8.10.16 The Ritz to Represent UK in Copa Jerez

The UK final of the Sherry and food pairing competition was held in London on Monday, and the winners, the team at the Ritz in London will go forward to compete against the rest of the world in Jerez next spring. Head sommelier Giovanni Ferlito and senior sous-chef Michael Nizzero produced such a good combination of Sherry and food that Angeline Bayley, director of Sherry Wines UK, felt it just might win the competition, now in its 7th edition having run for 14 years.

7.10.16 New Saca of Manzanilla Entusiastica; Sherry Workers Call for Strike

The second release of the only organic Manzanilla, Entusiástica, will take place on Tuesday 11^th at Trebujena Castle. It is the fruit of a colaboration between the organic vine grower Pepe Cabral and the bodega Delgado Zuleta. The wine will not be released till at least the end of October, as they would like to sound out people’s opinion of it beforehand.

Wednesday 19^th has been chosen for strike action to try and unblock the impasse between the workers and Fedejerez.  A general assembly supported the action called for by the unions who will now go through the necessary legal procedures for the strike, the length of which has not yet been decided. While the workers are keen to start the strike soon, the unions need time to deal with the legalities and stress that they are still open to negotiation. For their part, Fedejerez expressed surprise at the unions’ message, saying it gave a distorted impression of the negotiations to the public. 

Cacao Pico: Liqueur from Sherry Country

El Puerto de Santa María is not only home to Sherry bodegas and gin producers, but also to an old liqueur producer called Destilerías Pico, famous for its Cacao. The firm was established in 1824 by Manuel Pico, originally from Alicante, at Calle Pozos Dulces with the stillhouse in Calle Albareda. He mainly produced Ponche and Aniseed and Mint liqueurs. From Manuel it passed to his nephew Federico Pico, being in family hands for three generations. In the early days they even had vineyards and sold wine from El Puerto, Sanlúcar and Málaga, but the popularity of the Cacao liqueur took up ever more of their time.

In 1940 the post-Civil War crisis brought difficulties, not least a lack of raw materials, and the firm became a limited company, Destilerías del Cacao Pico SA. Its new owners included names like Fernando Terry del Cuvillo (whose son ran Bodegas Terry), Ivison, and Manuel Díaz. In 1947 the name changed to Destilerías Pico SA and in 1952 the firm was bought by the Merello brothers, Jesús, Serafín, Francisco and Estanislao, whose family still own it. They moved the distillery to the current lovely premises in the Calle Cielos, site of an old dairy, in the mid-1950s. Serafín bought the others out in 1995 and the distillery is now run by his sons, the current director being Pablo Merello Díez.

Production has changed little in 190 years. The cacao beans, which come from Brazil and Ecuador in sacks, are toasted in a kind of revolving oven over a wood fire, rested, cooled and then milled. The powder is then macerated in alcohol at 96ᴼ for 3 months in glass demijohns. The highly aromatic liquid now goes to copper alambiques (pot stills) which are uniquely fitted with a bain-marie to avoid the distillate scalding and sticking to the inside, which is usually the case with direct-fired stills. Each still is slightly different and individually named, and over a century old. The distillate leaves the stills completely clear and very strong, and is mixed with some sweetening syrup and water to adjust it to the bottling strength of 30ᴼ.

The distillery looks much as it did a century ago, and equipment which is not still used has been conserved, and there is a cupboard with old bottles, including the original. Picturesque and historic though it is, the distillery hasn’t stood still. Here they produce the essences for the top quality Indi soft drinks, also made in El Puerto. They make the famous Cacao, a Coffee version, and various products for other companies: vodka, gin, spirits and liqueurs. This great old brand is enjoying a new lease of life thanks to the cocktail boom and not surprisingly winning various international prizes for sheer quality. This is really delicious artisan cacao, full of flavour with even a trace of the firewood.

Address: C/Cielos, 26 esquina C/Espíritu Santo, 11500 El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz

Telephone: (+34) 956 871 215

Website: www.cacaopico.es

Visits? Can be arranged with a prior appointment.

Cayetano del Pino’s Sparkling Vermouth

Now that Vermouth is back in vogue, let’s look back at an old classic from Jerez which would give the modern ones a run for their money. This brainchild of Cayetano del Pino y Vázquez was “Vermouth Champagne Santa Elena”, launched in about 1895 to huge success. 

This is how it was so eloquently described in a publication called “Reseña de las Bodegas de Jerez” by R Mena and Nephew in 1900: “Based on Jerez Fino with natural essences and bitters and with a natural, prudent and hygienic alcoholic strength, he created from all these elements a compound capable of competing with the most select known to this day, and while it was appreciated by the palate of the gourmet, medical science recognised it not only for its state of purity but for being a medicament, aperitif and tonic for certain ailments of the stomach and imbalance of the blood.”

Proof of its efficacy came in the form of medical opinion from the most notable doctors in Spain – forty-one of them! Added to this was a letter written to the bodega by the eminent gastronome Don Ángel Muro in 1897 highlighting the goodness in this kind of drink which is composed of over 75% of “fixed substances” and sugars and a strength of 13%, and recommending the product as the best aperitif and blood purifier capable of accompanying a good meal and admirably aiding digestion.

