30.11.15 Sherry Goes to the Cinema

The Jerez academic and president of the Jerez Cinema Club José Luís Jiménez gave a lecture on the subject of “Sherry goes to the Cinema: Sherry seen in the cinema from Gone with the Wind (1939) to Mr Turner (2014)” as part of the Scientific Symposium celebrating the 80^th anniversary of DO Jerez.

Gone with the wind: "Have a drink of Sherry"

Culture is what defines the human being above the basic necessities, what the mind and wits have created so that our passage through this world is more than a mere exercise in survival. Sherry is part of Western culture. Culture is created by means of art and for those of refined spirit, luxury becomes essential. The poet TS Eliot said, and quite rightly, that “all that a civilised person needs is one, or two, glasses of dry Sherry before dinner.”

"Elementary. A glass of Sherry?"

The influence of life on art and art on life is constant, and as soon as Sherry arrives on the tables of a country it begins to appear in the pages of its literature, its name is soon heard on the stage, and from there it becomes widespread among the people, and the very gesture of offering a glass of Sherry becomes a sacred rite. No art is independent of the people or the society which it sustains, so that when a new art form is born it must necessarily feed itself from the universal fund of culture. In this way the cinema feeds itself from Sherry.

Mr Turner

Sherry is one of the most cinematographic of wines. This conclusion - and many others - can be reached by the study of over 500 films where Sherry plays an active role in the stories brought to the big screen. This lets us understand fundamentally how the image of Sherry has been projected to the world, and yet certain institutions have devalued its potential with odd manipulations in the dubbing of the original soundtrack.

15.7.15 Seminar in Valladolid; "Uncorking Old Sherry"

Jerez academic José Luís Jiménez has been invited to participate in a seminar at the bodega Heredad de Urueña in Valladolid, home to the great wines of Ribera del Duero. The seminar, which has been held for a few years now, is organised by the Fundación Juan Díaz of the Junta and covers the culture of wine. It will be held in September.

This edition of the seminar will look into education and publicity in the bodega and the vineyard in Spain in the XIX century and there will be a complementary exhibition of early advertising. José Luís will be one of seven experts and his theme will be “A look at Sherry Over the Years.” Entrance is free, so if you can possibly be in Valladolid – and I can think of many good reasons to be there – this will be an excellent event.

José Luís has also sent me this wonderful 1805 caricature "Uncorking Old Sherry" by James Gillray, one of the great satirical artists in London of the late XVIII and early XIX centuries. It depicts the Prime Minister William Pitt in the House of Commons facing the Opposition who are represented as bottles. He is uncorking the bottle which contains the head of the liberal politician Sheridan, and froth flies in all directions expressing the latter’s excessive oratory.

11.6.15 American Professor in Jerez

Karl Trybus, a historian and teacher from Limestone College in South Carolina is visiting Jerez as part of his research into the cultural history of Spanish wines since 1870. He will be ably assisted by local historian and academic José Luís Jiménez, who will organise visits to the archives of local institutions and bodegas, such as the municipal archive, the Fundación González Byass, Bodegas Maestro Sierra and the Consejo Regulador among others. Once finished in Jerez he will move on to the Rioja, Penedés and other wine production zones.

(foto:limestone.edu)

What Would William Shakespeare and Antonio Flores Talk About?

This is a translation of an interesting article by Javier Estrada in the Vida Vid Vino magazine kindly sent to me by academic and Sherry aficionado, José Luís Jiménez. Read on:

Without doubt it is a fantasy, an unrealisable dream, but one can nonetheless imagine the legendary English writer and the famous González Byass oenologist meeting here to talk about Sherry. It is well known that Shakespeare and his friend and fellow dramatist, Ben Johnson, used to go out to drink Sack (the old word for Sherry) in the London taverns back in 1590 where they fell into eternal discussions. Antonio Flores is not only a winemaker, but also a keen student of the wines he makes. 

