César Saldaña on Sherry. And where the rain in Spain really falls.

César Saldaña on Sherry. And where the rain really falls.

The rain in Spain doesn’t fall mainly on the plain. That’s the story according to César Saldaña.

And he should know. He is an expert speaker on Jerez, its wines, food, culture and history and,since 2000, has been Director General of the Consejo Regulador de las Denominación de Origen de los Vinos de Jerez. He was in Little Island's impressive Radisson Blu Hotel on Wednesday, with Wines from Spain,presenting two information sessions on Sherry.

César says the rain falls mainly on mountain tops in the Jerez area.That rain is important to sherry as is the nearby Atlantic Ocean and the local rivers, especially  the Guadalquivir. They and 300 days of sunshine help make Sherry what it is. As does the local white chalk soil (the Albariza) that captures the water and also reflects the sun upwards to the fruit.

The harvest date is getting earlier, perhaps due to global warming. For the past eight years, it has started in August rather than September as previously. In any event, rapid harvesting is essential.

The protective veil of the Flor

Sherry, as you probably know, has many different styles, from pale to dark, from dry to sweet. The dry comes  from fresh grapes while the sweet comes from grapes that have been late-harvested or sun-dried.

He took us through the details after the harvest, from the 1st Yema onwards, including the making of wine alcohol (to be added later for fortification) and, of course the Flor, the biological aging method that most famously produces the Fino and the Manzanilla. Broadly speaking, the darker sherries come via oxidative ageing, though in the corridors of the Consejo Regulador it may be more PC to use the term traditional aging.

The process continues on to the unique system known as criaderas y solera, basically stacks of casks. The row on the floor contains the oldest wine and is called the solera, the rows above (the top one contains the youngest wine) are called criaderas. As sherry is taken out (for bottling) from the bottom, new wine is added on top.

“ The wines of sherry are of different generations. No one person made that bottle. Nor can he claim that he made it.” Wines have been made here since Phoenician times and it is the traditions that make sherry so special.

The Solera

How special, we were about to find out. We started with La Goya Manzanilla by Delgado Zuleta, a very traditional house in Sanlucar. “After five years aging and protected by the flor, it still has that beautiful straw yellow colour. It has a very dry finish, an acquired taste. It is a best seller locally and  a very good example.”

César made little of the difference between Manzanillo and Fino and a well known Fino was next on the list: the Tio Pepe by Gonzalez Byass. He again pointed out the typical straw yellow colour and said it was excellent as an aperitif and with tapas. “It is a classic Fino and the best selling.”

The next wine was not pale but amber. This was a Monteagudo Amontillado, again from Delgado Zuleta. He told us that prolonged aging had led to increased concentration, still the dryness, more alcoholic with a long finish and persistent in the aftertaste. “A very good example.”

We moved a little further up the abv with the next bottle, the Villapanes Oloroso Seco from the traditional house of Emilio Hidalgo. “Rather robust and evident presence of seasoned wood, smooth in the swallow and with great persistency in the aftertaste.”

Now we were onto the sweeter sherries with English descriptors, cream for instance. That was how the English (and not just the English) liked them. Harvey's Bristol Cream has been in many an Irish home (sometimes for far too long, say from Christmas to Christmas) but it surprised more than me at the tasting.

Like the previous wines, it is made from the Palomino grape, but has come through the oxidative route and has a mahogany colour. We were told it has 120 grammes of sugar per litre (much less than the next one). It is quite a complex wine, nicely sweet (without being in any way sticky), with a lovely velvety texture. At €14.99 for a full bottle, I must put it back on buying list! Pretty good value too, as indeed are many of these sherries.

No prizes for guessing that we completed the session with a PX, shorthand for the Pedro Ximenez grape. This 30 year old Pedro Ximenez Noe is produced by Gonzalez Byass and has close to 450 grammes of sugar per litre. The colour, considering that this is originally a white wine, is amazingly dark. “It is rich and dense, yet fresh, clean and fruity, concentration is very high and you get notes of coffee, caramel, toffee, liquorice in the aftertaste.”

* I’ve probably gone on a bit longer than normal here but sherry is a fascinating subject. If you want to read more on the subject why not check out the official site here www.sherry.org/en

Wines from Spain Take Over in Little Island

Wines from Spain Take Over in Little Island

Meeting up at last with Mary Pawle

Met some old faces and some new at the large 2014 Wines from Spain Tasting at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Little Island (Cork) last Wednesday. As a teenager I was often up and down the road, then a country lane, outside Ditchley House where the hotel is located. Good stories there, but I think I'd better stick with the wines.

With a sherry workshop with César Saldaña, Consejo Regulador Jerez, imminent, time was pressing so I didn't have the chance to get to all the tables but I was determined to get to one in particular. I've been chatting on Twitter, on and off, from home and abroad, to Mary Pawle, so it was great to meet up in person and taste some of her gorgeous organic wines.

The 2012 Lignum Blanc (Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay) and the 2011 Lignum Negre (Garnacha, Carinena, Cabernet Sauvignon), both DO Pinedes, are her “flagship” wines and one can taste why. Well worth trying. From the same organic producer, Albet I Noyo, comes a terrific Tempranillo Classic 2012. This is truly excellent. “The vineyard are very proud of this one, “ said Mary. “They feel it is  a true expression of the Tempranillo.”

Sparkling! Brid Carter

Always delighted to meet the folks from Karwig and they had Frank and Marcus in attendance. Started here with a couple of whites produced from the Airen grape but, wouldn't you know it, it was an Albarino that caught the taste buds here, a complex well balanced 2011 effort by Vina Almirante. Keep an eye out for this as it has been highly rated by Decanter.

Bren Smith of Mackenway was next door to Karwig’s and he had some tempting reds on offer including the Museum Real Reserva 2006. If the budget doesn't stretch to the 2006 (22.99), the Vinea Crianza 2009,from the same producer, is recommended at €17.99.

In between, there are two other reds worth looking at. One is the Coto de Imaz Reserva 2008, a Rioja Tempranillo, and the other is the Las Rocas Garnacha which has lots of flavours and a good dry finish. Do you like Verdejo? I do and I’d recommend their Montespina 2013, DO Rueda, by Avelino Vegas, fresh, clean and zesty.

Simple label says much.

At the James Nicholson table, the Paco Garcia Seis 2012 Rioja Tempranillo went down well though perhaps not quite as well as the Baltos 2011 Bierzo by Dominio de Tares, made from the local Mencia grape. But the big news here was the imminent departure of their long time rep Conor O’Brien. He is off to pastures new and he introduced us to his replacement Richard Reeves, well known from his time at the Chop House in Lismore. Best of luck to both of them.

My introduction to Brid and Colm Carter, the friendly couple behind Honest2Goodness wines, came via a refreshing drop of their gorgeous cava, the DDLV Brut NV. No wonder I was impressed as this is produced by Dominio de la Vega, three times best Cava producer in Spain! Brid and Colm’s wines come from organic certified producers and from suppliers who farm with respect for the environment.

When I went back to their table for the reds, Colm introduced me to “a steel fist in a velvet glove”. Frenchman Francois Lurton’s Tinta de Toro 2011 is impressively smooth yet so well balanced that its 15.5% abv is well disguised. Bodega Los Barrancos, in the Granada area, is organically certified and their 2008 Corral de Castro is another gem. Indeed, they had a very impressive line-up of reds here and another ace was the Tres Patas 2008 (DO Mentrida), a blend of Garnacha and Syrah.

Superb Cava from Honest2Goodness

You can see that Colm, on his wine travels, gets to areas others just don't reach. Next time, I must take a closer look at their whites and, of course, have another sip of that Cava.

By the way,while on a drive through La Rioja one day in 2012, I called to a few vineyards, the last being the unusual glass-cubed Bai Gorri near the ancient town of Samaniego. We were received by a young Spanish lady who had learned her English in Cork, right here in Little Island!.

Ins & Outs at James Nicholson.
Conor O'Brien (left) and replacement Richard Reeves.

Taste of the Week

Taste of the Week

Taste of the Week, maybe taste of this season, this cream sherry, cask aged for 30 years, is something well  suited to go with many of the sweet things coming your way. Produced in very small quantities, Matusalem is made by the enrichment of a dry Oloroso sherry with Pedro Ximenez, followed by additional ageing in its own solera. It has a mahogony tone, is quite sweet but with a superb balance. It is elegant and intense; both nose and palate have notes of raisins, toffee, figs,spices. Christmas in a glass. Cheers.
Produced by Gonzalez Byassm it is available at Bradley's Off Licence, North Main Street. Make sure you have the correct bottle (37.5 cl) as there is a rum of the same name! 

SPANISH WINE EVENT AT BALLYMALOE

Wine event at Ballymaloe

Spanish Wine tasting with Señor Oscar Bayo Contel,

of González Byass, Spain

in association with Barry & Fitzwilliam Wine Merchants

at Ballymaloe, Friday 11th November, 7pm

  

The famous Spanish wine company, Gonzalez Byass, established in 1835 in the Jerez region, it is still a family owned business and it is now at the 5th generation. They produce wine in different regions of Spain: Rioja, Toledo, Jerez, Somontano, Penedes and Cava. Oscar Bayo Contel will present a selection of wines –Sparkling Wines, White Wines, Red Wines, from different regions of Spain, as well as a  selection of Sherry, including some very special 30year old Sherries.

Spanish Wine Producer of the Year 2010

Wine tasting at The Grain Store, Ballymaloe

Friday 11^th November, 7pm.  €10

The Grain Store, Ballymaloe, Shanagarry, Co. Cork

Tel: 021 4652531    e-mail: thegrainstore@ballymaloe.ie

SHERRY AMBASSADOR WOWS BALLYMALOE

SHERRY AMBASSADOR WOWS BALLYMALOE

César Saldaña (centre) with, l to r: Darren, Maurice (Wine Alliance), Mary and Mike (Curious Wines)

César Saldaña, Consejo Regulador, Sherry, the great ambassador for the drink, gave a smashing talk to about 100 people at last evening’s delightful tasting  in the Grain Store at Ballymaloe.

After a hearty welcome from Ballymaloe’s wine expert Colm McCann, César got down to business with a smile and a talk cum screen show on the area and how the different styles of sherry are produced.

Then he enthusiastically took us through six different tastings ranging from very dry to rather sweet, from Fino to Dulce Viejo. Even showed us how to read the label. Take Lustau Papirusa Manzanilla for instance. Lustau is the house, Papirusa the brand and Manzanilla the style.

He explained the way Sherry is made, most of it via a system called “criaderas y solero”, basically stacks of casks. The  row on the floor contains the oldest wine and is called the solero, the rows above (the top one contains the youngest wine) are called criaderas. Also fascinating insights into how the temperatures within the high buildings are controlled.

And then he had a tip. When drinking sherry with your meal you should always have a glass of water at hand. When you want to “wash” down the food use the water and then take “a few drops” of the sherry as it goes a long way!

Many people are surprised that you can use sherry throughout your meal and César gave a few food matches in his talk.  My favourite from the first three was the Lustau Gran Reserva Oloroso Emparatriz (Mitchells). This has an ample palate and I was not surprised to hear him suggest Manchego cheese but was surprised when he also suggested meat (oxtail) and game dishes. So now you know!

I also enjoyed the Valdespino Amontillado Tio Diego (Classic Dinks) which again is ample on the plate with “a very clean dry finish”.  César:” ..this is a true amontillado. They drink this in Jerez. They like it there.” If it’s good enough for Jerez, then it is good enough for me.

César kept giving out great information as the tasting went on and touched on topics such as how long to keep your sherry after opening the bottle (keep Fino in fridge and use within days), the kind of wood used, the importance of the Flor, the 1^st Yeme, serving temperatures, biological and oxidative ageing and so on.

If you want to dig a little deeper into this fascinating subject then check out this site http://www.sherry.org/EN/elconsejo.cfm

as it contains a massive amount of information on the Sherry region (and why the wine is called Sherry), the diversity of sherry, its history and the Consejo Regulador itself.

 There will be another great sherry event in Ballymaloe this evening but you’ll have to hurry:

Thursday 26th May, 8.00pm – Sherry Dinner at Ballymaloe House
Sherry Dinner with César Saldaña in association with The Irish Times Readers Evening, and John Wilson, wine writer, The Irish Times, and also in association with Wines of Spain. A specially selected menu will be matched to specially selected Sherry at each course.
Please note that booking for this Sherry Dinner, on Thursday 26th May, at Ballymaloe House, will have to be made directly through The Irish Times Readers Evening office.