Sherry - for life, not just for Christmas

Like German wines and Beaujolais, the sherry industry boomed in the 1970s and 80s and its reputation has never recovered since. It's too often seen as sweet and to be drunk at Christmas - and it's probably the same bottle that's used each year before it finally runs out ten years later. I hope things are changing. The UK is the traditional market for fortified wines and when I started working at hangingditch last year I was pleased to see how many people came in asking for sherry and how knowledgeable they were about the different styles. It's time more people knew just how good sherry is.

So why drink sherry?

Sherry comes in a vast array of styles, which can be understandably bewildering, but there's likely to be a sherry out there which suits your tastes. This also means sherry goes with lots of different foods; from a bowl of salted nuts to vanilla ice cream, there'll be a sherry as a perfect accompaniment. So, different styles for different tastes and different foods, and, what's more, it always presents incredibly good value.

What is sherry?

To be called sherry in the EU, the drink has to come from the area around Jerez in Andalucia. Sherry is made from white wine which is fortified with a brandy spirit after fermentation. This means that sherry is a naturally dry wine; unlike port, whose sweetness comes from fortifying the base wine during fermentation, sweetness in sherry comes from adding a sweet liquid to the wine (there's one exception to this, see Pedro Ximénez below). Sherry is nearly always a blend of different years, aged in large oak barrels where exposure to air is all important. This interaction with oxygen is where the characteristic sherry aroma comes from.

Sherries to try

Sanchez Romate Fino Perdido - a fino that's been aged much longer than standard, simply because the winemakers forgot about the wine. This wine is nutty, yeasty, and bready; wonderful depth of flavour, yet delicate. Widely available at less than £15 a bottle - a seriously good wine at a seriously great price.

Valdespino Manzanilla Deliciosa - Valdespino have been making wine for 700 years and are one of the area's best producers. This single-vineyard manzanilla is sensational - bready, salty, nutty, spicy, with apple peel. Another steal at £12.50 a bottle from hangingditch.

Osborne Venerable Pedro Ximénez - ebony black in colour, intensely sweet, flavours of treacle and toffee, this will turn plain vanilla ice cream into one of the most decadent meals of your life. £26 from the Wine Society.
 

The different types of sherry

Although it can be confusing, knowing about the different styles of sherry will help you pick the right sherry for the right occasion. Here's a table to sort out the different levels of sweetness and oxidisation in sherries:

fino (15.5%) - the sherry that defies stereotypes of sherry as a sweet, rich wine to be drunk with trifle. A fino is golden in colour, bone dry, best drunk chilled, and perfect as a summer apertif. It's generally 15.5% ABV, but delicate and fragrant. It's aged for a relatively short time and is designed to be drunk young (always try and finish the bottle off the night you open it!). Food pairing: cured ham or hard cheese.

manzanilla (15.5%) -  made in the same way as fino, but it has to come from the seaside town of Sanlucar de Barrameda. The proximity to the sea gives manzanilla a fresh, salty character. Food pairing: seafood, particularly langostinos.

amontillado (17%) - is exposed to air much more than a fino, meaning that the oxygen in the atmosphere turns the drink a rusty brown colour, also giving the wine a nutty character. Food pairing: goat's cheese salad.

oloroso (17-20%) - whereas finos and amontillados are initially protected from oxygen by the layer of yeast that forms on top of the wine (called flor), an oloroso is exposed to oxygen throughout its maturation, which means that an oloroso is always a rich, dark brown colour - the darker it is, the older the wine. Expect caramel and nutty flavours. Food pairing: red meat or game; get out the artichokes and asparagus too, because, unlike a red wine, an oloroso will stand up to their flavours. 

palo cortado (17-22%) - the most unusual of sherries, in that it's a mixture of amontillado and oloroso, undergoing one or more refortifications. It's fuller bodied that an amontillado, but less heavy than an oloroso - and the style will differ according to the producer. Food pairing: something Asian; sherry is one of the few wines that won't be overpowered by spicy food and the robust yet delicate nature of palo cortado is ideal.

