Don't Des(s)ert The Pudding Wines...

Isn’t it funny how we jump to conclusions? I probably do it myself outside my comfort zone of the wine trade, but occasionally the public do seem to take a quantum leap of logic.  If I buy a pair of blue trousers, say, that turns out to be uncomfortable, do I forever regard all blue trousers as poorly tailored?  Of course not.  Why then did the chap in the shop a couple of days ago glare at me in disgust when my recommendation of a particularly delicious, full rosé obviously failed to float his boat?  He declared, “I’m certainly not having that, it’s dark and all dark rosés are sweet.”  Well, the solitary example he had tried elsewhere might have been, but all ours are dry.  “But it can’t be - it’s dark,” came his wildly wrong but unshakably convinced reply.

I wondered, as I selected a particularly rough section of brick wall against which to bang my head, if by employing the tailoring analogy combined with your man’s bizarre reasoning, he would accept a pair of green trousers of precisely the same size, style and cloth and find them suddenly and miraculously a perfect fit.  Almost certainly, was the sad conclusion.

It occurred to me that the understanding of dessert wine is more likely than most to give rise to erroneous assumptions.  It’s not just as simple as whether you have a sweet tooth or not; there are people who will launch into endless variants of gooey pudding with great relish, but will not countenance the appropriate wine to go with it.  I am the other way around and cannot stand the vast majority of desserts.  A sliver of sharp tarte au citron or something light and waspy made of gooseberries perhaps and rarely at that, but come at me with a bowl of banoffi pie, forged in the kitchens of hell itself and I promise you will end up wearing it.  You don’t want to know where you’d find the spoon.  However present me with a well-selected, exquisitely balanced sweet wine instead and I will be in raptures.



 For many of us our first introduction to wine was something easy, unchallenging, probably sweetish….I can remember drinking Dad’s Mosel behind the garden shed when I thought he wasn’t looking.  A junior job in the trade and a desire to learn more began to reveal what I’d been missing, but I remained guilty for two or three years of lumping all sweeties into the bracket of Beginners’ Stuff.  Certainly I’d pulled away from the cheap, German pap of the 70’s but a little knowledge and a lot of inexperience had engendered a sort of snobbery.

I had jumped to the wrong conclusion and was clearly wide of the mark.  One day somebody put a glass of top Sauternes in front of me - it was Ch. Suduiraut 1967 and I will never forget it - and my perspective cleared.  Smitten in an instant, I was a changed man.



There are many regular wine drinkers who have not had the opportunity to taste beyond that initial slurp of rotten old Liebfraumilch and I do not blame any of them for feeling a kind of residual snobbery themselves, nor for not wishing to experiment any further.  All we can do is try and convince you not to give up on sweeties until you have given a chance to at least a couple.  You wouldn’t judge all red wine on the showing of a bottle of Beaujolais  Nouveau, after all.

There is less room for forgiveness when assessing sweet wine.  If you are on holiday in Europe and a carafe of rough, dry pink appears on the table you make allowances for the circumstances and get on with it.  If your host at a barbecue produces a rustic red, it might actually be exactly what his burnt offerings need and deserve. If somebody serves you a less than decent sweetie you can’t touch it: there is nothing more disgusting than poor sweet wine and nothing more delicious than a really good one.  The main deciding factor is balance.  Sweet wine should not be sticky, it should not feel like sugar syrup in the mouth.  Even at its richest it must have acidity to counter the sweetness and leave the palate fresh, if not actually cleansed.  That is the skeleton upon which to hang the other contributions: is it full or light, strongly flavoured or mild, unctuous in texture, old and mellow or young and sprightly?  Does it show the signature of noble rot?  Does the character of the grape shine through?  All these things matter in the whole complex recipe, but without acidity sweet wine is flat, mawkish and mouth-coating.



