JT loves it. I’m emailing him a link to the post to enhance our fall trip to Spain, what a lovely experience. Kristy looks beautiful in that shot, and yes indeed, those are super generous pours! Mind you, we always have to dial them back in Niagara because we’re usually driving!
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She’s cute, ain’t she? And let us know how you’d compare the Sherry to Niagara ice wine.
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Hi Mike,
I’m not a fan of ice wine, to be honest I find it too sweet. But Ontario also produces Late Harvest dessert wines which are not nearly as sweet; late harvest grapes are left on the vines after the normal harvest but not quite to the frost stage–they are still sweet but on the sugar scale they are about half of an ice wine.
Coincidentally, during our last sojourn to Niagara we stumbled upon a winery that produces Portuguese-style wines. They are third generation winemakers and they have an award-winning Port-style wine. We were smitten enough with this luxurious treat to buy a bottle (wish we had bought two or three!)😉
They also sell a surprising Portuguese-style red ‘house wine’ for $6.95 Canadian that’s pretty darn good. That price is unheard of in Ontario for anything drinkable, most of our wineries charge premiums because the LCBO taxes than so much to list. It’s really sad.
I’ve asked JT to include the Sherry area in Spain during our trip in the fall, thanks so much for the information. When we return, we’ll do a taste test with our Portuguese-style port.
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A great way to learn about sherries and just enjoy some tapas. I love the picture of Miss A and the little dog building sandcastles … or are they digging for buried treasure? 🙂
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The dog was hysterical. Miss A was digging a tunnel and the dog just jumped in and started digging the other end.
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Well, that’s the second time I’ve read ‘morass’ in two days so I will have to look that one up myself! I am always anxious for each new blog post to read about your adventures. Please keep them coming!
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