Sherry: All Palomino, even the Alcohol

This is a translation of a thought-provoking article published 18/5/16 by Paz Ivison in El Mundo Vino.

“Back to the Future”: a paradox of great significance. Apart from being a film produced by Steven Spielberg in the 1980s, it is an interesting reflexion of the state of sherry today. If we could go back in time and look toward the future, surely things would be better, but it would not necessarily be easy, let alone profitable. Because nobody with any common sense or financial interest – like me - could begin to understand the complexity of a simple question: Why was the excess production of years ago, when there were far more vineyards than now, not distilled?

The uprooting of excess vines was subsidised, and considering the price the growers were receiving for their grapes, they chose to grub them up. I always remember my good friend, academic and bodeguero, Luís Pérez. Years ago now, I heard him on local television, and he said “If they took away the Giralda Tower from the people of Sevilla there would be a revolution, but they took away the vineyards from the Jerezanos and nobody did a thing.”

Talking about Luís Pérez, his bodega (Bodegas Luís Pérez) has a new project which is to distil brandy from only the best grapes from their Viña El Corregidor in the Pago Carrascal opposite the Pago Macharnudo. Here the vines are the old clone 84 of Palomino, planted before the invasion of the California clone which is more productive. In a previous report I spoke of Fino La Barajuela which is now a reality and furthermore accepted by the Consejo Regulador. Willy Pérez, Luís’ son and oenologist for the family bodega, worked hard to produce a Fino and Oloroso Sherry without fortification, made only from grapes ripe enough to give an alcohol level of at least 15.5ᴼ naturally, and after much grape sorting he achieved this.

The rejected grapes were not wasted however. They were simply sunned to achieve more ripeness, pressed in a vertical press and the first pressing was fermented in butts seasoned with La Barajuela. The wine was then sent to Tomelloso for distillation into Holandas of 65ᴼ. The first Holandas were distilled from the 2014 harvest, and after their return to Jerez they are now ageing in a couple of butts in a separate bodega, since they do not yet have the right documentation to be permitted to age it in their own bodega. The 2015 will be distilled shortly. Ageing is static, as opposed to the normal solera system, and anyway they have not decided yet how much ageing will be necessary or desirable, nor what exactly the end product will be, so long as it is 100% Jerez.

In the XIX century local grapes were distilled to make what you might call brandy, though the name Brandy de Jerez as such had not appeared yet. The first brandies distilled and aged in Jerez were sold in England by my great uncle, Francisco Ivison O’Neale, considered a great chemist in those times, and a bodeguero too– there were many bodegas then. He was restless, well -travelled and wise, with great knowledge of distillation thanks to his visits to Cognac.

He bottled them in 1880 under the brand name La Marque Spéciale and sent them to his agent in England without going into much detail. Although he was the first to export and the first to bottle, other much bigger bodegas were already ageing brandies, but Tio Paco Ivison, as everybody knew him, was also the first to dare take the risk – and deserve the merit - of bottling and exporting.

Holandas 100% from Jerez

Most people have heard of the prestigious Brandy de Jerez Lepanto from González Byass, which is distilled in spectacular old Charente-style copper pot stills in Jerez. While they are now using Jerez grapes, it will take a while for the older spirit in the criaderas and solera, distilled in Tomelloso from Airén grapes, to work its way through. Until that happens it cannot call itself 100% Jerez, but it will happen over the coming years.

Another firm which has begun to make brandy from their own Jerez-grown grapes distilled in Tomelloso is Grupo Estévez. The brandy could possibly reach the market by the end of this year, but I don’t know under which brand it will be (the firm owns several: Valdespino, Real Tesoro, Tio Mateo, La Guita..). Whatever happens, it will be released as a Solera Reserva.

It was Grupo Estévez who had the idea – now reality as of the 2015 harvest – of fortifying Sherry with spirit distilled from theirown Jerez grapes. It aroused quite a lot of controversy at the time since fortification alcohol has a strength of 96ᴼ and there are very few aromas left to distinguish Palomino from Airén. While this will make very little difference to the quality of the final Sherry but if all the raw materials come from the Marco de Jerez it will increase traceability enormously. Wine and alcohol from the same origin sounds good. It is a truth that is hard to argue with. It will, however, increase the price since alcohol distilled from Palomino costs more than that of the higher-yielding Airén, but Estévez are set on this idea.

