Saturday 23 December 2017

23.12.17 New Sparkling Vermouth

A new sparkling vermouth has been created, Vermut Espumoso Francisco de Cala, and naturally it is based on Sherry. It is the result of four years of close cooperation between two companies: Artesanos Jerezanos in Jerez and Cala & Arrobas in El Puerto. It should be on the market in the next couple of months once they have the labelling finalised. Luis Benjumeda has already produced sparkling wine in El Puerto and Genaro Cala has been producing vermouth in Jerez (Duque de Diano), so these two make the ideal partnership to bring the idea to fruition. The Champagne method (secondary fermentation in bottle) has been employed to produce the fizz and the base wine is made from a blend of Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez (unfortified, one presumes) to which are added the botanicals which are steeped in the wine over a period. Next the wine is bottled with the addition of yeast and the fermentation gets under way in the cool humid atmosphere of a Sherry bodega which is ideal for the process. The finished vermouth will contain 13° alcohol, lower than most of the fortified still vermouths, but at 15° or above it will not ferment, especially in bottle. The price will be somewhere between 15 and 20 euros. Interestingly there was once a sparkling vermouth produced in Galicia, but it was made by injecting CO2; and Cayetano del Pino in jerez once made one too, but I don’t know what method was used. Anyway, this new one should be fun.

Genaro Cala (L) and Luis Benjumeda with their new vermouth (foto:cosasdecome)



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