Chocolate can be a challenge, but it's not impossible

It’s handy to get your food matching right too.  If you are serving a sweetie with a dessert, you need to ensure that the wine is sweeter than the pud.  There are few wines that can take on chocolate; the ones that match work by countering the natural bitterness of high-grade, dark, not especially sweet speciality choc.  White chocolate puds are sickly and, frankly, universally horrid.  If you insist, don’t bother drinking anything with it as you will waste your wine.  If you still have room for such a vile confection at that stage of the meal, it means that you haven’t eaten enough of the sensible food before it!  Puds with variations of caramelized fruit like an apple tarte tatin are ideal, as are creams and custards.  Crème Brulée is perfect with Sauternes or Monbazillac.  Fruit-and-meringue offers a great excuse for a lighter, zestier style of sweetie.

Crème Brulee

 

There’s no need to restrict sweet wines just to desserts.  There is an honourable French tradition of drinking such wines with rich, smooth pâtés, classically foie gras, but a chicken liver parfait is super.  Try one with blue cheese - it’s the perfect foil for the salty character of Roquefort, Saint-Agur or even Stilton.  An agreeable way of tailing off dinner is with a basket of fresh nuts to crack and a glass of something sweet - Madeira is a delicious retro option.



 

We have plenty to offer across a wide range of styles, familiar and unusual, old and modern, if you want to give one a try and have increased the selection with some new faces earlier this year.  These can never be cheap wines and you should always treat apparently bespoke, but evidently inexpensive dessert wines with considerable suspicion.  The yields are necessarily tiny, picking is extremely perfectionist - sometimes one shriveled berry at a time and, with harvests essentially late, there is always the risk of deteriorating autumn weather affecting the crop.

If this is a treat that toots your flute, peruse our selection here where you will also find details of which foods work best with these delicious wines.  As ever, feel free to call us for any advice.

Domaine de la Mordoree

This might seem a bit hypocritical given the tone of our previous blog, but the arrival of our annual shipment from the extraordinarily fine Domaine de la Mordorée in the southern Rhône Valley always prompts a fresh wave of excitement at Wines of Interest HQ.  Obviously we are long term fans of the estate; so is Jancis Robinson and so is Robert Parker, both with their very different but equally valid palates and preferences.  Even some really great producers have their detractors, but Domaine de la Mordorée seems to be held in high esteem throughout the trade and ranks of writers and critics.

The property consists of holdings in Tavel, Lirac and Châteauneuf-du-Pape and excels in all three districts.  In Lirac, at least, it is considered to be the finest producer even by its peers, setting a benchmark which most others find hard to follow.  Here particularly the hard work on this estate has done much to raise the reputation of the commune as a whole and deserves significant praise.

Every line we take is on allocation to us - you might expect the top examples, made in smaller quantities, to be rationed, but Christophe Délorme - the head honcho - can sell everything he makes with ease and our orders are always ruthlessly trimmed back.  The estate’s growing following in America, spread by the aforementioned Mr. Parker, and Christophe’s viticultural perfectionism resulting in low yields, both ensure that quantities to little players like Wines of Interest will not increase.  Further, Christophe has been working towards biodynamic production for years, introducing plots to this demanding régime one at a time which also takes its toll on volume.

So what have we managed to coax out this time?  Not a lot, in all honesty, but a few precious cases each of 2013 Côtes du Rhône Rosé, 2013 Tavel Rosé and his white 2013 Lirac, “La Reine des Bois”; not much of the 2013 Côtes du Rhône Rouge and a handful of cases of 2012 Lirac, “La Dame Rousse”, 2012 Lirac, “La Reine des Bois” and a jealously guarded, tiny stash of the miraculous 2012 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, “La Reine des Bois”.  We also have a small parcel of a relatively new red line in its 2013 variant, called La Remise de Mordorée, of which more in a few paragraphs.

The vintages are both excellent at this estate, but significantly different.  2012 is one of Christophe’s declared favourites, in his top five over the last thirty-ish years.  I will not presume to do any better than reproduce his own summary for you….

“The wines are harmonious, balanced, suave and fresh and at the same time incredibly fragrant, with a rare aromatic complexity and a subtle blend of floral and fruity aromas, a great vintage playing on its finesse, elegance and its refined concentration, one that makes you fall in love as soon as you taste it: a beautiful vintage.”

