Generality
Sherry is a liqueur wine obtained by fermentation of white grapes.
Typical of the city of Jerez de la Frontera (Andalusia - Spain), sherry is produced in two main varieties:
- "dry", like Manzanilla and Fino, made mainly from Palomino grapes (similar to light table white wines);
- "aged" (in cask), like Amontillado and Oloroso (darker, alcoholic and with soft notes).
Mode of Consumption
Young and dry sherry does not lend itself to aging in the bottle, since it fears light, heat and oxidation. It must therefore be stored in a cool, dark place, in an upright position, so as not to expose the wine to the surface of the cork.
Some aged sherries, such as Manzanilla Pasada, can enjoy a partial bottle aging. On the contrary, the Fino and the Manzanilla GIOVANI deteriorate very quickly; for this reason, young sherries are often sold in small bottles and, in case of leftovers, eliminated at the end of the day. Aged sherries such as Amontillado and Olorosos, on the other hand, remain longer and certain sweet versions last even several weeks.
Sherry is drunk from a " copita ", a glass tulip-shaped glass. Typical is the service of the sherry taken from the barrel by means of the " venencia ", a narrow silver cup fixed to a whale bone handle that is quickly dipped in the hole of the cap and poured into the copite.
Nutritional Features
Sherry is a liqueur wine, with an alcohol content that, in the most structured products, can reach 20% Vol. It is therefore necessary to adapt the relative portion of consumption, decreasing it compared to traditional wine: in principle, also in the subjects healthy and non-compromised, the consumption of sherry should remain within 125ml / day.
Being a white (even if sometimes heavily browned by oxidation), the sherry does not contain significant doses of antioxidants (resveratrol), instead well present in any red wine. This means that the presence of sherry in the diet does not confer any kind of nutritional advantage.
The intake of this wine (but also of other spirits) is not recommended: in healthy subjects in the growth phase, in the pregnant woman and in the nurse. Moreover, alcohol also plays a negative role in the treatment of certain metabolic pathologies such as: hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia and the full-blown metabolic syndrome.
As an alcoholic beverage, sherry is to be abolished in the case of organs such as: kidneys (kidney failure), pancreas (pancreatitis) and liver (steatosis, hepatitis, fibrosis, cirrhosis, cancer, liver failure, etc.).
Recall that ethyl alcohol is toxic to all tissues and is highly irritating especially for the mucous membranes of the digestive tract. In the stomach, it determines hyperacidity and favors the onset of gastro esophageal reflux, gastritis and ulcer (both gastric and duodenal); a neglected gastro esophageal reflux, especially if associated with massive alcoholic assumptions, can favor the mutation of the physiological epithelium of the esophagus predisposing to the well-known "Barrett's esophagus" (in turn responsible for the increased risk of cancer). Let us not forget that ethyl alcohol is also harmful to the intestine and that sherry must be absolutely avoided in the case of Crohn's disease and Ulcerative rectal colitis; in healthy subjects, intestinal hypersensitivity is frequent, which, with the generous consumption of alcohol, leads to the manifestation of the irritable colon.
For sportsmen, the sherry must be consumed respecting the recommended portions; ethyl alcohol is responsible for an increase in renal filtration, hence the tendency to dehydration (emphasized by motor activity). Furthermore, although with significant differences related to subjectivity, we recall that alcoholic beverages are responsible for the negative alteration of sleep.
We conclude by specifying that sherry alcohol can interfere with the absorption and metabolism of drugs and that, if subjected to abuse, it predisposes the subject to the risk of nutritional malabsorption. It is also well known that it is a molecule involved in toxic addiction conditions.
Etymology and Denomination of Origin
The term "sherry" is an "Anglication" of Xeres (Jerez). In the past, sherry was known as " sack ", from " saca " in Spanish, a term that indicates the particular method of vinification by means of alcoholic fortification (addition of distillates) associated with the rotation of barrels in aging ( solera ).
In Europe, the sherry has obtained the denomination of origin (DO); therefore, according to Spanish law, all the wine labeled as such must come from the so-called "Sherry Triangle" (an area of the province of Cadiz between: Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa María). The denomination of Jerez ( DO Jerez-Xeres-Sherry ) was the first Spanish Denomination of Origin to be officially recognized in 1933, sharing the same Governing Council of the " DO Manzanilla Sanlúcar de Barrameda ".
Outline on Production
Sherry is obtained in a different way than a traditional wine.
First of all, the grapes for the must must be poor in water. Once they were picked and left to dry in the sun on mats; today, however, there is a tendency to catch them in a postponed manner compared to maturation.
After complete fermentation of the must (alcoholic and malic), the base wines for the sherry are enriched with wine brandy; this intervention aims to increase the definitive alcohol content by blocking the fermentation processes (some differences can be highlighted in the sweet sherry production cycle). It is important to note that sherries are NOT all processed the same way. Fino and Manzanilla, intended for a fermentation characterized by the presence of flor, are added up to reach a total alcohol content of 15.5% vol. (the flor is a layer of yeast, formed during the malolactic fermentation, which protects the wine from oxidation). On the contrary, wines like Oloroso are "muted" to reach levels up to 17% vol .; this characteristic significantly reduces the flor and allows the oxygenation / oxidation of the sherry during barrel aging.
Being fortified only after alcoholic-malic fermentation, the sherries tend to be "dry" (since, if applied following fermentation, mutation does not interfere with the microbiological activity of yeasts). This distinguishes it from the porto wine which, on the contrary, is fortified in the middle of the fermentation cycle so that part of the sugar remains undamaged.
The sherry is bottled using the " solera " method mentioned above; in this way, the vintage is never completely defined and each bottle contains a portion of aged wine.
Types of Sherry
The main types of sherry are:
- Fino : clear, dry and aged in barrels with flor
- Manzanilla : particularly clear Fino variety
- Manzanilla Pasada : manzanilla with prolonged and partially oxidized aging
- Amontillado : aged with flor which is broken to obtain partial oxidation. It is dry but some are sweetened to obtain a sweet wine (which on the other hand cannot be called Amontillado)
- Oloroso : aged and oxidized for a long time; it is darker, aromatic and alcoholic than the previous ones. It too can be sweetened but loses its specific name
- Paolo Cortado : initially aged as Amontillado which later, by elimination of the flor, matures similarly to an Oloroso
- Jerez Dulce : dry fermentation of Perdro Ximenez or Moscato grapes
- Cream : sweet sherry, obtained by mixing different sherries
The classification of sherries by alcohol and sugar content is summarized in the table below:
