Humphrey Bogart and Sherry

Sherry owes much to Hollywood. Numerous films produced in the capital of the seventh art have, over the years contained references to Sherry. No less important was the consumption of our favourite wine by the film stars especially in the 1930’s, 1940’s and 1950’s.

One of the big screen’s most famous icons was Humphrey Bogart, whose happiest times of day were aperitifs at 5.30 with dry Martinis and dry Sherry, according to his wife, Lauren Bacall. This was confirmed by cinema director and friend John Huston at Bogey’s funeral in 1957: “There he was, a cigarette in one hand and a glass of Sherry in the other at half past five when the guests began to arrive.”

(Thanks to JL Jimenez)

Pedro Ximenez Viejisimo VORS10.5%, El Maestro Sierra

Appearance
Intense burnt umber-black fading through various shades of brown to yellow, looks very old, long, thick, slow legs.
Nose
Huge intense nose, tons of pasa and wood, date, coffee, fig, rum and raisin and all beautifully integrated. Only age can do that. It is voluptuous, super-sweet almost honeyed, and very complex, bursting with raisiny fruit and there's an extraordinary freshness despite its great age.
Palate
Rich, intense, very sweet and velvety smooth, like chocolate, mouthfilling with all sorts of interesting toffee-like nuances. There's something new in every sip, and you can't stop sipping! Balancing some of that intense sweetness is a decent tangy raisiny acidity which helps give the wine incredible length. This is stunningly good.
Comments
An outstanding wine from an outstanding bodega. This is from a very old and tiny 14 butt solera and only 400 bottles are released annually. Interestingly, unlike the bodega's younger PX, this wine only contains 10.5% alcohol. The must is allowed to ferment a little and alcohol is added to bring it up to 10%, and no more is added. The extra half percent is achieved by transpiration. The younger wine by contrast has more alcohol added later on to bring it up to 15%. The VORS then ages for over 50 years through the solera to produce this superbly smooth, rare and characterful wine. It is bottled and labelled by hand.
Price
Somewhere around £125 per bottle - though halves are available. UK agents Indigo Wine

(foto Migue Zayas/Maestro Sierra)

30.1.15 Guía Peñín in Jerez

Last Wednesday and Thursday the tasting team from Spain’s most influential wine guide, Guía Peñín, were at the Consejo in Jerez to taste some 200 wines for the 2016 edition. The tasters always start their season in Jerez, perhaps as an aperitif.  Peñín director, Carlos González, who is a self-confessed Sherry fan had this to say: “The guide has never in its 26 year history awarded 100 points, but If any Spanish wine merits 100 points, it is Sherry”.

The team’s short visit to Jerez was enough to create a “very good impression” and they commented that Sherry adds dignity to the entire range of wines produced in Spain. They attributed the decline in sales to changes in fashion, and ignorance of such a special and very old drink which many don’t dare to approach. “Many think that Sherry is for connoisseurs but there are styles to suit everyone, and if someone wants to drink it as a cocktail or with a mixer that’s fine - so long as they drink it”.

The tasters at work at the Consejo (foto diario jerez)

This year’s tasting looked at not only the classics, but also new releases and special releases, “in particular Manzanilla pasada and Fino en rama which is now an established thing. We tasted what was recommended and I am certain that the Consejo is giving it its all, although later on  it is up to the marketing people to  transmit the goodness, quality and complexity of Sherry, which has never really been out of fashion”.

29.9.15 Jerez World Capital of Motorcycling

The Consejo has set up the “Andana de la Fama”, a row of 40 butts opposite the offices in Avenida Álvaro Domecq, to be signed by famous motorcycle racers. Jerez is World Capital of Motorcycling 2015 – the first city to be so honoured by the FIM - and the circuit is particularly important for many motorcycle races as well as pre-season testing for both GP and Superbikes and formula 1 cars.

