11.3.14 Tasting; Tabancos; Feria; Brandy; Estevez/Covisan

After the success of the interactive online Manzanilla and Fino tasting in January between Cesar Saldaña, director of the Consejo Regulador, and Chelsea Anthon, general manager of International Sherry Week and some restaurateurs in Australia, another tasting is to take place with 60 London restaurateurs in Sevilla.

The tasting is organised by the Restaurant magazine as the highlight of a two day culinary trip. The restaurateurs will unfortunately be unable to visit Jerez, but at least they will be able to see how amazing the wines are. As Chelsea puts it, “I can’t allow such a powerful group to leave Andalucia without tasting the best wines in the world.”

Jesus Muñoz, president of Tabancora, the association of traditional bars in Jerez, has been in London at the invitation of the city’s latest Sherry bar, Drake’s Tabanco. The new establishment, at 3, Windmill Street, Fitzrovia, London, and which only opened last October, serves Sherry from the barrel – with a venencia! They also serve a wide variety of delicious looking Spanish food. Jesus Muñoz was impressed how the staff act as Sherry educators.

The 2014 Feria del Caballo in Jerez will take place between the 11^th and 18^th of May. The poster for this spectacular feria has just been revealed at Gonzalez Byass, and here it is, a montage of 2,166 Sherry glasses!

Jerez Brandy sales have seen a sharp fall over the last few years due to various adverse conditions. Sales of the top level brandies actually rose slightly, but those of the cheaper ones have been falling fairly dramatically. Brandy has faced changes in consumer drinking habits, such as the disappearance of the early morning noggin or one after dinner. Gin is seen by the younger drinkers as far more modern and fashionable, along with whisky and rum – and are far cheaper to make. Not only is the raw material (grapes) 3 times the price of cereals or molasses, but brandy needs costly ageing. European Union grants for potable spirits distillation have all but dried up, and recent grape harvests have been very small.

Producers are having to focus on promoting brandy in the export markets, while the domestic market declines. The Brandy Consejo Regulador is looking at changes to the production rules, one of which is that the spirit must have a minimum alcohol content of 36 degrees. Some producers have argued for a reduction, and also to be permitted to sell non-grape spirit under existing brandy brand names. The latter has caused some controversy.

Grupo Estevez and the Sanlucar cooperative Covisan have been celebrating working together. Last Saturday the 167 growers and their families were welcomed at the cooperative bodega by its president, Antonio Palacios, then addressed by Estevez president, Jose Ramon Estevez. He highlighted the history of Estevez, owner of La Guita, its commitment to Sanlucar, vineyard sustainability, quality, and the importance of origin. All the grapes for Manzanillas La Bailora and La Guita come from Sanlucar. A visit to the La Guita bodegas followed, and cooperative members could see the 14,000 butts of Manzanilla stored there. They also saw what happens to the must made at their bodega to transform it into finished wine. Estevez explained the joint project with supermarket Mercadona and their efforts to develop a sustainable agro-alimentary chain. The event shows the strong bond between the cooperative and Estevez, and the latter’s commitment to but most of the cooperative’s produce.

17.6.13 "Brandy"; Navazos

ASEVI, the growers’ association considers that any permission to blend grape alcohol and non-grape alcohol and call the product brandy is “intolerable”. There is a proposal to allow up to 49% non -grape alcohol in a blend, which has been roundly denounced by growers.

A large lobby against the proposal has been set up, and has written to the minister for agriculture, Miguel Arias Canete asking for a meeting to look into the matter in detail, and persuade him of the negative effects such a change would have on viticulture. They consider it unacceptable that brandy could consist of up to 49% industrial alcohol, even if it is derived from agriculture (molasses, beetroot etc). According to current EU legislation, brandy consists of distilled wine.

From the 21^st till the 25^th of June the Feria Andaluza de la Biodiversidad Agricola will be taking place. It takes place in many places, but the first event is a visit to the navazos of Sanlucar. Many are now in disuse, and lack care and attention, and the idea is to bring to people’s attention this aspect of their patrimony and there are moves to save it.

Navazos are rarely found elsewhere than the Sanlucar area and are an ancient method of agriculture which creates usable land among the coastal sand dunes as well as helping to stabilise them. Soil is dug out from behind the beach head and put on top of it to form a barrier to the sea, and soil is also heaped up behind the dug-out area and heaped up similarly, facing inland. Between the heaps is a lower area which can be used for agriculture or viticulture, an area with its own microclimate, humid, as it is close to the water table, and protected from the west winds. Drainage was naturally a consideration as well. Some navazos are allowed to be irrigated by the tides. All in all, they worked very well and fitted beautifully into the eco-system.

The earliest archaeological remains of navazos date back to the V century BC and they were still used in theXVII century. Moves to restore them will bring rewards as another form of tourism.

11.6.13 What is Jerez Brandy?

 The brands which abandoned the DO Brandy de Jerez are now seeking the DO’s support so that Brussels might authorise their production without a base of distilled wine and with a reduction in strength to below 36%, and still call themselves “Brandy”, which they can’t at the moment.

Brands like Veterano and Soberano and many solera brandies left the DO to change themselves into “Spirituous Drinks” below 36% vol. without the requirement any longer to be made 100% from wine.

The plenary session at the Consejo Regulador del Brandy de Jerez last Thursday avoided any pronouncement on the proposal, spearheaded by Osborne - the first to convert to “Spirituous Drink” - to seek support for the use of the word “Brandy” once more. The appellants, who include Torres in Catalunya, would like the Consejo to lobby Brussels for a change in the Community regulations to allow their products to be called Brandy.

The old label, marked "Brandy Solera"

Below, the new label marked "Bebida Espirituosa"

They want to change the European rules to allow a new category for Brandy, made from a blend of at least 51% wine distillate and the other 49% from other alcohols (distilled possibly from molasses, cereal etc.)in order to reduce their production costs, which have increased fourfold for raw material.

To achieve this, they need the support of the Consejo, Fedejerez, FEBE (Federacion Espanola de Bebidas Espirituosas) and the Spanish Government to apply pressure on Brussels.

Currently, the European definition of Brandy is an alcoholic drink distilled 100% from wine, with a minimum strength of 36% vol. It is not only Spain which is seeking change; France would like to see it too.

The proposal is by no means fully supported in Jerez. Together with the fact that many bodegas wish to keep things as they are (to avoid consumer confusion for one reason), the enormous task of securing change to a European regulation will make things very difficult.

Bodegas who are against the changes complain that the brands which converted to Spirituous Drinks have been playing on the confusion caused by the fact that their labels have not changed at all, except for the exclusion of the word “Brandy”. They also complain that nothing has been done to differentiate Spirituous Drinks from Brandy on the sales side of things; both products being found on the same bar gantry, the same shop shelf, and in the same section of product lists.