Joining Antonio and William is José Luís Jiménez, from the San Mateo district of Jerez and leading world expert in references to Sherry in the life and work of the English poet and dramatist. The journey begins almost 200 years before Shakespeare arrives in London, when Sir John Falstaff, a character in Henry IV, ends a glorious monologue saying “If I had a thousand sons, the first humane principle I would teach them is to forswear thin potations and addict themselves to Sack."

Falstaff with a jug of sack (foto:en.wikipedia.org)

William Shakespeare was the greatest publicist for Sherry of the era. He mentioned it over 40 times in 8 of his works as well as drinking it enthusiastically in the London taverns. “Shakespeare would have to adapt his palate to the Sherry of today which has little to do with the wines he drank”, explains Antonio, “In the Jerez of today the Palomino Fino is the predominant variety, but in Shakespeare’s time many other varieties were drunk, mainly reds but also white wines and darker wines. We suppose that the whites would have been the equivalent of today’s Finos and that the darker ones would have been Olorosos. When Shakespeare refers to a Sherrish Sack, he probably meant Oloroso. At that time the solera system didn’t exist, so there would have been Oloroso and Fino style vintages.

Jose Luis Jimenez, Antonio Flores at the bodega(foto: vida vid vino)

José Luís Jiménez, a member of the Real Academia de San Dionisio de Ciencias, Artes y Letras is currently working in the municipal archive of the Jerez Council. “William Shakespeare moved from his native Stratford upon Avon to London in about 1590. Two years beforehand, the pirate Sir Francis Drake had raided ships in the port of Cádiz which had recently been loaded with food and wine and were ready to set sail to deliver it to the Invincible Armada which was waiting in Lisbon for the order to invade England. Drake stole no fewer than 3,000 butts of wine, so by the time Shakespeare arrived in London the taverns were awash with Sherry.”

In fact, he mentioned Sherry in his first work of 1589 – and titled it “Sherrish Sack”. There are documents, however, which show that were already English merchants based in Jerez who were selling the wine in the XV century. Indeed in the IX century the Vikings sacked Sevilla and got as far as Córdoba, so the route was known, and possibly the wine too.

Antonio & Jose Luis still at it! (foto:vida vid vino)

Antonio mentions the book written about Sherry by González Byass founder, Manuel María González Ángel, which explains the importance of the effect on wine of a sea journey, “since there are references to these almost from the discovery of America, and of course these characterful wines would have been drunk in London. They were very expensive and much appreciated.” They were loaded onto ships, crossed the equator, and returned untouched. They travelled as ballast in the lowest part of the hold where there was a suitable average temperature and came back worth more than if they had stayed in Jerez.

In the whites (Finos) biological ageing or submerged biological ageing took place. When the flor is submerged it accelerates the process, so this would happen naturally with the movement of the ship. With the dark wines (Olorosos), the ship’s movement would accelerate the oxidation.

Looking through the vast range of wines which Antonio makes at González Byass, he seeks out butts which he thinks might most resemble the wine Shakespeare would have drunk in London’s taverns. “I think they would have been similar to Pata de Gallina (super fine Oloroso), Palo Cortado, Amontillado or the Vintage wines, but if I had to choose one, it would be the very old Palo Cortado Apóstoles, or I might share with Shakespeare the Finos Palmas.”

It is certain that not only did Shakespeare like to drink Sherry but that he studied it. In order to write Henry IV he would have had to research what it had been like and its availability in England more than a century before he began to drink it. Shakespearian gastronomy went perfectly with wines which were strong in alcohol, powerful and structured. Antonio comments: “The playwright came from the country to a sophisticated London and encountered game dishes, Scottish salmon - perhaps breaded, food which was prepared for journeys, and which was perfect with Sherry.

