Experiments have shown that it is possible in
the Marco de Jerez to make Fino without the need to add alcohol. The key is to
raise the sugar level in the must to a reading of 15-15.5ᴼ Beaumé, but this
flies in the face of established custom whereby quantity is rewarded rather
than quality, so it would be difficult to put into practice. To do so would
require a change of mentality in the bodegas. Some are interested but until it
is more general the growers will just keep on producing quantity which, according
to the growers’ president, Francisco Guerrero, is to the detriment of quality.
Many growers but few bodegas attended a
conference held on Wednesday, organised by Asevi-Asaja, the growers’ association,
about improving the balance of the vineyards and techniques around which
revolve a significant part of vineyard work being developed by professor José
Ramón Lisarrague at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, who hosted the event.
Various strategies were presented to the growers and to Consejo president,
Beltrán Domecq who was present, for increasing sugar levels in the grapes.
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| Jose Ramon Lisarrague (foto:ocw.upm.es) |
According to Lisarrague the character and
quality of a wine depend on its different components and the balance between
them. These components and their precursors present in the grape before
winemaking are influenced by a series of factors which are difficult to change
such as the climate and the soil, and by other alterable factors such as the
hand of man. Varying the viticulture will produce different results in the same
vineyard: leaf cover, ground cover, pruning, irrigation can all help to change
the balance from quantity to quality in the grapes.
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