2013 clearly presented considerable challenges as a cold winter and cool, wet spring triggered a coulure - essentially the embryonic bunchlets shatter and flowers remain sterile with an uneven fruiting at best or even total failure.  In this instance the Grenache vineyards were badly hit with an 80% spoil rate on some plots.  Other varieties suffered to a much lesser extent and in the end the Syrah was “definitely the best for twenty years” and Mourvèdre, “despite the late maturing year are amazing.”  So not all bad then, by any means: Christophe summarises - “2013 was a tough year, one that never let us take a break; thankfully the quality of the wine is remarkable.  In conclusion, the wines are great, but will be extremely rare.”  We will have to see how much of the senior reds we are allowed next spring.

Now, back to “La Remise” which is a more modest offering with a completely different mix of varieties, very modern and beautifully put together now that the initial experimental phase is past.  It is a blend of Merlot with Marselan; Marselan is a vine of huge potential, a cross of Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache which has a particularly dark colour and substantial fruitiness.  It also has a good tolerance to oxidation which means that an open bottle will last for a few days without spoiling.  This particular wine is what is known at Wines of Interest, as “a big bugger”, very full with considerable body which can be drunk now with suitably hearty scoff like a robust braise of oxtail or cassoulet.  At this stage you can enjoy a big sock of youthful, primary fruit, but you could leave it for four years for a rounder feel and more developed flavours.

We now have a broad spread of different vintages going back for several years, though all in modest quantities and in various stages of maturity and drinkability.  Below is a list of what we have now and, I know we always say it, nonetheless it bears repeating, if you fancy any of these please jump quickly.  In two or three weeks time this list may have changed.  Please note that some of these are under bond and we will require notice to get them in for you.  This does provide you with a great opportunity to obtain a few bottles for tucking away in the medium term.  Please feel free to call us for advice.   

Domaine de la Mordoree - Available Wines

2013 La Remise Rouge, Vin de France - order online

2013 Cotes du Rhone Rouge - please enquire

2012 Cotes du Rhone Rouge - please enquire

2011 Cotes du Rhone Rouge - order online

2010 Cotes du Rhone Rouge - last few bottles

2013 Cotes du Rhone Rose - order online

2012 Lirac Rouge "La Dame Rousse" - please enquire

2011 Lirac Rouge "La Dame Rousse" - please enquire

2009 Lirac Rouge "La Dame Rousse" - order online

2013 Tavel Rose "La Dame Rousse" - order online

2012 Lirac Rouge "Cuvee de la Reine des Bois" - please enquire

2011 Lirac Rouge "Cuvee de la Reine des Bois" - please enquire

2009 Lirac Rouge "Cuvee de la Reine des Bois" - please enquire

2007 Lirac Rouge "Cuvee de la Reine des Bois" - order online

2006 Lirac Rouge "Cuvee de la Reine des Bois" - last few bottles

2013 Lirac Blanc "Cuvee de la Reine des Bois" - order online

2012 Lirac Blanc "Cuvee de la Reine des Bois" - last few bottles

2012 Chateauneuf du Pape "Cuvee de la Reine des Bois" - please enquire

2011 Chateauneuf du Pape "Cuvee de la Reine des Bois" - order online

2010 Chateauneuf du Pape "Cuvee de la Reine des Bois" - order online

2009 Chateauneuf du Pape "Cuvee de la Reine des Bois" - order online

2007 Chateauneuf du Pape "Cuvee de la Reine des Bois" - order online

2006 Chateauneuf du Pape "Cuvee de la Reine des Bois" - order online

2005 Chateauneuf du Pape "Cuvee de la Reine des Bois" - order online

2004 Chateauneuf du Pape "Cuvee de la Reine des Bois" - order online

Good News From Gasull (Olive Oil Producer)

There has been much deserved publicity lately about the hunting of migrant birds as they fly over the Mediterranean heading north for the breeding season.  Malta has been singled out as perhaps the worst perpetrator, with a varied selection of means of destruction being employed, including reports of harriers being shot on the ground at night dazzled by torchlight and unable to escape.