The commitment of Estévez to the vineyards, of which they are the biggest owner with almost 800 hectares, is praiseworthy. We could say they have gone from silica to albariza, since it was the profits from a silica mine and the obsession of the founder José Estévez which recuperated many pagos of albariza and preserved the perfect condition of others, such as the Macharnudo, one of the best pagos in the Marco de Jerez.

Going back to the Vineyard

Juan Carlos Estévez is one of the heirs of the “Silica King” and is in charge of the vineyards of the bodega group which was founded in the 1980s with the purchase of the small bodega Félix Ruiz. He did not want to study and went straight to work with his father in the silica and sand business near Arcos de la Frontera. Wandering through the vineyards with him he tells me the first vineyard his father bought was 50 hectares from Félix Ruiz in 1985; the second, Lomo del Álamo in the pago Lomopardo; the third came with the purchase of the wines, brands and vineyards of Valdespino – 40 hectares in the mythical Macharnudo. Then five years ago they bought 400 hectares, originally Domecq, from Beam Global.

Even with approaching 800 hectares now, they do not have nearly enough as they sell huge quantities to big stores such as Mercadona (which has over 1,500 branches) for whom they are the main suppliers. In fact the 800 hectares covers only 15% of their needs and they are always on the lookout for more. Like any successful business, they are loved and loathed but their commitment to the vineyards is impressive. They are even restoring the ruins of some beautiful old casas de viña.

Juan Carlos is a great enthusiast for the vineyards, the countryside and the local vegetation to the extent that they also plant wild olive trees and cork oaks among many other trees and plants between the slopes of some of the vineyards. Although they are short of vineyard they still allow themselves the luxury of fortifying their wines with alcohol from their own grapes, all classified for DO Sherry, as confirmed to me by group technical director, Eduardo Ojeda who goes on to say that this way all the main brands such as La Guita, La Guita en rama, Inocente, Tio Mateo, Deliciosa, Deliciosa en rama, Fino Real Tesoro, La Bailaora, even Tio Diego are becoming more and more authentic being 100% Palomino from the Marco de Jerez. To achieve this we sent wine from our 2015 harvest to Tomelloso for distillation under the supervision of our technical department.

To raise the wine’s alcohol content by one degree 5 or 6 litres of alcohol per butt containing 500 litres are needed. Estévez has created new soleras, one in Sanlúcar and the other in Jerez, both based on the 2015 harvest fortified with Palomino spirit. This experiment is being conducted by the firm’s research and development department.

Figures and Words

The DOs of Jerez and Manzanilla sold jointly in 2015 35.5 million litres of wine, equivalent to 71,000 butts. The production of the 2015 harvest was 93,900 butts of DO qualified wine and 29,375 butts of unqualified wine. It could be said that if Estévez’ idea had been applied to the entire qualified harvest of 2015, nearly all the alcohol needed could have been distilled from the unqualified wine.

According to Grupo Estévez president, José Ramón Estévez, “This idea has a plus. It improves Sherry’s prestige and its image in the eye of the consumer, but in the longer term it will benefit the profitability of the whole production system of Sherry, starting in the vineyard, and it will put an end to the nonsense of disqualifying Jerez grapes while “importing” alcohol from somewhere else.

It is logical to imagine that there should have been a distillery in Jerez, above all when there was so much overproduction. Now paradoxically there is a shortage of grapes: the seasoning of whisky barrels and the distillation of Palomino for holandas and fortification alcohol leaves nothing left. José Ramón is quite clear: “We are happy to help, but it is really up to the cooperatives to organise a distillery, an initiative which would create wealth, satisfy the demand which I hope will grow for Jerez-made alcohol, and even lead to the planting of more vineyard specifically for distillation.”

Will more vineyard be planted? Will we go back to the future? The recent policy of grubbing-up of vines is difficult to understand from any parameter, even less when the economics concern individual interests. As always, money talks.

Genesis of a Solera

Translated from a fascinating article in El Mundo Vino by Jose Angel Dianes (May 2007)

Sometimes we wine lovers have the good fortune that some of the many butts which, containing very fine or sometimes old wine and lying there in obscurity separate from the traditional andaluz bodega come out from the shadows and transcend their imposed silence and let themselves be known to connoisseurs. Such initiatives usually allow timely bottlings which a chosen few can enjoy, but after which these wines run the risk of falling back into obscurity.

