I have always loved sherry - it is just the type I love that has changed as the years have sped by...... as a student it was cheap, sweet cream I am embarassed to admit, and recently I tasted it again and cannot believe what I drank! But now the range of good sherry has never seemed better, and something for every occasion!
A couple of years ago I toured the Jerez region and enjoyed the Fino sherries avaiable at most bars and restaurants that we ate at, with nuts, with olives, with cheese, with jambon......we chose to eat and drink 'local'.
We toured the vineyards and winemaking facilities of Gonzales Byass, and did a tasting of the range under the expert guidance of their Marketing Director, Jeremy Rockett. Wonderful experience, and it opened my eyes to the possibilities for Sherry.
Last night we were luck enough to relive part of the experience, once more with Jeremy Rockett who did a tutored tasting with a local wine group, and some of the sherries previously tasted were revisited, with some new additional gems.
Tio Pepe was where we started our tasting, this is the Gonzales Fino sherry, pale and dry with a near salty quality that reminded me of salted almonds with a touch of savouriness from some bacon mixed in. This is pale because Fino sherry undergoes biological ageing ( under a yeasty 'Flor' in the barrel which feeds on the alcohol and sugars that remain in the wine made from Palomino grapes) and no oxidative ageing takes place. Half a million cases of this are made/sold each year - this is a big business that runs like a well oiled machine. The barrels of 'Fino' are tested avery 3 months to ensure that the Flor that guards it against oxidative ageing are growing well and intact, this is done by inspection, and followed by testing the wine itself for the acidity and alcohol levels. The action of the Flor produces aromas and flavours that are quite unique and are due in the main to acetaldehyde ( a chemical that we never 'eat'orth remembering as it is also found in other wines ) , the flor consumes the glycerol contained in the wine so reducing the viscosity / silky texture in the wine, this was apparent in the Finos that we tasted.
If I thought the first, Tio Pepe, was a delight, the second knocked my socks off, it was a Una Palma Fino ( Fino Palmas ) and this started out as a better quality, finer style of Fino and then has been matured for at least an extra one and a half years extra with Flor, it is slightly darker, a more intense and yet finer aroma, the texture was silkier and the flavours were also more intense and concentrated, savoury, yet citric at the same time, the finish was long and had a salty end, stunning! The wine is neither filtered or fined and this adds another layer of complexity, yeast and bread notes intermingle with the fino aromas and flavours. You should taste it if you can, it is like the En Ramas - another unfiltered and fined wine that Gonzales Byas produces. It keeps for up to 6 months, though some who have kept it for longer insist that it keeps fresh well past the expected date due to the remenants of yeast. If you can find this, and that is unlikely as most places that had it have sold out - it will cost £12-15. There are other finer versions, Dos, Tres and Cuatro Palmas's, these go from £17 -53 depending on which you buy. They are available to taste from Calamino bar in London, near Kings Cross - I believe.
The evening continued with 2 Amontillados, which are in effect aged Finos after the Flor has died, they vary in age from 8-12 years old, the 2 we tasted were Vina AB (10 years old) at about £11.99 and Del Duque at £16.49 for a 30 year old gorgeous example. Both are dry as all Amontillado's must be, both with some brown/copper colouring, the added age of course brought added colour due to the oxidative aging that occured after the flor had died. The Vina AB had floral, nutty notes and a feint dried fruit edge, while the older Del Duque had alot more dried fruit ( dates and figs), nuts in abundance, hazelnuts and walnuts, rich and complex, both had a dry finish with lingering dried sweet fruits.
And once more we moved on - to Palo Cortado, a sherry that I have always thought of as a failed Fino, but this is no more, Palo Cortado's are now produced regularly and in quanity under controlled conditions to order by most of the large companies producing sherry, and Gonzales Byass use the finer style of wine that would normally be used to make Fino then aged in the same way as an Oloroso......, so in effect it is a finer Oloroso style!
The first of the 2 Palo Cortado's (PC) was the Leonor at £11.99, and this was 12 years old, was dry with figgy aromas and dried fruits with spiciness on the palate, the second PC was the Apostoles, a 30 year aged PC with up to 10% Pedro Ximenez added as a sweetener, as it has about 60g/l residual sugar it should no longer ( due to rule changes on labelling) be called a Palo Cortado...... This wine was a dark copper brown with concentrated and complex aromas of figs, nuts, all rich and alluring, the length was long with sweet dry fruits all the way, but the acidity was higher than previous sherries tasted and this kept it fresh and had a dry finish, and it was a dream with the strong cheeses that were on our table ( and not too bad with the florentines either....).
So Oloroso's were next on our list, we started with a dry one called Alfonso at £11.99, it was quite full bodied, rounded and balanced, some dried fruit and salty nuts, quite joined up! The second Oloroso, Solera 1847, was a sweet version with 25% Pedro Ximenez added before it entered the Solera where it spent 8-10 years on average so allowing it to integrate, the smell of raisins was extreme, it was brown in colour and a tarry blackness to the core, the figs and raisins in its character were sweet and rounded, dry at the finish but charming throughout. A 30 year old Matusalem Oloroso Dulce was the last Oloroso, with 120g/l of sugar but complex, concentrated and would be a stunner with chocolate, christmas cake and pud,the dried fruits, savouriness and fresh acidity made it feel young and vibrant and rich at the same time - this sells at £16.49 per half bottle, and it is a definite on our christmas table - for sure!
Finally we came to the real sweeties, Pedro Ximenez (PX), sweet through and through, the Nectar was a simple syrup of figs mix, deep and treacley, viscous and without alot of interest, just sweetness. The alcohol on this was about 15%, the legal minimium for something to be labelled a sherry, in fact the alcohol after a sluggish fermentation lies in the 7-8% range , but is fortified to get it up to the 15% required. The second PX was a 30 year old much more complex wine with a broader cross section of fruit, higher acidity (so not so sickly sweet), and a richness that drew you in, Neo is about £16.50 per half bottle, and the residual sugar lies in the 40% range, but had sufficient acidity and complexity to carry it off.
Quite a tasting - and it changed the minds of many at the tasting, some had not indulged in this varied and fortified wine much, but this has opened their eyes, and mine - well, there werises, and I have been searching out some gems to buy!
The grand vin is the result of an increasingly strict selection process, with approximately 50% of the production going into the final wine and the balance used in the Croix de Beaucaillou. The 2009 may be the finest example of this cuvee I have yet tasted. Up-front, precocious and generous, it possesses a dense purple color, a big, broad, unctuous texture and abundant notes of creme de cassis and black cherry fruit intertwined with hints of wood smoke, vanillin and earth. This nearly viscous-styled wine can be drunk in 2-3 years or cellared for 15+. 
(2/ 2012)