It is heartening to relate that, in some small way, others are doing their bit for conservation.  Further north in Catalonia where our olive oil is made by Olis Gasull, this environmentally tuned-in producer has been working with the GEPEC group of ecologists to allow the reintroduction of barn owls into their olive groves.  They now have a signed agreement and three barn owls were hatched in the nattily named Centre de recuperació de Fauna Salvatge in Vallcent.  They will remain in captivity in full sight of the olive trees to acclimatise them to their intended future home and will be let out in a month’s time when they are old enough to hunt for themselves.

Gasull's olive groves

Gasull have been following a policy of general sustainability for several years now and pursue agricultural strictures which have eliminated herbicides and reduced the use of pesticides as much as possible.  They see this collaboration with the naturalists as a logical extension of their responsible methods of farming.

Although technically speaking they cannot claim to be organic, the fact is that they are trying harder than many and it is reassuring to know that their delicious olive oil can only benefit further from this laudable policy.

If you have not yet discovered our Gasull Olive Oil now is the time to give it a go.  At £7.20 for a litre, or £35 for a five litre tin of cool pressed, extra virgin, single variety Arbequina olive oil you have a bargain kitchen essential.  You are also supporting a small independent company endeavouring to discharge its environmental and community responsibilities as best it can and make a proven difference in so doing.  Buy Olive Oil here

Arbequina Olives

Tabali Winery, Chile

I suppose it might appear to be a form of torture and you may well ask why we do it, but you cannot have enjoyed being part of the wine trade for as long as we have without being equally eager to explore food and wine combinations and developing an abiding interest in all forms of scoff.  I’m talking about watching Gennaro Contaldo producing a rich, gooey, artery-clogging lasagna on BBC2’sFood and Drink programme, while enduring a 5:2 diet fasting day and having to ratchet up the volume to cover the noise of my own stomach, protesting mightily at the injustice of it all.  Compounding the gastric angst was their wine commentator, Kate Goodman, who wheeled out three different Syrah/Shiraz and waved her glass spitefully at me on what has to be a “dry” day. 

While I wondered why the wine choices were not specifically Italian rather than international to go with this calorifically disastrous, unctuous celebration of home-cooking, I was nonetheless pleasantly surprised to see that the final wine of the trio was none other than Tabali Syrah Reserva.  Furthermore it received the most favourable reaction of the lot and they were all impressed by its unexpected elegance and rich depth of flavour.  It is good to see top French and Italian chefs knocked out by a southern hemisphere wine at a price below that of most Claret or Chianti.   It was also interesting to note that although the price you should expect to pay was given as “around £11”, the price at Wines of Interest is £10.20 with your usual 5% off if you buy one as part of a mixed twelve, taking it well below a tenner.

Tabali Vineyards

Two more wines from their impressive range have come onto our radar recently and have both added to Tabali’s impressive haul of awards and trophies.  Felipe Muller, Tabali’s brilliant winemaker knows the vineyards like his own face and in concert with viticulturalist, Hector Rojas, they have mapped out the distinct terroirs of the estate and planted them with varieties best suited to their particular conditions.  Their Talinay vineyards, about twelve kilometres in from the ocean, are reserved for three which thrive in the calcareous soil here: Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  We were seriously bitten by the first and last which ooze class.  Descorchados South American Wine Guide (the equivalent to James Halliday in Australia or Platter in South Africa) has given it The Best Sauvignon Blanc in Chile award while, closer to home, it has won gongs in the Decanter World Wine Awards and the International Wine Challenge.  Its mineral-driven, green-apple crispness, fine acidity and cleansing zip led Descorchados to declare it “a Sauvignon fundamental to understanding the wines of Limari,” which is a bit poncy, frankly, but means that Tabali’s Talinay version is the one that sets the standards for the whole region.  Drink with fish and shellfish, obviously, but try it with a ceviche if you feel a little more adventurous.