So what should be done? Ideally, this is the opportunity to create a solera which would allow the regular bottling of this wine, thus retaining its quality and hopefully assuring its future. Thanks to the initiative of Jesus Barquin and Eduardo Ojeda, we have been able to enjoy just such occasions recently with some real treasures from the Sanlucar bodega of Sanchez Ayala, founded in 1789. 

Wines like Navazos, NPI or Las Cañas and others which are yet to see the light of day. The bodegas of Sanlucar, which have for so long have played the role of almacenistas for the Jerez brands, have accumulated large quantities of wine which hasn’t had a market, but thanks to the patient and responsible work of the capataces has been kept alive for ageing. Because of the negligible releases of these wines, in most cases they end up becoming part of some blend.

This is what had happened to the already known Navazos or NPI, but also to other Sanchez Ayala wines like Don Paco or Arizon. Let’s examine each one according to what we can establish of their origins and historical antecedents. Once we have a clearer vision, we will reveal the plans, which from inside the bodega and guided by the forerunners of La Bota de..  can be considered as the basis for a solera line which will ensure future consumption of these enological  jewels.

Navazos

The starter’s pistol was fired by the Amontillado Navazos. It is a singular wine, which distances itself from what is usually considered the archetypical Amontillado. The principal organoleptic reason for that is the lack of dominance of the oxidative profile – we could be talking about a very old Manzanilla Pasada. Yet, if we do the sums, the wine in all probability averages over 30 years old. But how can a wine of this age not have been more affected by oxidation? To answer that, we must submerge ourselves in the past of the butts which form the Navazos solera.

Let’s go back. When our 2 friends, accompanied by the great connoisseur Alvaro Giron, came across the 60 butts from which Navazos was selected, in the bodega Sanchez Ayala in the lower quarter of Sanlucar, they met an old wine but one with a marked crianza biologica character on the nose and a concentrated dryness in the mouth. From what could be established with help from the last 2 capataces of the bodega, these butts came from a larger number of butts of a natural Amontillado, a wine which had stopped supporting flor and which had begun to oxidise, and which had been bought by the previous owners of Sanchez Ayala, before the bodega was acquired by Jose Luis Barrero.

During the time of Jose Luis’ predecessors the solera’s scales were almost certainly run, but since its acquisition by JLB in 1986, they were not, except for small rackings to reduce the number of butts where content had evaporated over time. These losses, of course, augmented the alcohol content to 20%. There never took place a second fortification, and the flor died off naturally as the yeast nutrients decreased.

This is a key factor. There were no sacas, and therefore no air to replenish the flor or to oxidise the wine as in an active Amontillado solera. Furthermore, each butt followed its own path as there was no horizontal blending either. And the wine has remained in the perfect atmosphere for Manzanilla – low temperature and high humidity, rather than being moved to a warmer, drier bodega for oxidative crianza. These conditions have slowed down the oxidation. What we have is a Manzanilla Pasada  Amontillada which could normally be produced in say 10 years, which, after a productive period, stopped for 21 years, and is now over 30 years of average age.

Don Paco, NPI & Arizon

Somewhat older than Navazos is the Amontillado Don Paco. From references to its origins and its organoleptic profile, it is an Amontillado with an average age of around 40 years. It is a very old wine, more concentrated by age than Navazos, and in a more oxidised state than its “predecessor”. The solera has no scales, just 13 butts, plus another two, called “las botas del abuelo y de la abuela” which are in an intermediate state, in a sort of organoleptic no-man’s-land with their own character which is between the best butts of Navazos and the most fino of those of Don Paco. Again we have butts which have been here forever, probably as a result of acquisitions and the ownership passing through the generations of the previous owners.

The NPI is a very salty wine – more than saline, a concentrated monster created by age. It was already in the bodega 40 years ago marked as NPI, possibly by one of the Sanchez Portales, past owners of the bodega. There is no record of sacas between 1968 and 2007, and nobody is certain when a saca was last done. No-one knows the wine’s history, and its story probably died with some past capataz.

