Speak the Culture: Spain: Be Fluent in Spanish Life and Culture

300

1. Identity: the
   building blocks of
   2. Literature
   and philosophy
   3. Art and
   architecture
   4. Performing
   arts
   5. Cinema
   and fashion
   6. Media and
   communications
   7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
   the details of

iv. Southern Spain

Andalusian wines have been sweet and strong since

Phoenician times, as befits a region with this much

sunshine. Sherry dominates the region’s output, although

reasonable table wines also surface. What most of us know

as ‘sherry’ refers to the fortified wine produced in the Jerez

yManzanilladeSanlúcarBarramedaDO.Forthestrong,

usually fortified wines produced around Andalusia, of which

sherry is just one type, the Spanish talk ofvinos generosos.

If they specifically order a sherry, they request avino de

Jerezor quote a particular maker.The major ingredient for

vinos generososis the Palomino grape. Some versions are

sweetened with Pedro Ximénez. Outside the region such

wine has become unfashionable in recent years; the rise

(and subsequent fall) of bland cream sherry hasn’t helped.

Allvinos generososare actually bone dry in their natural

state – ingredients are added to sweeten them. But the

genuine article remains a fine, intricate wine, still the staple

drink in Andalusia itself, usually served up cold with a little

tapas.ThreeotherDOregionsinAndalusia–Malaga,

Condado de Huelva and Montilla-Moriles – produce similar

styles of strong or fortified wine.

Fino

Naturally dry and pale, blessed with the yeasty twang of the flor (a froth that forms in the

cask). Usually reaches the bottle within a decade of being pressed.

Manzanilla

Bone dry likefinobut with a salty tang apparently imparted by the sea air of its hometown,

Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

Amontillado

Afinowine left in thesolera(cask aging) process for longer, adding a dark, pungent

character to the dry taste. Usually aged around 15 years.

Oloroso

Wines put through thesoleraprocess but which don’t develop flor. Powerful and dark,

they can last for a century or more.

The different styles of sherry

1. Grow some Palomino
   grapes in a big sunny
   field and harvest them in
   the first three weeks of
   September.


2. Take the stalks out and
   press your grapes at
   night to avoid the
   Andalusian heat.


3. Ferment the resultant
   brew in a steel vat before
   transferring to casks and
   adding pure grape spirit
   to fortify. Resist the
   temptation to slug
   anything at this stage.


4. Don’t fill your casks to
   the brim. Allow a space
   for flor to develop. If it
   does, well done, you can
   makefino. If it doesn’t,
   chin up, at least you’ve
   got some niceoloroso.


5. Follow thesolera
   system. Pile up your
   barrels three storeys
   high, oldest at the
   bottom. Periodically mix
   some of the youngest
   sherry into the barrel
   below, bottling up the
   oldest sherry from the
   bottom cask.

“IF PENICILLIN CAN
CURE THOSE THAT
ARE ILL, SPANISH
SHERRY CAN BRING
THE DEAD BACK
TO LIFE.”
Sir Alexander Fleming

How to make

sherry in five

easy(ish) moves