Felipe Muller

Talinay Pinot Noir has a structure and refinement derived from its unique site and combines freshness with a degree of richness and finesse with a sense of strength.  Pinot Noir is a cooler climate grape and does not naturally, nor should it be encouraged to, develop the psychotic level of alcohol or port-like mouth-weight which some manage to coax out of Shiraz in the heat of the Barossa.  In wine big is not always best, although there are plenty out in customer land who equate octane with intrinsic quality; hand-to-hand combat reds have their place with a big winter braise, but frequently a bit more restraint, suppleness and subtlety are called for.  This is a job that Pinot Noir was put on Earth to do and Talinay does it in spades with a touch of pretty Pinot scent and assured elegance.  The minerality so to the fore on the palate of the Talinay Sauvignon expresses itself as structurally in the Pinot with an appetising edge of tannin which puts it perfectly with food.  Drink with feathered game, guinea fowl or grilled lamb.  To balance this delicious duo, Descorchados has also awarded it the position of The Best Pinot Noir in Chile.  How’s that for the double?  

We have stocked a few wines from this fine estate for several years and have banged on about them to the point of boredom, but only because we don’t want anyone to miss out, for there is a widespread misperception that Chilean wines are perfectly sound and preferably cheap, but simply do not feature among the world’s best.  Oh yes they do.  To reinforce this point leading Chilean newspaper, El Mercurio, published an article in January this year naming the two best winemakers of Chile.  In the article, Felipe Müller is honoured for his ability to understand Tabali´s distinctive terroir and use it to create remarkable wines, unique for Chile.  According to the newspaper: “Today, more than ever, the wines of Tabalí are among the best wines produced in Chile”. For his achievement Felipe Müller is nicknamed “The Interpreter” and chosen as “Best Young Winemaker”.

Best Sauvignon in Chile, Best Pinot Noir in Chile and Best Young Winemaker in Chile...surely this needs some investigating.  We are pleased to make available the two Talinay wines in an introductory offer so that you can see what all the fuss is about.

Now, just before you look at the price and declare swipe me, that’s not my usual budget; how much does a bottle of standard house red set you back when you eat out?  Exactly.  By comparison these are a bargain.

2012 Talinay Sauvignon Blanc, Tabali, Limari Valley,Chile

Price: £13.95 but £11.95 if you buy two bottles or one of each.

2011 Talinay Pinot Noir, Tabali, Limari Valley, Chile

Price: £15.95 but £13.95 if you buy two bottles or one of each.

 

Fairtrade Fortnight - Bit Lukewarm Actually. Here's Why...

Any minute now we should all expect a tap with the “worthy” stick as retailers try to persuade us to buy Fairtrade.  Many of us will respond and pay the extra for what are, as far as anyone can tell, the same bananas/coffee/chocolate (delete as appropriate) we bought last week with the exception of the comforting blue & green logo on them.  But hey! That’s fine because someone at the other end of the line should be getting a fair deal, right?  Not according to one of our suppliers who, when exploring the idea of a range of Fairtrade wines with a major supermarket was told that whilst this was an idea they would love to take further, they weren’t prepared to pay any more for the wines.  Really?  Isn’t that the point?  Shouldn’t those of us who can afford to do so be prepared to pay a bit more for the reassurance of a better deal for the chaps at the other end?  This particular major retailer was not in the least concerned about these effects, it simply wished to bask in the glory of being perceived to be Doing The Right Thing. 

How many will be offering discounts on Fairtrade products during Fairtrade Fortnight, and who do you suppose is supporting these offers? Cutting prices on these products just at the point that’s supposed to increase sales is at best counterproductive; hypocritical at worst.

Please don’t get us wrong here though.  We are not against Fairtrade (and other similar schemes) in principle.  We just don’t like the fact that a well-intentioned scheme has been hijacked and used as a marketing tool.  There are a lot of front-end costs too which make us wonder just how much of the good that could be done gets siphoned off in bureaucracy.

Surely the idea is not to attract the bargain hunters with special offers just for two weeks of the year but rather to encourage people to switch permanently to lines which deliver a better deal for the producers?  Sorry, but you don’t achieve that with discounts.  All you do is attract the “price-is-all-that-matters” consumers who’ll be chasing the next deal in 2 weeks time and the golden opportunity for long term benefit will be lost.

