THE SENIORAMA WINECLUB TASTES 9 SHERRIES
   
  We have a wineclub of about 12 seniors who regularly taste wines. In February 2004 we took SHERRY as a theme
and that for the second time. Sherry is not everyone's preferred wine - even though an authority like
Jancis Robinson calls it one of the greatest white wines of the world. To begin with: this is wine, at least for 95%, since
it is made in the traditional way, yet using a special finalizing method, as we will show below. These ar pictures ofour tasting:

  Agreed: the glasses you see are not the sherry type. However, we compared sherry in the typical small and narrow glasses
with the same sherry in the "round" glasses - and lo and behold: the aromas were better detected in the latter. 

   Let's talk geography for a moment. 
The sherry area is situated in the extreme southwest of Spain, between Sevilla and Cádiz,
near the town of Jerez (pronounce: cheress)on the chalky hills close to the sea and the Guadalquivir estuary.(map)

    
     Jerez is not your typical historical and architectural monument.
     It is dominated indeed      by great sherry houses such as: Gonzalez Byass,
     Sandeman, Osborne, La Guita, Don Zoilo, 
     and - to us above all - Emilio Lustau!. A visit we will remember....
     Sherry is made (mostly) from one rather obscure grape: palomino 
     Vinification is done as anywhere else in the world, but the 
     termination of the process is different.The wine is allowed to develop a "flor" or 
     mold, that cuts of the air and gives a special flavor of (over)ripeness.
     When that process is succesful - it is in about 3/4 of the casks - you 
     then move on to the "ripening process" called solera.
                                Here's a picture of that process:
                                       
                                     
     
     Sherry can globally be divided into two categories or TYPES :   FINO and OLOROSO.  
     OLOROSO is "non-molded" sherry, i.e. sherry where the flor did not develop. Wine that has been under the flor for say 6 months, is
     then levelled over into a "waterfalls" system of 5 layers of casks. The upper ones are called "criaderas" or "nursery casks".
     After about one year, the younger wine is mixed downward with about 1/3 of older wine in the second layer, and this process goes
     on for about 3-5 years, until one reaches the "suelo" or "ground" level. Hence the name for the system:
     "solera" or 'grounding system"
    
     Basic product of this solera process is the FINO - young, pale yellow, elegant wine, fortified with brandy up to about 15%.
     Indeed: Sherry is always a fortified wine, like port or madeira.
      The most refined sherries come from the zone of Sanlucar de Barrameida (see map), near the coast - hence they may have a salty
      flavour - and these are called MANZANILLA. The colour usually has more depth than the Fino.
      If fino's are left to age (decision of the winemaker), then they are upgraded to the more refined stadium of AMONTILLADO.
      Along with aging, the colour evolves to a more brownish yellow, even amber hue.
     
    
     All sherries have one olfactory element in common: they have an aroma of NUTS, from almonds in the Fino, over hazelut in 
     Amontillado to walnut in Oloroso. 
     Sherry is basically a dry-to-very-dry-wine. British customers, and especially the ladies, however, were asking for a 
     sweeter version .
     Bodegas therefore started to sweeten their sherry, and hence we got MEDIUM sherry down to the sweet CREAM.
    
     Let's look now at our tasting notes: