Previous Bespoke Traveller article
Sourcing the spirits in France
The quest
I know we usually associate sherry with maiden aunts and fruit
trifles -and that we have been hearing about its revival as a
fashionable drink for almost as long as it has been unfashionable.
So let’s just forget the preconceptions and concentrate on the
product itself. Sherry is becoming increasingly popular with chefsSherry is an underrated world-class wine that at its best can
deliver a range of tastes and exotic aromas as complex as single
malts and vintage whites. It is remarkably good value (%26pound;5 for a
five-year-old fino) and comes in a vast range of styles, from
bone-dry Manzanilla to treacly Pedro Xim%26eacute;nez.Judging sherry by the cloying “cream” style served at
the English vicarage is akin to dismissing the world of French
cheeses after a nibble of mild Brie. In order really to get to know
the repertoire of sherry styles and understand the peculiar
production method, you have to go to sherry’s golden triangle
around Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia.
The tailor-made tour
The idea of my tour was to learn as much as possible about sherry
in just two days - no mean feat, given that most bodegas (sherry
warehouses) are open only in the morning. With my guide, Juan
Antonio Garcia, I managed to visit eight bodegas, in three
different cities, tasting up to five styles of sherry on each visit.
My mind is now marinated with sherry facts and my tastebuds are
still dancing from the fine flavours we encountered.advertisement
The fixers Cadiz Guida, a specialist tour company, put together the bespoke
sherry trip with Juan as my guide, translator and general Mr Fixit.
Juan is serious about his sherries and enjoyed explaining why a
Manzanilla from Sanlucar de Barrameda is superior to the standard
finos of Jerez; why sherry is the best lubricant for the week-long
party of the Jerez horse fair; and why 30-year-old Pedro Xim%26eacute;nez
poured over ice cream is a God-given gift. Best of all, after years
of guiding in the province he knows everyone in the business, so our
bodega visits were informal drinks with his old chums rather than
stiff, regulated tours.
The location The three points of the golden triangle of sherry production are
the cities of Jerez, Sanlucar de Barrameda to the west and El Puerto
de Santa Maria to the south. Each area has its own microclimate that
contributes to the character and style of its local sherry. For
example, Sanlucar, which is close to the cool Atlantic Ocean and
high humidity of the Guadalquivir River, produces a special fino
(manzanilla) that has the fresh and salty tang of the sea.Even within each city, connoisseurs can distinguish subtleties
according to the bodega’s height above sea level, aspect to the
winds and proximity to the water. When you take into account the
different styles of architecture, the origins of the grapes and the
management of the barrels, you can see why tasting a few glasses of
sherry can easily turn into a long and enjoyable discussion about
life, lore and geography.
The bodegas Unlike most vineyards, the Andalusian bodegas are within city
boundaries and are specialist storehouses rather than wine-producing
farms. The emphasis is on the long-term care of the sherry and the
hard work goes into the blending and maturation system employed to
maintain consistent quality throughout the barrels.The Guida Cadiz tour took in a selection of sherry producers to
highlight the enormous range in size and output. In Jerez, we went
from the boutique producer Bodega Tradic%26iacute;on, which releases 4,000
hand-labelled bottles of specialist sherry a year, to Real Tesoro,
where soothing music is played to the 20,000 barrels in its vast
aerodrome of a warehouse, which turns out 12,000 bottles an hour.The bodegas I visited included:
Gonzalez Byass: a visitor-orientated bodega within sight of the
old cathedral. Within its complex lie hidden streets that were once
part of the inner city of Jerez.
Gutierrez Colosia: a friendly family-run bodega at El Puerto de
Santa Maria, just a swirl and a spit from the Guadalete River.
It’s an intimate place with a gift for hospitality, great
papas con choco (potatoes and cuttlefish stew) and a passion for flamenco.
Sandemans: the nearby equestrian school produces a surprisingly
pleasant combination of horse and wine odours. The visit also
included a dramatic audio-visual presentation in the heart of the bodega.
Bodega Tradic%26iacute;on: as well as rare, single-barrel aged sherries,
this boutique bodega has a well-presented collection of Spanish
art, including a fine Goya, a ravishing Vel%26aacute;zquez and a wonderful
Julio Romero de Torres.
Osbournes: home of the symbolic bull that dominates the
landscape in southern Spain, this bodega boasts a handsome
19th-century tasting room and a good range of aged sherries.
Real Tesoro and Valdespino: the largest of the bodegas, it has a
stunning collection of contemporary and modern art, a museum of
carriages, a store of old labels and a stud farm of rare,
blue-black Spanish stallions.
Pedro Romero: the most charming bodega in Sanlucar, with mould
growing on the walls and floor of the warehouse, and a chance to
see the magic veil of yeast (the flor) protecting the wine in a
specially cut display barrel.
The advice Eight bodegas in two mornings is a very concentrated programme.
If you want to linger a while in the beautiful gardens or savour
the Iberian ham and hard cheeses on offer, limit yourself to three
each day to get a good overview.The tourist board in Jerez has put together an excellent sherry
and brandy route that highlights the best of all the sherry culture
in the area. Before you leave home, check out its website (www.turismojerez.com) and ask your guide to include
anything that catches your eye.Early spring and late autumn are the best times to take a sherry
tour, because you can avoid the scorching heat and enjoy all the
glories of the bigger bodegas without the summer crowds. Take a warm
coat, though, as it can get chilly in those big, damp spaces.Don’t forget that most bodegas also produce excellent
barrel-matured brandies. Osbourne and Tradic%26iacute;on, in particular,
produce brandies that justify a detour.
The bespoke bonuses There is a lot in Jerez to enjoy that goes hand in hand with the
culture of the sherry bodegas. Four permanent collections are
conveniently close to the Sandeman bodega in the north of the city
and are within easy walking distance of each other: the Museo
Taurino (bullfighting museum), the Palacio del Tiempo (clock
museum), the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art - with daily
performances of dancing stallions - and El Misterio de Jerez, a
state-of-the-art, multimedia museum dedicated to the history and
culture of sherry.
Related Articles
No user responded in this post
Leave A Reply
Please Note: Comment moderation maybe active so there is no need to resubmit your comments