There is only one thing that will clinch long-term support for Fairtrade lines and that’s delivering quality products at affordable prices (actually that may be two things so to get round that we’ll call it “value for money”).  This is where it all starts to fall down as far as the vast majority of Fairtrade wines are concerned because frequently the people in most need of help are working the poorest plots of land so you’re not starting with good quality raw material – silk purse, sow’s ear etc.

Oh we’ve tried plenty of Fairtrade wines certainly, but it strikes us that the reason people buy them is because of the badge and not because they’re any good (the supermarket tale above certainly suggests that’s what they think anyway) and that’s putting the cart before the horse.  Frankly, the wines themselves need to be better, both better made and more exciting.  It’s no use trotting out yet another predictable South African Chenin Blanc or Chilean Merlot which people will simply find “acceptable”.  There has to be a reason to keep buying these wines beyond the call of the badge.  You don’t drink the badge after all.

If you’re minded to try wines such as these during the dedicated two week period we would point you to the Santa Digna (Gewurztraminer and Cab.Sauv.Rose) wines by Miguel Torres and the Coyam and Novas reds by Emiliana.  They carry the Fair For Life badge as opposed to the Fairtrade one but they were good wines first and happen also to subsequently deliver a good deal for the people who grow the grapes.  These wines do appear on offer occasionally, though not at the demand of the retailer.  More importantly, they are all good enough for us to recommend them for 52 weeks of the year and not just two.

Call Time On Duty

Now that the smoke has cleared away from Christmas and the New Year celebrations we start to look forward to the late winter and spring tastings put on by our suppliers.  It’s part of the planning process to fill gaps in the list and to discover new lines and new growers, as well as consolidating existing relationships with more familiar faces.  In short it’s time to go shopping and, as it’s the only type of shopping either of us can manage with a smile, it is usually fun.  Sometimes it’s challenging or frustrating, but when we have written off the non-starters and filtered through the shortlist to emerge with a clutch of exciting fresh ideas for the Wines of Interest 2014/15 Wine List, we are confident that you, dear customer, will have plenty to get your teeth into over the coming year.

 Part of that process necessarily involves costing.  Obviously we would like to make a modest turn out of it - you can’t feed and clothe the children by giving it away.  One thing is for certain here and that is that no matter how much we sell, nobody makes more out of our labours than the government and it is the government which makes the major contribution to the expense of your favourite tipple.  Now, we all know that education, the NHS, the armed forces, the police and so on must be paid for somehow and that the principle of paying tax is sound, so we are not griping about excise per se.  Thus as Williamson bashes his calculator and redraws his spreadsheets after the spring budget, we understand why our industry is required to stump up, but what does irk is just how much.  Have a little trundle through some revealing figures to see the extent that we are lent on by No. 11 Downing Street….

Did you know that the wine and spirit industries are worth £20 billion annually to the British economy and support, directly or indirectly, £40 billion of economic activity in the UK?  The UK alcohol industries (ghastly description but you catch our drift) support nearly 2 million jobs in total.  Worth encouraging wouldn’t you think?

Since the introduction of the alcohol duty escalator in 2008 by Mr. Darling, wine taxation has risen by 50% and spirits by 44%, of which 25% for both categories was imposed by nice Mr. Osborne who picked up the baton when it became his turn.  Tax now accounts for 79% of an average-priced bottle of spirits and 57% of an average bottle of wine.  This will increase to over 80% on spirits and 60% on wine if the escalator is retained for 2014.  Don’t forget that every time the excise duty increases as part of our cost, the retail selling price also contains a growing amount of VAT.  You pay a tax on a tax.

As we stand now, the UK accounts for 38.8% of all duty paid in the EU – more than France, Germany, Italy and Spain combined.  Phew!

Next time you hear the talking heads pontificating about the UK’s alcohol problems, putting such troubles down to the cheapness of booze in this country, remember these statistics.

What beats me is just how the constant milking of our industry to this punitive degree squares up with government’s declared intent to create jobs and support growth.  It doesn’t look that way from here.  With the chancellor’s budget booked for March 19^th the spectre of another increase looms large and, as the duty escalator’s rate is set at 2% over inflation, we could be looking at another significant hike.