Image of bas relief at Boar's Head, Eastcheap London (fot:presscom.co.uk)

Shakespeare found lots of ideas for his writings through meeting the literati of the day in the London taverns of the Boar's Head and the Mermaid - among others. Antonio closes his eyes and takes a draught from his glass to think on this impossible meeting. After a pause he says in a low voice “It would be very emotional.” Falstaff, played in the film by Orson Welles, who visited the bodega in 1961 and signed a butt of Fino, rallied prince Hal’s troops alluding to the power of Sherry. In much the same way, Antonio Flores finishes many of his tastings saying “Sherry cures the soul and delights the heart.”

Interesting Interview with Jose Luis Jimenez on Sherry and Film

Domingo Diaz interviews Jose Luis Jimenez Garcia in Mas Jerez

Jose Luis Jimenez is a lover of the cinema and Sherry. He is president of the Cine Club Popular de Jerez, member of the Real Academia de San Dionisio de Ciencias Artes y Letras, member of the international network of Wine Historians, contributor to Mas Jerez, Gente de Jerez  and a whole lot more, but above all he is a Jerezano, and rightly proud of it. He studies the influence of Sherry on works of fiction and reality destined for the cinema and television. At the moment he is participating in a documentary called “The Mystery of Palo Cortado”.

Q – The appearance of Sherry in the cinema is a culture with a long history, isn’t it?

A – Yes. Not only in fictional cinema, of which I have studied more than 500 titles, but also in documentary cinema, television series, advertisements, etc. where Sherry appears often.

Q – Right now you are collaborating with the production of “El Misterio del Palo Cortado”?

A – Yes, the production company of Antonio Saura and Jose Luis Lopez Linares is working on a documentary which is going to have some interlinking elements which could be very interesting. At last somebody of the calibre of Jose Luis Lopez Linares, who has won a Goya as a director, and Antonio Saura, producer and son of Carlos Saura, are interested in the wine of Jerez. It is something really important.

Q – Have we known how to exploit the appearance of our wine in the cinema, here in Jerez?

A – I don’t think so. Publicity campaigns have done a lot of good for some of the biggest bodegas like Gonzalez Byass, Domecq or Williams & Humbert. And of course there were the campaigns only shown abroad, not in Spain, which we are now seeing occasionally on the internet. There were some strange campaigns in England, Holland or Germany, for example. But in exploiting the presence of Sherry in fiction, in movies, I feel we still haven’t known how to use that publicity they have given us for nothing.

Q – But the appearance of Sherry in the cinema shouldn’t be taken merely as an element of publicity?

A – You’re right, it should also be taken as an object of analysis and study. The study I am doing on Sherry in the cinema could reach some very interesting conclusions because nobody had thought to look into how Sherry has influenced the Spanish or Anglo-Saxon cultures, among others. It is the same in literature, where Sherry is often present, but again nobody has looked into it. The study should reveal how Sherry is perceived abroad. What we are seeing so far, especially from foreign films, of which we have looked at over 500, is who drinks it, where, what types and what they think of it. This combination of literature and film leads one to think that Sherry has enormous prestige, that it is one of the great wines of the world, and yet we don’t take it seriously enough.

Q – Do you think that will silence those who say that the appearance of Sherry is due to the influence of Sherry companies on the dubbing companies?

A – Exactly, this is an urban legend, it is not certain. Furthermore this can be refuted when the reference to Sherry is there in the original English. The dialogue can’t be manipulated when it is referred to in the original and especially when it is in the original literary source. It is possible there is some truth in it, in a Spanish film perhaps, but there is no record and I doubt it.

Q – To wind up, should we do more to protect the Denominacion de Origen?

A – Absolutely. We should all be doing that, not only the institutions: the Consejo, the bodegas… but everybody. We lost one great opportunity, and now we have another, a golden opportunity, and thanks to many people we are reclaiming the value of Sherry. If we don’t grab it we will lose this one too - and there might not be another. Now is the time to look after our wine and look to the markets with an exceptional product. Some bodegas are working to recuperate our wine, but this is work for everybody.