Drink Sherry... ...Live Longer

Sherry is the ideal drinic for a Gibraltarian — it's a wholly Spanish product and yet is a very British tipple.

It's also a product of this region of Iberia being the pride of the city of Jerez de La Fronteira.

But another good reason to con sider taking a drop of Sherry before dinner is that it might help you live longer. Recent studies have shown that drinking wine in moderation protects against heart disease. This is nothing new to Jerezanos,the pro ducers and lovers of Sherry, who have been promoting its medicinal qualities for centuries. In Jerez, the sherry wines havealways been con sidered antidotes,especially against infectious diseases.

The Times of 25lh January,1892re ported that only one doctor, a Dr. Hodges, survived the London plague of 1665. In his memoirs the dcxrtor attributed his survival to the daily consumption of a few glasses of 'sherri's-sack', which provided him not only with protection against the disease but also with the opti mism which he transmitted to his patients.

night after dinner and she lived to be 97.

In his book Sherry — The Noble Wine, expert Manuel Gonzales Gordon(sometimes called the Pope of Sherry but better known to friends as Manolo Gonzalez)of Je rez wrote:

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Inhabitants of Jerez are noted for their longevity

Inhabitants of Jerez are noted for their longevity and the people of Andalusia call Sherry 'milk for the old people' or sometimes 'chicken broth'. There is an Andaluslan leg end of an archbishop who drank a half a bottle of Sherry at every meal except on days when he wasn't feel ing well and then he doubled his intake. It is said that he lived to be 125.Presumably the doctors put his death down to excessive drink.

There must be something in it be cause my Yorkshire-born grand mother had a glass of Sherry(along with her favourite chocolate) every

"In spite of the large amount of Sherry that is drunk in Jerez,cirrho sis of the liver is almost unknown in the district. Dr. Lancereaux has said that this illness is caused by overindulgence in alcohol, whilst other authorities attribute it to po tassium sulphate in food and drinks. Here we have further proof that the plastering(gypsum is added to the soil) of Sherry has no ill effects on health. Moreover, Dr. Jose Luis R. Badanelli,in a re port that cirrhosis is almost un known in Jerez, shows that in the majority of cases treated over a large number of years by Jerez doctors the patients were mainly non-wine drinkers, many being women."

Manolo started drinking Sherry as a schoolboy but he got his first taste when he was four months old and credited it with saving his life. He was very ill and specialistscalled from Seville told his parents he had only four days to live. Manolo's fa ther ordered Sherry for the doctor and when the ser\'ant passed with the tray the little boy reached out. Manoio's mother saw this and she gave the baby a spoonful of Sherry.

"This she did, and as I smacked my lips and appeared to relish it she repeated the dose — a 'treatment' she went on giving me for several weeks."

When Manolo moved to London to work as a journalist for the York shire Post he continued to drink his daily quoto of Sherry. His favourite spot was the El Vino wine house on Reet Street.

"It imported Sherry direct and it was served from the cask — in cons i d e r a b 1 e quanitities. I usu^y took the least expensive El Vino medium Sherry: it cost the equivalent of 4p a dockglass(six to the bottle)."

Manuel M.Gonzalez Gordon was bom in Jerez in 1886 and died there in 1980. He worked most of his life in the family company wine dis tributors Gonzales Byass & Co.

Obviously wine distributors have a vested interest in promoting Sherry but an interesting study on the life expectancy of Jerez vintners and cellar-managers done by a George C. Howell found that 10% were moderate drinkers or teetotal while the remaining 90% were estab lished enthusiasts. A study of the mortality rate showed that only 10% died before the age of 70 while 15% survied to be 90 or more.

We'll leave the last word to Dr. Fermin Aranda of Jerez, a distin guished surgeon and a strong parti san of Sherry quoted in the book:

"Sherry is a powerful tonic be cause it contains alcohol(medically antipyretic),ether (stimulant), iron (fortifying tonic) and nitrogen. These added to the vitamins it contains make Sherry a tonic without rival in the world."

Of course as all doctors will ad vise the key is moderation but then I've always been a big fan of Mark Twain's famous remark — "Every thing in moderation, including moderation."

*Note — The term Sherry is derived from the Roman name of the town, Ceret, on the site of the what is today ferez. This was corrupted to Xerez ^ the Moors. All true Sherries are from Jerez and only winesfrom that district can use the word on labels andfor pro motion, this was upheld by European legislation in 7995.