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By Art LiPuma, LiPuma, General Manager SeaSide Wine & Spirits, Old Saybrook, CT
A Taste of Sherry The great country of Spain produces one of the finest fortified wines, called Sherry. These wines are made from white grapes. Palomino is the grape mostly used as it develops into a bone dry wine. Moscatel is the grape used for some of the sweeter sherries. Southern Spain is the area for producing these spectacular fortified wines. Andalucía is the most important area in southern Spain which includes three towns: Sanlŭcar de Barrameda, Puerta de Santa Maria are on the cost and more inland is Jerez de la Frontera. These vineyards grow grapes in sandy soils, with components of clay. During the growing season the temperatures are around 80 but can reach into the 90’s. After the Palomino grape is picked it then goes through the same process as any white wine made from Spain. Where the process changes is after a year. The wine then gets fortified with pure alcohol as to raise the alcohol content to 14.5 percent. This in turns stabilizes the wine and provides nutrients for the yeast called Flor. Flor is yeast that feeds on the sugar of the
grapes which helps in the making of Fino wines, a very dry sherry. When the yeast doesn’t break down the sugars it will be used for Oloroso style sherries. The wine is made to be consistent through the years due to the Solera system. The Solera method is used in storing sherries in barrels that are stacked four to five high. The wine is then slowly blended with older wine and newer wine from the top barrel down to the bottom barrel, which is where the final product is taken from, hence maintaining consistent flavor. The wine from the second layer of the barrels is replaced with new wine and so on down to the lower barrels. None of the barrels are completely filled. There are several styles of Sherries that range from dry to sweet. Fino is the lightest in color and the driest coming from the town of Jerzez. Manzanilla is the most delicate sherry which comes from the town of Sanlucar de Barrameda. Like Fino this light style
