A Suitable Setting For Spanish Sherry Tasting
I was invited to a tasting of six Spanish sherries at the Spanish Embassy in London. It is not just a building in Belgrave square, amongst the elite of ambassadors residences and offices. It has lovely shady garden of flowers at the back. Inside the walls are adorned with paintings from the prestigious Prado art gallery in the capital of Spain, Madrid. But on a hot day in London, to taste Spanish sherry, we sat indoors around a grand, long table.
Angela Lansbury, left. The Ambassador. Emma, Right. Photo by Trevor Sharot.
As the lady ambassador, Emma, said, in her introductory welcome, the alliance of Spain and England as trade partners, goes back several centuries. Spain acted as producers and sellers of sherry, the British favourite. England is one of the top three buyers. The greater numbers of Americans being a little ahead of us, although we match the Americans in enthusiasm. I remember as a student going to sherry parties held by the professors, when I was at University College, London, in the late 1960s.
The popularity of sherry goes way back to Shakespeare's time. He mentioned sherry many times in his plays. So did other famous authors. For more than a hundred years poet laureates were paid in advance with a barrel of sherry. Charles Dickens drank sherry, mentioned it many times in his works and gave it to a long-lived pet parrot.
What is special and different about sherry, compared to ordinary wine? A slide show revealed or reminded the audience of how sherry is produced. It's redundant to say sherry is from Spain. That's like saying Spanish wine comes from Spain. The name sherry comes from the English pronunciation of the Spanish city name Jerez, at the heart of the production of sherry.
The head of the organization which is charge of defining and controlling the use of location names, showed us the slides. Wine making in the area now known as Spain started with the Phoenicians who also introduced their alphabet. The denominations of origin started in Spain in 1933.
The three dry sherries are on the left. The three sweet sherries are on the right. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
One of the slides reminded us of the solera method. New wine is poured into the top barrel. In the classic slide, easy to demonstrate and understand three barrels are piled on top of each other and connected. Drip, drip, drip. In the old days they probably relied on gravity. But the solera system can be used horizontally, aided by pumps.
Only gradually over the years will the flavour change, the good and bad years balancing each other out, but you would select only the best grapes for this lengthy process. So your bottle of sherry might contain the crops, the vintage, of vines from several years.
The old French oak barrels add more flavour. The oldest wine has the strongest flavour. Older bottles which have corks lose a little of wine to evaporation, so the flavour intensifies. But you are drinking a blend, from the lowest barrel. You have as many as 120 different varieties in your glass!
Dry Sherry
Sherry is not a spirit but a fortified wine. The sherry is made in a bodega, where the wine ages in a cool cellar.
Yeasts
Each bodega has different yeasts! These yeasts add their own unique aroma and flavour. So even if you use the same grape variety as your neighbour, the results are different. The best results might come from different soil, being on the right or left bank of a river, lower or higher on a slope, being in more sun for more of the day, benefitting from a breeze or wind. Areas around Jerez have ideal, varied, conditions.
The first three wines were made using the most important local grape variety Palomino.
The first three sherries we tried were dry. Although I am a lover of sweet wines, I found these dry wines very pleasant.
Comparing Colours
We looked at the colours. Ranging from the first two, pale yellow, amber, then red, more intense colour, more intense flavour.
Then we swilled the sherry around and sniffed it. The first fina had a yeasty note.
The dry wine is drunk before meals as an aperitif to stimulate your tastebuds. Great for tapas, tiny tastes, which was originally a piece of bread or meat or pie across the top of the glass of wine.
Sweet Wines
But the overwhelming delight was the three sweet sherries. Each has its own different, distinctive aroma and flavour.
First Sweet Sherry
First I tasted, honey, butterscotch, caramel. After comparing colours, aromas, flavours, the lasting finish, I rated each wine out of seven, like we do at the Central London Wine Society, which meets on two middle Wednesdays each month at the Civil Service Club. All the dry wines had reached the level three of acceptable, in fact beyond that, 4 for good, maybe 5 for very good.
But the first sweet wine surpassed them at 6 for special, superb, interesting, different, delicious. Given an opportunity and need, I would buy it, if it was within my budget.
The last two hit the rare rating of 7. Wonderful. Must buy. If expensive, ask for it for a treat, a birthday dinner, or a Christmas dinner or celebration. Highly recommended.
The Second Sweet Sherry
The second, totally different, more intense, aromatic. Herbal. Flowery. What was it? Oranges. Seville oranges, Bitter oranges. Sweet oranges. Tangy, like lemons. Lip-smacking good.
Third Sweet Sherry - Sweetest - and Best?
The third sherry came from the kingdom of the Pedro Ximenez grape. Known as PX for short. Pedro is Spanish for Peter. The ending ez means son or offspring, like Peterson is son of Peter. So Ximenez means son of Simon, pronounced Shimon in Hebrew. Maybe he was a soldier, or a Catholic Cardinal, according to which myth, legend or speculation you prefer.
Colour very dark and dense.
Aroma
Finally, the third, the sweetest. Burned caramel aroma. Rich.
Flavour,
Raisins, caramel. Unctuous. Syrupy.
Pairing with Food
A dessert wine with dessert? Perhaps PX is better as a contrast with a savoury cheese, a slightly salty blue cheese. (Like that other famous pair, Portuguese Port and stilton.)
However, one favourite use for PX is to pour it over ice cream!
Useful Websites
Information on Sherry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Xim%C3%A9nez
Sherry in Literature
https://www.sherry.wine/news/sherry-literature
Buying Sherry
https://www.thewinesociety.com/buy/wines/fortified-wine/sherry
Spanish Food
https://camino.uk.com/menus/
Sherry Tasting Visits
Sherry Museum
https://thesherrygallery.com/
https://www.getyourguide.com/jerez-de-la-frontera-l413/palacio-san-dionisio-jerez-wine-museum
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g227869-Activities-c42-t205-Jerez_De_La_Frontera_Costa_de_la_Luz_Andalucia.html
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