After yesterday’s
Desayuno Informativo with Consejo president Beltrán Domecq in Jerez there was
the chance to ask him questions. The majority of them focused on the recent
announcement from Grupo Estévez that they intended to distil Palomino for
fortification spirit thus making their Tio Mateo brand 100% Jerez. The
president declared that he disagreed with this and that “all wine certified and
supported by the Denominación de Origen (DO) is 100% Jerez.”
The wine
producers were well represented and asked various questions on the current
position, about such matters as supply and demand, grape prices, the
possibility of promoting Sherry from DO to DOC, the proliferation of
bag-in-box, all matters in some way related to the Estévez announcement which
seems to be generating an element of unease. For Beltrán Domecq the debate on
100% Jerez is closed since everything in a bottle of Sherry is produced locally
except a tiny proportion of fortification alcohol which has been used
historically to stabilise wine for export.
He feels
that if a producer wants to distil excess Palomino grapes into fortification
spirit that’s fine, but it makes little sense from the technical point of view
since the alcohol currently used has a strength of 95-96%/vol which is the
maximum obtainable from distillation and is extremely pure – unlike in the case
of Port, where the spirit is only 77%/vol. In other words the Sherry bodegas
have always bought alcohol from the distilleries in La Mancha which is clean, pure
and neutral and does not alter the characteristics of the wine – fundamentally its
flavour.
Sr. Domecq
went on to say that a wine such as that proposed by Estévez can’t be made
overnight. It will take years from
fortification to final bottling due to the solera system. He also pointed out it
would be difficult to certify, and that the debate was unnecessary given the more
important challenges facing Sherry.
On the
matter of a DOC, the president said that the Consejo had considered it and shelved
it. The door is not closed, but there is a problem and that is that the bodegas
would have to be dedicated to the production of Sherry only, meaning that
brandy, table wine or vinegar would need to be moved to other bodegas, and this
would be very costly, especially in the current situation.
Another
question was about the fact that Fino can be produced in Sanlúcar, but
Manzanilla cannot be produced in Jerez. This matter has been fully debated at
the Consejo but due to a lack of agreement it was archived. The president’s
view is that “It is obvious that the wine of Sanlúcar is Manzanilla, so there
can’t be Fino of Sanlúcar, so the regulations would need to be adjusted.” On
the subject of containers he said that bulk Sherry can only be sold in
containers of one arroba (@ 16 litres) therefore bag-in-box is illegal and is
not supported by the DO.
Many
non-trade people asked questions too, and a local councillor who wondered why a
Sherry label does not carry a bottling date. Beltrán Domecq did not reject the
idea saying that some bodegas already print a “use by” date and always to drink
Fino and Manzanilla well chilled.
He
expressed his admiration for the growth of the tabancos who bring Sherry
culture to young people, but lamented the mistreatment of Sherry on wine lists –
even in Jerez – something he is working on. He wound up with a recommendation,
one which not a few took on board, fried eggs with ham and a glass of
Amontillado “which is what I feel like right now!” (at eleven in the morning).
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