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Old and New
5 Comments
Old: Books from the past often have something interesting lurking in their pages, so I enjoy looking through them, trying to discover these little gems. An English friend, who has lived in Jerez since 1968 and deals in antiques, recently gave me a copy of “Wines of the World” edited by André Simon to have a look at. This particular copy was printed in 1967 and priced at £5/5/-.Mr Simon was a legend in the wine world a generation back; writer, critic, wine merchant, gourmet. There is a food and drink writing prize in his name and he also founded the “Wine and Food Society“, which continues to this day.
Naturally I delved straight into the section on Sherry, contributed by George Rainbird in this edition. He describes sherry as the greatest jewel in the crown of Spanish wine, but considering my earlier post it was fascinating to read these words:
“At least two of the Jerez bodegas do not fortify their wines at all for the domestic market, and do it for the English market only to enable the wines to travel. The resulting finos are extremely delicate and fine, and while it might be a degree or so below standard alcoholic strength, it is certainly a delicious wine. The odd thing about it is that I find this practice of making unfortified sherry universally denied throughout Spain; yet I know it to exist, and I personally like the natural wine very much indeed.”
And now for something new: This piece today shows South Africa is certainly taking bloggers seriously. I wouldn’t mind doing some of the things they will be getting up to, least of all hanging out with the guys from Stormhoek.
Published on 24 November 2008 · Filed under: Uncategorized; Tagged as: André Simon, Sherry, Stormhoek
5 Responses to “Old and New”
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Álvaro Girón said on 26 Nov 2008 at 18:12
In those times -60s and 70s- the vast majority of finos were re-fortified to 17º before bottling and travelling abroad. In some cases, those finos/manzanillas destined for local consumption were bottled at their “natural” alcoholic strength, meaning the 15% you usually find in fino butts.
On the other hand, I remember reading a book of Manuel Barbadillo in which a cask of “natural” manzanilla (below 11%) was mentioned. However, as far as I know, those were experiments, never a commercial reality.
By the way. most of the finos from Montilla don’t need fortification…
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Justin Roberts said on 26 Nov 2008 at 19:03
Hi Álvaro. Thanks for the comment. This whole topic is very interesting for me, as I’m convinced it could lead to increased sales of Fino/Manzanilla.
In the book, George Rainbird only states “standard alcholic strength”. I can only assume what that is, but 15% seems reasonable for the first fortification (ie of the “mosto” before it becomes “sobretablas”).
For a Fino/Manzanilla which has been under flor for several years, and since the flor consumes alcohol, would you not expect the alcohol to come down well below 15%?
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Álvaro Girón said on 26 Nov 2008 at 19:48
It depends. There are indeed a number butts well below 15% in many bodegas. They are quite characteric for their aromatic profile of powerful yeasty/flor aromas. However, they are not necesarily those prefered by foremen and oenologists. On the other hand, when alcohol levels decrease dramatically you are facing another problem: you don’t have enough “food” for the flor layer, so you wine might be at peril. Most of this butts suffers some sort of “correction” by adding a fino with more alcoholic strength.
Still, I believe that you are right when thinking that there are a lot of healthy butts below 15%. “Well below” it is a different matter.
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Justin Roberts said on 26 Nov 2008 at 20:33
I’m sure a Fino/Manz at about 13-14% would be more popular and and easier sell than 15+. I hope we see something like that sometime soon.
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Justin Roberts said on 26 Nov 2008 at 20:38
BTW. I hope we get to meet oneday. I see from your verema profile that you are obsessed with Andaluz generosos! Welcome to the club!
Have you joined the Open Wine Consortium? I have started a sherry group there:
http://www.openwineconsortium.org/group/thesherrygroup
