Currently, there are three grape varieties
authorised for the production of Sherry: Palomino Fino, Moscatel and Pedro
Ximénez, and it is incredible how many styles of wine can be produced from
them. But once there were many more, dozens of them. In fact 40 were catalogued
by the great ampelographer Simón Rojas Clemente during his visit to Andalucía
in 1807 and they were not all white.
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| Simon de Rojas Clemente |
Their fall into disuse, and in many cases near
disappearance, can be blamed principally on economic viability and Phylloxera.
The latter arrived in 1894, wiping out those vines not planted in sandy soils.
It was already known that the only hope was grafting vitis vinifera scions onto
resistant American rootstocks, but some rootstocks were unsuited to the soils
or the scions, and many varieties were all but lost.
Sherry, like all wines has evolved considerably
over its long history, and it is only comparatively recently that a more
complete understanding of it has been achieved. In the past, each butt of wine
developed slightly differently (they still do, but not so markedly), giving a
huge variety of styles with little uniformity, starting myths about whether
wine styles “happened” or were “made to happen” which have persisted to these
days in the case of Palo Cortado – doing no harm to its sales. The solera
system was introduced as a way of controlling this, but even then, wine spent
up to three years in sobretablas before its style was regarded as having been
“fixed”. There was a limit to the number of soleras one could reasonably have,
and inevitably some unique and wayward wines would be lost in the mix.
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| Esteban Boutelou |
Many think the loss of these old varieties has
changed the character of the wines. Fino, Manzanilla, Amontillado, Palo Cortado
and Oloroso are all now 100% Palomino, while in the past they often contained
considerable proportions of other grapes. The Palomino was beginning its
expansion into the vineyards beyond Sanlúcar long before Phylloxera because it
was more productive and disease resistant than other varieties, and because it more
easily produced the lighter styles of wine which were becoming more popular. Botanist
Esteban Boutelou noted this preference as early as 1807.
Grape varieties are enormously complicated as
they have so many names in so many places and often apparently quite different
names account for the same grape. Also the same variety can give different
results in different places, but here is a modest attempt to list and describe some
of those all but lost varieties.
Albillo “The little white one” has many names
such as Albillo Castellano, Cagalón, Albilla and Albuela. It was authorised by
the Consejo regulador until quite recently. Simón de Rojas Clemente felt that
Albillo should be the name of a family of grapes rather than an individual
variety. It has numerous bunches of large greeny-yellow grapes which are juicy
and good to eat. It buds and flowers early and can thus suffer from poor spring
weather, which has led to its decline, but musts are both sweeter and more acid
than Palomino. Albillo is also found in Castilla and the Canaries.
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| Albillo Castellano |
Calona Rojas Clemente likens the red grape Calona Negra
of Trebujena, Sanlúcar and Jerez to the Carchuna of Motril and describes it as
exquisite both as a table grape and as a wine grape. This variety has yellowy
leaves, a fairly thin skin, plenty of sugar and ripens early.
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| Calona Negra |
Garrido Fino Native to Huelva, where most of it now grows, it was once permitted in small quantities
by the Consejo Regulador, this white variety also bears the name Palomino
Garrio. A vigorous and reliable vine, it produces numerous compact bunches of
plump, greeny-gold spherical grapes. It ripens fairly late and its must is
reasonably resistant to oxidation, possibly because of its higher acidity and
lower sugar than Palomino. It was therefore useful for must correction, now
done more scientifically.
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| Garrido Fino |
Jaén Native to Andalucía and La Mancha,
there is also a red version of Jaén. The earliest reference to it is in 1513 by
Alonso de Herrera. It buds early making it susceptible to a poor spring as well
as oidium and botrytis but resists drought and yields well, especially when
trained on wires. It is sometimes confused with Palomino, with which it shares
low acidity and sugars. It has traditionally been used in Sherry, and once also
in Brandy de Jerez.
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| Jaen Blanco |
Mantúo There are various versions, or at
least names, of this white grape which was once quite common in the Sherry area
and indeed authorised by the Consejo Regulador until quite recently: Mantúo de
Pilas, Mantúo Gordo, Uva Rey, Uva del Puerto Real, Gabriela, Mantúo Castellano,
and Mantúo Vijiriego. A late ripening fairly tasty greeny-golden coloured grape
with a fairly thin skin and average levels of sugar and acidity. According to
Eduardo Abela in his “El Libro del Viticultor” (1885) its wine was an intense
gold with a strawy flavour, good body and aroma and was ideal for Palo Cortado.
Mantúo was also a popular variety for “uva de cuelga”, the practice of hanging
up choice bunches inside, away from the sun, to preserve them for eating during
winter.
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| Mantuo Castellano |
Mollar Mollar is thought to originate in
the Canary Islands where there are red and white versions. The Mollar Blanco
used in Jerez is also known as Cañocazo and was permitted until fairly recently
for Sherry production, but its low disease resistance, especially to mildew,
has caused it to decline. It is a vigorous vine with plentiful bunches of large
freckled golden grapes which give a very sweet tasty juice and a fine aroma,
and was used sometimes to augment the aroma of PX. Interestingly it takes its
name from traditionally being grown with the support of a branch of the Molle
or Aguaribay (false pepper tree). It is a minor ingredient in Chile for Pisco
production. There is a red version known as Mollar Cano (Listán Negro in the
Canaries).
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Cañocazo-Mollar Blanco
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Perruño has been around in the Sherry area since
at least XVIII century, and was once permitted by the Consejo Regulador. Other
names are Perruño de Arcos, Perruño Fino, Perruño Tierno and Perruño Común. It offers plenty of tight conical
bunches of grapes which grow ever more golden with the sun’s rays. It is regarded
as difficult to ripen and therefore can be a bit acid with a low sugar content.
Its small, thin skinned berries are bitter to eat, so comparatively late
harvesting is required, end of September at least, into October. It has decent pest
resistance but is prone to cryptogamic attack. Julian Pemartín says it is best
for Olorosos of average quality, but Lagar Ambrosio is making successful white
table wine from it in Olvera. There are barely 5 hectares of Perruño left.
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| Perruño |
Zalema Thought to have originated in
Grazalema (Cádiz) or indeed from the arabic "assalam alik" (peace go with you), it was once found in the Sanlúcar area. It is a vigorous,
late ripening vine with good drought resistance but sensitive to mildew and
produces thick skinned grapes which can have a faint bitterness and the must is
easily oxidised. It is used to make table wines and generosos in DO Huelva,
where 95% of it is now grown.
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| Zalema |
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