Sherry suffers from the stigma that it is an old lady drink found exclusively in Grandma's liqueur cabinet. This myth could not be further from the truth.  Sherry means a lot more than just Harvey’s Bristol Cream.

Sherry comes from one area in Spain, Jerez de la Frontera, and is a much more complex and interesting product than you might have originally thought.


The town of Jerez de la Frontera is situated in the appellation of Cadiz, on the southern tip of Spain and also includes the sherry-making villages of, and El Puerto de Santa María.


The term sherry is really just an English bastardisation of the name ‘Jerez’ and was once also called ‘sack’ by the British, again taken from the Spanish ‘saca’ meaning ‘from the solera’.

Sherry is made using a system called ‘solera’ whereby the sherry is put into wine barrels and is essentially a blending system of casks that hold wines of varying ages. The oldest casks are the ones that are bottled in a given year and the next casks are arranged in such a way that the youngest fortified wines are blended into a series of casks holding progressively older wines.

The blending of younger wine into older wine results in high quality wines that all share a portion of the oldest, original vintage of wine made at the estate. This is why many fortified wines do not have a specific vintage date as they are really a blend of many years.


Sherry comes in many styles, from dry and nutty to super sweet and viscous. The driest form of sherry is known as Fino, which is the youngest form of sherry and this is usually characterised by intense nuttiness with a very dry finish.


As you move up the age ladder the Sherries become sweeter and more intense in both flavour and sugar content. The next step up from Fino is Manzanilla, which typically comes from Sanlúcar de Barrameda and is extremely light in colour.


Amontillado is naturally dry but is slightly sweetened to add to the flavour but due to its aging in the barrels is much darker than the Fino or Manzanilla. These wines can be aged for a considerable amount of time and TLNHK was fortunate enough to sample an Amontillado from 1905 during the writing of this piece.


Oloroso is a sherry that has been aged for an extended period of time and is much darker than most Sherries you usually find.


The sweetest version of sherry you can find is made from the Pedro Ximinéz grape (or sometimes the Muscat grape) and although this form of sherry is often just labeled Pedro Ximinéz or PX, it is actually classified as Jerez Dulce (sweet Jerez). These too have considerable aging potential and some of the best PX’s in Hong Kong can be found from Bodegas Tradicion in Jerez.


Most of these Sherries will have the average age of the blend as a marker for the age of the sherry. The PX from Bodegas Tradicion is, on average, 20 years old and is deliciously sweet and very addictive.


Having also tried the 1905 Pedro Ximinéz it’s clear to see that over time, the wines themselves lose some of their sweetness but still retain the nutty character that so characterisies these types of Fortified wines.


Other than Bodegas Tradicion you can also find Sherries from Gonzalez Byass in Hong Kong whose exclusive Fortified wines include Noe, Apostole and Matusalem. Gonzalez Byass make some of the more basic forms of sherry such as Tio Pepe (the kind you might cook with) but the exclusive brands are out of this world. They are rich, extremely nutty and uncious and are fantastically crafted Fortified wines.

If you are hankering for a drop of nutty goodness or even some nutty sweetness, don’t just run to the local supermarket and buy the first bottle of commercial plonk that’s on the shelves. Take the time to source out some of the fantastic ‘exclusive’ sherries that are on the market and get a real taste of Jerez – you will have an experience not easily forgotten and will have really got your monies-worth.

Bodegas Tradicion Sherries are available from Vinoasia Limited ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

 

Contributed by Alasdair Nicol, TLN Editor – Hong Kong

Want to Read More about Sherry?  Check out 'Sherry - A Criminal Investigation' HERE