This interesting article by Ángel Espejo
appeared in today’s Diario de Jerez
Sherry is impressing the world. The DO is once
again a key reference point in Spanish wine and its evolution is being closely
followed by the trade, among them the oenologists, who have just held the first
edition of the VinEspaña competition as well as their general assembly in
Jerez. They see in Jerez a model to follow, now that other wine regions are
being shaken up by internal disputes.There are still disputes in Jerez of course –
like Bag in Box or Fino from Sanlúcar – but these are minor in comparison to
the scandals which are tainting other DOs like Rioja, Rueda or Cava where
bodegas’ leaving the DO seems to be the order of the day.
The revolution in Jerez is being closely followed
by other DOs who watch out of the corner of the eye the change of mentality and
openness which has developed in the area and which, according to the president
of the Spanish Federation of Associations of Oenologists (FEAE), the Jerezano Santiago
Jordi, is demonstrated by the mere fact of considering the possibility of incorporating
into the DO the new wines which are appearing in the area; the new Sherries
which are reviving abandoned winemaking traditions (unfortified wines, pago
wines, wines with only brief ageing, the revival of old grape varieties…).
Santiago, who is also vice-president of the
International Union of Oenologists (UIE) as well as acting as a consultant
oenologist, is not disconnected from these innovations, and is in fact immersed
in a project for the forthcoming launch of two Finos de Pago, one from the
Macharnudo and another from the Balbaína, which will join the red and white
table wines which he makes in the area. For him, oenology is a way of understanding
life, and he emphasises that the resurgence of Sherry is based on two
fundamental pillars: tradition and the vineyard. The future is the past. “Basically,
what is happening in Jerez is that they are reviving the old ways of making
wine, the ancestral ways”. He is a firm defender of the importance of
viticulture, the vineyard and the land in the current winemaking scene.
“In viticulture generally, which is totally
different from that in Jerez, greater value was put on the pago and the
vineyard, whereas here, with our system of criaderas and soleras and
fortification, there has been more interest in getting quantity from the
vineyard. In the past however, wines were made without fortification, pago wines
were produced with higher strength and there were other varieties than just
Palomino, and this is being revived now, but it needs skill in the vineyards
and bodegas, perhaps slightly more in the vineyards because if not it will be
difficult to be profitable”.
Santiago’s words show a clear vindication of the
figure of the oenologist, especially the young ones who, according to him “are
obliged nowadays to travel to complete their education since they know that
wine production starts in the vineyard, and that has been rather neglected in
Jerez, though it is at last being addressed”. Nevertheless he asks that they
tread carefully and points out that “all this is still being done by a minority,
and not everyone will see it as good”.
In Santiago’s view, the inclusion of the new
Sherries in the agenda for debate by the commission set up by the Consejo Regulador
to resolve the questions which would require a modification of the Sherry regulations
is an important step, especially when compared with the problems in other DOs. “In
other areas they are killing themselves. In Rioja, bodegas are abandoning the
DO, in Rueda they are slashing prices and there is a tremendous battle going on;
it is crazy. I believe it is virtually an obligation to open this debate
because there are other ways of understanding viticulture and we have to leave
the traditional behind, yet be aware that not everything they did in the past
was bad, and as we are unique, exclusive, original… we should take advantage of
this, while also keeping our minds open to other trends”.
Santiago believes that this change of mentality
and renewed value put on the Sherry vineyards are closely related to the
education of the new oenologists, but that it lacks sufficient education about
viticulture. “It is not like that in my case because I am an agricultural
engineer and worked in vineyards before becoming an oenologist, but right now,
those who are studying the four year oenology course experience very little
viticulture, although when they travel to work the harvest in other areas of
Spain and abroad they see that everything in the glass started in the vineyard”.
Santiago Jordi is
president of the FEAE, vice president of the UIE and one of Spain’s busiest
consultant oenologists. He works with Huerta de Albalá and González Palacios as
well as bodegas in Somontano, Toro, Ribeira Sacra, Chile, Brazil and even…
Ireland. He also has vineyards in Jerez where he makes his own wines: Margarita
y Amapolo, Atuna and Cara Cepa as well as the forthcoming Tintilla and is working on two
Finos de Pago from Macharnudo and Balbaína.
