29.8.16 Fiesta de la Vendimia in El Puerto; IV Edition Tio Pepe Sherrymaster

El Puerto’s harvest festival begins on Thursday 1st September at 20.00 and at 20.30 the traditional treading of the grapes will take place. There will be fairground attractions and brightly coloured casetas in the style of the normal feria and a wide selection of gastronomic delights as well as various free concerts. The fiesta will take place in the parking area of the bullring and will run till the 4^th September.

The IV Edition of Tio Pepe Sherrymaster will take place on the 7^th and 8^th of September, led by the González Byass oenologist and world’s best fortified winemaker, Antonio Flores. The event will begin at Viña Esteve to demonstrate the importance of soil and climate, and then a visit to the firm’s archive. A food matching masterclass will be conducted by Guillermo Cruz, head sommelier at the famous Basque country restaurant, Mugaritz, and there will also be a Sherry and Andalucian gastronomy session followed by a Sherry tasting led by Antonio Flores. The second day includes a recreation of the trip the wines used to take down the Guadalete to the bay of Cádiz for shipment. Then it is back to the bodega for a tasting where Antonio Flores will show the differences in character of the wine in each butt and demonstrate the importance of classifying them.

12.9.15 Fiesta Gastronómica; Sherrymaster

Starting on Tuesday the Fiesta Gastronómica de la Vendimia will take place on the Alameda Vieja, the jacaranda-lined area round the Alcázar in Jerez. It runs till Saturday the 19^th inclusive and is open all day with live music at 23.00 each night, with the great Diego Carrasco playing on the last night. A tapa and a drink will be available for €3.50 and no fewer than 16 bars and restaurants will have a stand showing off their specialities.

At the III edition of González Byass Sherrymaster, Pedro Ballesteros MW (Spain’s first Master of Wine) gave an impassioned tutored tasting of Sherries going back over 100 years. He said that Jerez was in the middle of a revolution but not enough producers were taking advantage of their wines’ ageing potential or their terroirs. He said that they should move away from mass-market wines and concentrate on small batch wines from single vineyards or even parts of the vineyards, and not lose their intimate knowledge of them.

He said that en rama wines were now fairly common but he would like to see an unfortified Sherry and the wines recognised as “Fine Wine.” He said that González Byass were going about things in the right way, in fact it could be said that they were the “Silicon Valley of Jerez.” Regarding ageing potential, he said that there is a market for the older wines among the “frikis” or Sherry nuts, who will be delighted to know that GB has announced the forthcoming release of the Añada 1987. GB’s oenologist Antonio Flores said that vintage wines need to be bottled at 27-28 years of age before they become too woody and can continue development in bottle. 

3.10.13 Unique GB Anada; Wines from Spain Awards; Tio Pepe Sherrymaster

Gonzalez Byass have produced a bottle of very special Añada wine to commemorate the centenary of Cambridge University’s English Language Assessment Department. It will be presented during a ceremony at the bodega tomorrow.

The Oloroso, presented in a replica of the bottles used in the mid XIX century, is actually a blend of 11 of the most outstanding vintages from each decade of the century 1913-2013. The bottle has a driven cork and a vintage label and is sealed with red wax, numbered and signed on the back label by the president of GB, Mauricio Gonzalez Gordon.

Tasting notes are: Intense, complex and forthcoming on the nose with pronounced notes of hazelnuts and almonds in caramel and hints of polished furniture, cedar wood, slightly saline hints and a trace of the austerity that only age can confer. On the palate it is full, powerful, dry, dense and concentrated with tremendous balance between acidity and bitterness. It bursts onto the palate and lingers forever, the cleanest and purest definition of this kind of wine.

 Wines From Spain (ICEX), the Spanish Government body for promotion of Spanish wines in the UK, has announced its Awards for 2013, and needless to say Sherry has won a few. 700 wines were tasted and 107 selected for honourable mention. 

The Award winners were:

Fernando de castilla Antique Oloroso: Best Dry Fortified

Fernando de Castilla Antique PX: Best Sweet Fortified

Waitrose Solera Jerezana Palo Cortado (Lustau): Best Value Dry Fortified

Antonio Flores

Gonzalez Byass have recently concluded the first “Tio Pepe Sherrymaster” symposium. They plan to run the event every year, and it consists of two days of total immersion in the world of Sherry. Led by GB chief blender Antonio Flores, the event was assisted by internationally recognised speakers such as Josep (Pitu) Roca (sommelier at Can Roca Restaunt) and Sarah Jane Evans MW. It was attended by specialist journalists, sommeliers, gourmets and the like.

The first day focused on “History, the Vineyard and Biological Ageing”, with vineyard visits, a study of the climate and a look through GB archives followed by a tasting led by Antonio Flores.

The second day was entitled “The Selection and the Winery”. Much emphasis was put on selection and classification of the wines, and Sarah Jane Evans gave a talk on “Yeast versus Oxygen”. The closing tasting was “Sweet Farewell”, a look at Palomino, Moscatel and PX wines.

A splendid time was had by all! For more info: www.sherrymaster.com