Pedro Ximénez (PX) (17-22%) - one of the maddest drinks there is, especially if it's gone through a long ageing process. Its colour is dark, sometimes to the point of jet black, its flavours intensely sweet, which comes from drying the grapes to the point of being like raisins. One of the best dessert wines, as it can stand up to any food no matter how sweet. Food pairing: pour a tablespoon of PX over vanilla ice cream, giving the ice cream rich toffee and treacle flavours. So indulgent and decadent, and so fantastic!

Amontillados and olorosos are sometimes sweetened, either by adding unfermented grape juice or PX to the wine. A sweet oloroso is also called Cream Sherry. Food pairing: a chocolate- or fruit-based dessert.

 

Cognac tasting

Recently at hangingditch, Alex Johnson of Eaux de Vie, UK spirits suppliers, gave us a Cognac tasting. It was fascinating to taste a range of Cognacs, learning about the different styles and characteristics of different producers, as well as how the price of such a branded product can be so misleading: just because something is very expensive doesn't mean it's any good.

Some facts

All brandy is a spirit distilled from grapes; Cognac is generally made from Ugni Blanc (Trebbiano in Italy), which, for the production of wine, is a ubiquituous but fairly forgettable grape. For brandy, this makes it ideal: its high acidity produces esters which means lots of aromatic compounds. Likewise, the low alcohol wine produced allows concentrated aromas to come through in the distillation process.

The soils of Cognac are similar to Champagne, which is why Cognac's two most important areas have easily confused names: Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne. The chalky soils have good drainage, making the grapes work hard, but there are differences between the areas. Grande Champagne is uniformly Campanian limestone, producing Cognacs that are elegant and delicate, with flavours of orange blossom when young and orange rind when more mature. Petite Champagne, which surrounds its more prestigious neighbour, has wines that are elegant but robust, with darker, richer fruits: the limestone here is Santonian. Of the other areas, it's Fin Bois that has the most significance: the soils are not uniform, but where they are chalky, Cognac as exceptional as those of the two Champagnes can be produced.

Oak is all important, with a variety of age to the oak used. Some new oak is used to provide flavours, but they cannot dominate, so after 3-6 months the wine will be transferred to old oak barrels, which allows in air and the spirit to evaporate. Humidity in the cellar is crucial: a wet cellar means alcohol evaporates, resulting in a gentler wine; a dry cellar means water evaporates, resulting in an austerer wine. To add to the complexity, Cognac is nearly always a blend of different vintages.

There are some basic terms that indicate the age of a Cognac, though quality Cognacs will always have been aged much longer:
VS - has to have been aged for at least two years
VSOP - has to have been aged for at least four years
XO - has to have been aged for at least six years

What we tasted

Le Reviseur VS (£35) - a single estate Cognac from Petite Champagne, with an average age of 8 years (but ranging from 4-20 years); lots of dried fruits, with a floral nose; nutty, salty, and spicy, but with a shortish finish.

Leyrat VSOP (£55) - single estate from Fins Bois. The estate is on gentle slopes, benefitting from sunshine trapped by surrounding hills. The wine, a beautiful pale colour despite its age (less time in new oak), was elegant and delicate, with poached pears and peaches and sweet spices. The XO, aged for around 30 years, had more dried fruits, with a long spicy finish.
 
Maxime Trijol XO (£120) - a small output which is funded by making Cognac for Rémy-Martin, one of the four giant operations. The Grande Champagne XO had depth, complexity, and elegance, with dried fruits, and an oily, oxidised, rancio quality reminiscent of old cheese.

Ragnaud Sabourin Fontvieille No.35 (£135) - Ragnaud Sabourin is known as one of the finest of all Cognac producers. Since it was founded by Gaston Briand, it has been run by three generations of women, who uphold the company's traditions: low quantity, high quality. There was a beautiful complexity to this Grande Champagne Cognac: dried fruits, leather, tannin, floral spices, oranges and citrus.

Cognac is dominated by four brands - Rémy-Martin, Hennessey, Martell, and Courvoisier - who together sell 80% of all Cognac. We tasted these boutique Cognacs together with Rémy-Martin VSOP and Martell XO. The Rémy-Martin, retailing at around £30-40, was of a good standard, with bread and toffee flavours, though its finish wasn't that long - relatively good value for the price. The Martell XO, retailing at around £120-130, quite simply had none of the distinctive characteristics of the Cognacs from the smaller producers yet was selling for around the same price. Proof that if you have the money to spend, spend it on quality not on a famous name.