This is not a partisan, anti-government rant; all the parties of whatever political hue have been equally unsympathetic to our trade down the years.  The fact remains that the UK, whilst apparently enjoying a modest measure of economic improvement, remains pretty well immersed in the proverbial cess pit, wherever you wish to lay the blame for that.  Thus we understand why tax revenues need to be guarded and we understand why the national belt has had to be tightened.  What we don’t understand is why our industry, which shows such obvious benefits to the nation, should once again be clobbered like no other sector that we can think of, which results in the long term stifling of one of our more successful industries and contributors of revenue.

In short, we’ve paid already.  Go and fleece somebody else for a change, George.  Oh, and don’t defer it for a year, DO IT NOW.

If any of you feel similarly but do not know where to express that frustration, please go to http://action.calltimeonduty.com/  hosted by the Wine and Spirit Trade Association and endorsed by The TaxPayers’ Alliance, where you can find out more about this issue and send a pre-prepared, electronic letter to your local MP.  The words and major points are already there for you so please feel free to make your voice heard.  There’s an election in the offing and the current incumbents could do with a splash of popularity so it may well be a good time to nudge the chancellor in this direction.  If he sees sense but leaves it any later and it’ll look like a bribe.

Of course, if you actively wish to pay more for your booze and see further hurdles shoved in front of your favourite pub or restaurant and the vital tourist industry, please feel equally free not to do this…..

(Data sourced from Harpers Wine & Spirit Magazine, January 2014, issue 113)

A Basic Guide To Sherry

Don't give up now - you've already come so far...!

So you think you don't like Sherry?  We'd be prepared to bet that you just haven't met the right one yet.  Maybe you had an unfortunate experience in a previous life with an unfortunate sweet, brown, sticky liquid in the 1970s... Even if you think this isn't for you, you really should hear us out.  Sherry is the best value fine wine in the world and offers a vast range of tastes and options.  What's the harm in reading on...?

Before we go any further we should try to erase all preconceptions and distant memories.  Forget the crystal decanters on the set of Yes Minister, and the dusty bottle in Grandma’s cupboard and let’s also delete any recollections of bottles labelled with the word “sherry” but also bearing the words “British”, “Cyprus” or “South African”.  Thankfully these horror stories are consigned to ancient history. They are not, and never were, Sherry and labelling such wines in this way is now illegal.  When I say “Sherry” I’m talking about the wines made in a corner of Andalucia (southern Spain) in what is known as the “Sherry Triangle” based on the towns of Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlucar de Barrameda and Puerto de Santa Maria.

 

Sherries tend to be aged in a Solera System where new wines from each vintage are added to the start of a series of barrels and a proportion of the contents is moved, each year, to the next barrel in the sequence (each level is called a "criadera") with up to one third of the contents of the final barrel removed for bottling and sale.  No barrel is ever emptied and the new wine which is added takes on the properties of the wine it joins thus creating a consistent style and ironing out any vintage variation.  It’s why styles of sherry are so consistent.

Sherry Styles

Let’s bowl out the exceptions first in the form of Moscatel and Pedro Ximenez (PX).  These are the only naturally sweet styles of sherry and also the names of the grape varieties that produce them.  Moscatel is grapey, sweet and a bit like a big pudding wine.  PX is made from sun-dried PX grapes and is dark and intensely sweet – sort of  alcoholic liquid raisins.

 

With Moscatel and PX out of the way I can generalise a bit and tell you that all other sherries are made from the Palomino grape and they are all naturally dry.  Got that?  I say again, all naturally dry.  Yep, unlike port where the fermentation is stopped by the addition of spirit (thus leaving unfermented sugars, resulting in a sweet wine) the fermentation of sherry is allowed to finish before the spirit is added (this is called fortification) and the wine is already dry with all the natural sugars having been turned to alcohol.  It’s only after fortification that the real magic begins! Any sweet or medium sherries you therefore encounter were originally dry and have been adjusted with sweetening wines made from our old chums Moscatel and PX.

