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.
More of this series will be published over the next few days, or
to complete the series straight away, visit
www.thewinelover.org
|
