Right, time for some more information on my beloved Sherry, I've been inspired by my local Sainsbury which is rather amazingly selling bottles of beautiful Lustau East India Solera Sherry for £3, yes £3, needless to say I brought the lot, delicious. Please check out the house of Emilio Lustau, they make exceptional Sherry.
So lets talk soil, there are three very distinct types of soil, albariza, arena & barro. Albrazia soil is extremely high in chalk content which makes it exceptional when it comes to drainage, very slippery & muddy when wet and when drying out it creates a very hard crust which inhibits evaporation. When travelling around the regions of Jerez de la Frontera this soil comes across as dazzling white due to the strong reflections of the glorious Spanish sunshine. Albrazia soil accounts for about 65% of the total vineyard area, this is the heartland of Sherry production between Jerez & the Guadalquivir river, many would argue that it is these regions that produce the finest wines, with good acidity & high alcohol content.
Then we have arena, or sand. Arena is brown in color which is due to the large amounts of iron-oxide contained within it. These areas are very productive, very easy to work but the wines lack subtlety & elegance. The vineyards with arena soil are mainly to be found north & east of Chipiona.
Finally we have barro soil, or dark clay. This happens to be the richest soil, lying on the lower land, mainly in the south east of the region. This soil gives a cracking yield, with the wines having great body but less quality than the wines of albrazia.
As you will probably know the climate in Southern Spain is sub-tropical, the sun shines nearly three hundred days of the year. If it rains it's normally between October & May, so water is fairly precious, troughs are dug between the the rows of vines, these troughs are known as serpias.
So if you take all the above in to account, it means that there is a very long ripening process for the grapes ie lots of sunshine.
When we talk about Sherry there are just three grape varieties grown in the region, back in the 19th century it was said that there was more than forty, how times have changed. The most important grape in the production of Sherry is the Palomino, which accounts for nearly 90% of total production. When used in other wines in other regions the Palomino grape makes very unimpressive wine, but plant it in the albariza soil of Jerez and something rather magical happens. The Palomino grape needs to be treated with great care, she is very thin skinned & extremely delicate which is quite interesting seeing as she produces such bold wine.
The second grape is the Pedro Ximenez or PX, which is reputedly named after a German chap called Peter Siemens who was a soldier in the army of the Emperor Charles V. Mr Siemens allegedly introduced the grape variety to Andalucia from his native Germany, this could be true as PX is very similar to the German grape Elbling.
PX is normally planted in the lower vineyards in the barro & arena soils & after they are picked they are left to dry & intensify in the sun. This means that the PX grapes are extremely high in sugar content, so once these grapes have been turned into wine they are used for sweetening purposes or as an extremely sweet wine.
The third & less used grape is the Moscatel, this is planted in the poorer barro & arena soils, particularly near the towns of Chipiona & Rota.The Moscatel grape produces sweet wine, not as sweet as PX, but still very sweet.
I will talk more about the vinification, maturation & the different styles of Sherry in parts 3,4 & 5, I'll also talk about how to drink it & what to drink it with.
Until next time, get yourself down to Sainsbury & buy all that wonderful Lustau & please enjoy these wonderful pieces of music.
Blessings x
(2) 03 Lying In The Sun.mp3
03 Sunny Road (Manasseh Mix).mp3
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