Starting on Tuesday the Fiesta Gastronómica de
la Vendimia will
take place on the Alameda Vieja, the jacaranda-lined area round the Alcázar in
Jerez. It runs till Saturday the 19th inclusive and is open all day
with live music at 23.00 each night, with the great Diego Carrasco playing on
the last night. A tapa and a drink will be available for €3.50 and no fewer
than 16 bars and restaurants will have a stand showing off their specialities.
At the III edition of González Byass
Sherrymaster, Pedro
Ballesteros MW (Spain’s first Master of Wine) gave an impassioned tutored tasting
of Sherries going back over 100 years. He said that Jerez was in the middle of
a revolution but not enough producers were taking advantage of their wines’
ageing potential or their terroirs. He said that they should move away from
mass-market wines and concentrate on small batch wines from single vineyards or
even parts of the vineyards, and not lose their intimate knowledge of them.
He said that
en rama wines were now fairly common but he would like to see an unfortified
Sherry and the wines recognised as “Fine Wine.” He said that González Byass
were going about things in the right way, in fact it could be said that they
were the “Silicon Valley of Jerez.” Regarding ageing potential, he said that
there is a market for the older wines among the “frikis” or Sherry nuts, who
will be delighted to know that GB has announced the forthcoming release of the
Añada 1987. GB’s oenologist Antonio Flores said that vintage wines need to be
bottled at 27-28 years of age before they become too woody and can continue development in bottle.
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