Sherry from Jerez - Spanish Wine Region
The
following excerpt is taken from Oz Clarke’s Encyclopedia of Wine and describes
the Andalucía wine-producing region of south-western Spain, most famed for its
production of sherry. The wine itself is named after the town of Jerez de la
Frontera. The prominent grape variety here is the Palomino.
Sherry Wine
Andalucía,
a vast spread of eight provinces stretching right across the sunbaked south of
Spain, welcomes millions of tourists each year. But relatively few of them ever
stray far from the Costa del Sol. Those who do discover a land quite different
from the rest of the Iberian peninsula as this was the part of Spain longest
occupied by the Moors—the words ‘la Frontera’ tacked onto many local place
names, including that of Jerez, reflect how for a full hundred years these towns
were on the frontier between Christian and Moorish Spain. Whitewashed walls,
cool courtyards and roof terraces on the oldest houses testify to eight
centuries of Arab dominion, as do the place names, local crafts and even the
inevitable flamenco dancing. Solitary farmhouses are a feature of the
countryside, set in the eastern provinces among landscapes of olive trees or
cereals, irrigated fruit trees or early vegetables, and in the west among fields
of sunflowers, cereals and vines.
Andalucía
overflows with vines, but there are far more in the west than the east. All four
of Andalucía’s DOs (Jerez y Manzanilla, Montilla-Moriles, Málaga and Condado
de Huelva) lie to the west of Granada, and the DOs themselves account for over
half Andalucía’s vineyards. But it seems strange that the famous wines made
in such a hot climate should all be fortified—until you taste the unfortified
wines. It is hard to get excited by any of the bland, flavourless whites, and
those are the good ones. The bad are horrific. Thank goodness the Andalucíans
evolved a way to turn their basic table wines into nectar to accompany the
incessant socializing and lengthy meals. For this is a part of Spain where lunch
never starts before three in the afternoon, and you consider yourself lucky if
you sit down to dinner by midnight, after delicious hours of tapas—copious
nibbles of olives, anchovies, fried peppers, salted almonds, squid—and glass
after glass of chilled fino.
In
Jerez the tulip-shaped copita glass would contain fino sherry, in Sanlúcar de
Barrameda, manzanilla, in inland Córdoba it might be Montilla, and in Málaga,
down by the coast, a stiff tot of the ‘mountain’ wine so loved by the
Victorians.
Despite
the relentless, glaring heat, the sherry region, in particular, is well suited
to vines. The best soil—finely grained, dazzlingly white albariza which sweeps
right across the central growing area—contains between 60 and 80 per cent
chalk and acts as a sponge, soaking up and storing the ample winter rainfall
until the vines crave it in the height of midsummer. Accordingly, yields are
high, for the vineyards of Jerez, all trained on wires, are among the most
modern in Spain, and the Palomino Fino—the main grape for sherry—is always a
generous bearer.
But
the wine not turned into sherry often finds a buyer who will distil and age it
to make the rich, dark brandies for which Andalucía is also famous.
Source:
Oz Clarke’s Encyclopedia of Wine
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