Mena goes on to state his admiration not only for the product but also for Don Cayetano del Pino, “a person who by his talent, hard work, knowledge and honour has placed himself in the front row of the most industrious men of Jerez, and who was awarded the Gold Cross of the Red Cross for the benefits experienced in Red Cross hospitals by anaemic soldiers repatriated from Cuba.”

One of the notable Spanish doctors even recommended the product to King Alfonso XIII and the bodega thus became suppliers to the royal household, the king himself paying a visit in 1897.

Oloroso en rama Añada 2003 20.5%, Williams & Humbert

Appearance

Amber-topaz in colour, old gold reflections, fairly pale for an Oloroso of its age, but then it is an añada, legs.

Nose

Pure Oloroso still showing a zestful youth if less intense than many solera wines, yet almost equally complex. The apple notes of early oxidation have worn off and instead there is a slightly tangy hint of dried apricot, so there is still a trace of fruit there, along with gentle nutty, leafy, forest floor, tobacco, damp barrels notes. It is very fresh, very attractive and very classy.

Palate

Full bodied and intense at the start and then all the subtleties come through. It has a lovely lingering nutty character and that instant oloroso charm: smooth, generous, open textured and easy going - yet complex too. There is a gentle (mostly non-volatile) acidity which adds to the freshness and carries through the flavour, finishing with a clean tobaccoey nutty elegance which goes on and on.

Comments

This delicious Oloroso was bottled in February 2016 making it about twelve and a half years old. These younger vintage wines in the Colección Añadas range - with the exception of the Fino - are comparatively pale and appear quite young, but it should be remembered that they are not blended with other wines with decades of oxidation which gives them a much darker colour and intensity on the palate. They are nonetheless intensely flavoured and seriously interesting. I'm not sure how many butts of each  there are - and they would all be slightly different - but it would be wonderful if these wines could be released again after say another five years, by which time one could have aged the same vintage in bottle to compare. What a brilliant project! 91 Parker points.

Price
25.75 euros per 50cl bottle from Licores Corredera

Amontillado Clásico Mons Urium 17.5%, Bodegas Urium

Appearance

Bright deep amber/topaz with coppery highlights, legs.

Nose

Full yet elegant with attractive aromas of the cooper's workshop, toasted almonds and vanilla and a trace of caramel. It has that crispness born of crianza biologica and plenty of the roundness and generosity from the later oxidative ageing making it extremely harmonious and attractive.

Palate

Elegant and assertive at the same time. There is the slight Fino bite at first which is rounded off almost straight away by a warming implied nutty sweetness with touches of American oak keeping it tight and nicely balanced without restraining the charm. Long and delicious.

Comments

This is from Urium's standard "Clásico" range introduced in 2011. It has an approximate average age of 15 years. The small family-owned bodega has some really special wines - up to a 100 year old Palo Cortado - and deserves to be taken seriously as they are above average quality and represent great value for money.

Price

About 13 euros

Polyphenols

Phenols are natural substances which occur in plants and, of course in the grapes used to make wine. Collectively known as polyphenols, they are a group of several thousand compounds which affect the colour, flavour and texture of wine.

There are two broad groups of phenols: flavonoids and non-flavonoids. In the first group there are Anthocyanin (from Greek = blue flower), a phenol occurring in the grape-skin responsible for its dark red to blue colour, and anthoxanthins with white to yellow colour. Then there is Tannin (from German “Tannenbaum” or fir tree), a phenol which has no aroma or flavour but which can give a bitter character to the wine as it reacts with proteins on the palate. It is found in the skins, stems and pips of the grape, and also the wood in barrels. It helps with wine stability and the bitterness fades over time as the tannins polymerise and fall out of solution. This is why red wines are laid down, but phenol levels can be reduced in the winery by encouraging this process. Catechins are phenols produced by the vine as a defence and have colour stability and antioxidant properties.

The non-flavonoid group includes Resveratrol, another phenol produced by the vine as a defence against microbes. It is found in red and white grapes but more in red wine because of the maceration of the skins during production. White wines are usually made without maceration of the grape-skin and thus mainly contain the phenols found in the pulp. Resveratrol has beneficial effects on the human heart and extracts are already being produced. In winemaking everything is interdependent. There are so many variables such as grape variety, ripeness, pressing, extraction, barrel ageing and many, many more.

Some very old Sherries – those aged oxidatively - can contain significant phenol levels which have been extracted from the old oak butts over decades, up to a century or more. It is extremely rare for any other white wine to have such extensive wood ageing. Since Phenols are alcohol-soluble, the longer the wine ages, and the stronger it is, the more phenols it will absorb, especially as evaporation concentrates the wine. But it is the oxidation over time which gives them their dark colour, whereas with Finos and Manzanillas the ageing period is shorter so they have a lower phenol content and the flor protects them from oxidation making them paler.

Nowadays we have sophisticated means of analysis and measurement and so polyphenol content can be measured, usually expressed in mg/l of gallic acid. The Total Polyphenol Index (TPI) is used and a typical sturdy red Cabernet Sauvignon might register around 90 on this scale while a more everyday red would register more like 50-60, and an oxidatively aged Sherry a little less – depending on age. It is a useful guide to the extraction and structure of the wine without the need to taste it, but virtually never appears on wine labels.