Sherry & Madeira wine

Jerez, Sherry or Xérès three names for the same pleasure!

Sherry, known as Sherry or Jerez, takes its name from the city of Jerez in Andalusia where it is produced. It is a mutated wine obtained by adding a wine brandy. The harvest is dried for one to two days in the sun in order to concentrate the aromas. Three grape varieties are used, the Palomino Fino which produces a dry sherry the best known being the brand Tio Pepe, the Pedro Ximenez which produces a milder sherry and the Muscat also called Moscatel which produces a very sweet sherry.

There are two main categories of sherries, Fino and Oloroso. For Fino, the flor, a film of yeast formed naturally on the surface of the wine during winemaking, plays a decisive role in obtaining Fino sherry because it protects the wine from any oxidation by depriving the wine of any contact. with oxygen from the ambient air. The Fino is a wine with a title of around 15 ° because above 16 °, the flower dies. This oxidation / reduction process is similar to what we know with Jura wines and maturing under veil. Lighter Fino is a Manzanillo, a Fino stored for a long time and raised in solera is an Amontillado.

For Oloroso, which is closer to Portos Tawny, there is fermentation in barrels and the addition of grape brandy and controlled aeration. The sugar concentration of an Oloroso will give either a Palo Cortado or an Amoroso or a Cream.

The solera is a system for aging wine. The wine at the end of aging intended to be conditioned, is withdrawn from the solera. The quantity of wine removed is replaced by that of the two barrels above and so on. The Spaniards say that with this system, old wine educates the young. The wine made from a solera that has been in place for a century still contains a tiny proportion of the first wine that is a century old. This system also ensures the continuity of the style of a house. We offer the following houses on site or in store, Lustau, Sandeman, TiopPepe Gonzalez Byass and El Maestro Sierra whose Solera dates from 1830 !!!

You know a little more about Sherry, this wonderful Andalusian wine ...