The Palo Cortado Arizon is a wine which still hasn’t come out, a parallel product to these other soleras. The solera consists of two butts from the “little Altar” of the Don Paco solera which have evolved slightly differently to the others. Organoleptically they are not Amontillado but Palo Cortado, and have been marked as such after the experience of Navazos and all the classification that that entailed. Although its origin is the Don Paco solera, and probably topped up occasionally from Navazos, it’s future is not yet clear, since its particular profile needs to be maintained and developed.

Las Canas y Gabriela

Gabriela, along with Pipiola is the Sanchez Ayala Manzanilla, well known locally and often sold in bulk. It is the firm’s main solera as much for its quantity (a total of 750 butts/toneles) as for its reputation. The butts are really old and many undoubtedly go back 200 years to the firm’s founding. It is a very authentic Manzanilla, with lots of flor character and good acidity, Its freshness and quality are already evident in sobretablas and it has a lot of extract, guaranteeing that it will provide the necessary nourishment for the flor for the long life of the wine. The solera has 12 scales-11 criaderas, the 6^th of which is triple and is only run alternately:

11 Criadera – 48 butts, refreshed from sobretablas from finca Las Canas, a white wine full of character and extract

10 Criadera – 50 butts

9 Criadera – 48 butts

8 Criadera – 91 butts

7 Criadera – 51 toneles (bigger than butts) wine beginning to age by now

6 Criadera – 51,53,55 butts (159) run alternately allowing the wine to rest, arriving at the 5^th criadera more mature

5 Criadera – 66 butts

4 Criadera – 55 butts

3.criadera – 46 toneles

2 Criadera – 40 butts

1 Criadera – 44 butts

Solera – Total of 46 butts and toneles, the butts in one row above the toneles.

In some of these we can see that despite the ideal microclimatic conditions of the bodega, the flor disappears partially at certain times of year, having virtually run out of nutrition from the wine. It will now easily be 6 years old.

The dynamics of this solera are complicated. A small saca is done every 20-30 days, but all the scales are not run each time. Instead the scales are run up to the 3^rd criadera which is left unrefreshed. Once the 3^rd has gone through 2 sacas, it is refreshed from the 4^th and the scales above are run.

8 of the toneles in the solera were selected for bottling as Las Canas in the 4^th “La Bota de”. Las Canas is a finca whose vineyards are situated in the Jerez area of Balbaina, and whose grapes provide the wine for the house’s Manzanilla. The bodega has owned the brand for a long time, despite not bottling it as such regularly.

Like Gabriela, this is a very traditional and authentic Manzanilla with an absolute biological character. This has been achieved, as it always has, by situating the butts in the places in the Barrio Bajo bodega which have the most perfect microclimate for this kind of wine. A place which benefits from a freshwater aquifer close to the albero, as well as Atlantic humidity brought by the west winds. Furthermore the high number of scales in the Manzanilla solera means the scales are run more, providing oxygen to the flor. It is the purest selection of the Gabriela solera.

Tracing the life cycle

For the last 20 years or so, the mermas and sacas of NPI have been replaced with Don Paco, and its own by Navazos. But Navazos has never been refreshed, and so the number of butts has diminished.

We should note here an interesting detail, pointed out by the capataz, Luis Gallego. It is very probable that these butts from Gabriela which are definitively amontillado-ing could easily have gone to stop the Navazos butts, but which in all probability happened sporadically.

So the obvious question was how to refresh the Navazos butts; how to secure the future of these old soleras. The answer was naturally an old Manzanilla. The reactivation of the connection between a Manzanilla solera and Navazos is effectively planned with Las Canas/Gabriela. But in general the idea with this solera structure is not to establish a continuous cycle of running the scales, but to make some blends where necessary and to leave each stopped butt to follow its course. This is the most practical way to deal with the sporadic bottling of this kind of wine, producing a wine with a different personality each time. This is, of course, the opposite of what the traditional solera system is supposed to do, but things here are different, and not always as written in text books, which usually express the general practice, but lack the details which make it really authentic.

So here we are at the birth of a solera, putting things in order for the rebirth of a world class wine.  It is the happy recuperation of an important fragment of the cultural patrimony of a town and its people who must – and do – give a great part of their lives to their wine.