 

The magic then… Unique to this particular area of Spain (apart from the Jura in eastern France and a tiny bit of Hungary, or so I’m led to believe) is a naturally-occurring film of yeast which settles on the surface of some (but not all – and nobody knows why) casks of sherry.  This film of yeast is called Flor and does the double job of lending its own particular flavour to the wine and, where it completely covers the surface of the wine, protecting the wine from oxidising through contact with the air.  Sometimes the flor isn’t complete and air starts to oxidise the wine, sometimes the flor forms, but then dies off and sometimes it doesn’t form at all and the wine begins to oxidise straight away.  All of these variants produce different styles of sherry as set out below – and all because of a quirk of nature!

 

Fino – produced in Jerez de la Frontera and Puerto de Santa Maria where a flor covering has remained protecting the wine throughout its ageing in the solera.  The result is a very pale, dry and fresh sherry which is the perfect aperitif though the Spanish drink it with food too (so we should as well).  Think big white wine – serve chilled.  It’s not seen any oxygen whilst ageing though so will oxidise once opened thus a bottle is best consumed within days (or in our house hours) of opening.  Better still, buy 2 halves and keep the second one unopened to retain its freshness until the first one has gone.  Click here to browse our range of Sherries.  Should you see anything labelled "en rama" (meaning "in the raw") this is Sherry left unfiltered and as close as any bottling will be to drawing the stuff straight from the cask in Jerez (or Sanlucar.... or Puerto...).

 

Manzanilla – a style of Fino made in Sanlucar de Barrameda which, being by the sea, inherits a salty tang whilst ageing and is lighter, crisper and even drier than other Finos.  The same rules apply about keeping it fresh, buying halves to assist if appropriate, and serving chilled.  Warning – this stuff is dangerously addictive!  Look out for Manzanilla Pasada which is an older Manzanilla (about 7 years) where the veil of flor starts to fade and the wine takes on a richer style.  Some Bodegas stop short of Pasada status but still produce an older Manzanilla which has a bit more concentration and depth than the regular version. Click here to browse our range of Sherries.

 

 

Amontillado – started life as a Fino (or Manzanilla) with flor influence but then also began to oxidise because the flor didn’t form properly or has died off (which may have been encouraged to occur by the level of fortification) thus allowing a degree of oxidation.  Still crisp and fresh in their natural form and also naturally dry.  Quite complex and rich with a nuttiness to their flavour.  All Amontillados are naturally dry (because all such sherries are dry remember?) but often those sold on the UK market have had sweetening wines added to make them “medium”.  Best check with the retailer to see whether you’re buying a naturally dry version or one that’s been “mediumised”.  I’d still be serving these chilled incidentally. Click here to browse our range of Sherries.

Fino/Amontillado – quite rare but a halfway house between the two styles where there has been less oxidation than a full Amontillado but the wine still has the obvious flor character of a Fino.  Well worth seeking out.  Serve as Fino. Click here to browse our range of Sherries.

Oloroso – these are what results when no flor formed in the first place, largely because they were fortified to a higher booze level to prevent flor forming.  The wine therefore began to oxidise from day 1 and has continued to do so.  Dry again of course though UK versions are sweetened up so again it’s best to check.  The Spanish still serve these chilled (so I would too) but it’s up to you.  They can be complex and flavoursome wines. Click here to browse our range of Sherries.

 

 

Palo Cortado – this style is pretty rare and sits between Amontillado and Oloroso in terms of flavour.  It begins life as a Fino or Amontillado but then wakes up one morning and decides it actually leans the other way and starts to age as an Oloroso.  Nobody knows why but winemakers get very excited when this happens.  Though rare this change seems to produce the best of both worlds and sherries of intense flavour and complexity.  Fantastic stuff! Click here to browse our range of Sherries.

Cream – Oloroso base wine with Moscatel and PX added to produce a sweet style popular in the UK but almost unheard of in Spain.  This is what Mothers-in-Law and elderly maiden aunts run on and is probably the bottle that ought to be in Grandma’s cupboard that we mentioned at the beginning…

Sherry is one of the finest experiences that they world of wine has to offer.  Some people claim they don’t like Sherry; they’re wrong.  They just haven’t tasted the right one yet. Click here to browse our range of Sherries - you must be ready for a glass now, and if you're not ready just have a look at this picture for a while...