Hollywood-style commemorative plaques will be laid in the pavement of the “Paseo de la Fama” to the 40 greatest motorcycle racers starting with Ángel Nieto, 13 times world champion from the sixties to the eighties, and who is in Jerez to inaugurate the proceedings. Ángel has let it slip that the next bike legend will be Giacomo Agostini.

Angel Nieto & Cesar Saldana toast the signing of the first butt (foto CRDO)

28.1.15 The Bodegas Double Promotion Contribution

At the plenary meeting of the Consejo yesterday the bodegas agreed to double their contribution to the promotional budget, meaning 2.5 centimos per litre sold, or an extra 900,000 euros. The initial proposal by Fedejerez, the bodegas' representative body, was to quadruple their contribution to 5 centimos, however while a majority could have been achieved, Fedejerez chose to reduce it to 2.5 in order to guarantee consensus and thus demonstrate the commitment of the bodegas.

While this is a significant increase, it is still felt to be insufficient, but there are many loose ends to tie up. The idea is to raise the matter again before the harvest to keep raising the contributions from both the bodegas and the growers. The growers contributions, known as the "canon de la uva" re-started last year after some years of absence.

Fedejerez wants to see any increases in contributions to be in the same proportion for growers and bodegas, and asked the Consejo to draw up a three year plan to determine the precise budget requirements. As things now stand, the Consejo will have a budget of some 1.5 million euros for this season which will be augmented by the state and the OCM (a European fund for promotion in third - non EU - countries) up to some 2.2 or 2.3 million euros.

A Sherry promotional event in a specialist shop in Madrid (diario jerez)

However promotion in traditional European markets - the major markets - will prove more difficult as a fine line must be drawn between these markets where the quantities are sold and the emerging ones such as the USA and Asia. While this new budget is much better than that of last year, Fedejerez president Evaristo Babe made it clear that more effort is needed and that the matter will need to be looked at again. The increase to 5 centimos will be considered again later, and he said that everyone needs to contribute to the promotion of the wine to generate more addad value ans more profit. "When demand takes off Sherry, which is predestined to be a top level drink because it is limited, because it is a rare asset, will sell better and give more profit to us all including the growers".

27.1.15 Manzanilla at Enofusion; Consejo Asks for More Money

Manzanilla celebrates 50 years of Denominacion de Origen with a superb tasting at Enofusion a big wine fair which will be held at the Palacio de Congresos Municipal in Madrid on the 2, 3 and 4 February. The tasting will have the hefty title of “Manzanilla or the Elegance of Ageing under Flor and the Atlantic Subtlety”, and will take place at the Centro del Vino at the fair at 12.00 on 2 February.The tasting will be led by Beltrán Domecq and César Saldaña of the Consejo Regulador.

The nine wines for tasting look fantastic, and they are as follows:

Palomino 2014, Barbadillo (winner of the first DO musts competition)

Manzanilla Gabriela, Miguel Sánchez Ayala

Manzanilla La Guita, Grupo Estévez

Manzanilla La Cigarrera, Pilar García de Velasco

Manzanilla San León Res. De Familia, Argüeso

Manzanilla en rama Solear, Barbadillo

Manzanilla en rama La Goya XL, Delgado Zuleta

Manzanilla Pasada Pastrana, Hidalgo La Gitana

Amontillado muy viejo, saca especial, La Guita

At today’s plenary meeting at the Consejo, Fedejerez will ask the bodegas to contribute more than the current 1.25 céntimos per litre sold as their contribution to the Consejo’s budget in order to give more punch to generic promotion of Sherry. While there is a less defeatist air in the trade, it is felt that everyone should contribute a little more – the Consejo president would like to see the quota tripled – to capitalise on the European City of Wine and Vinoble last year.  

The budget has shrunk dramatically since 20010 – to as low as €600,000 – and while it is now around €1 million, there is definitely a lot of scope for improvement. The Consejo in Jerez could teach a master class in how to stretch a budget, but more money is needed, not just from the trade but from the EU and the Government.

Oloroso Viejo Villapanés 20%, Emilio Hidalgo

Appearance
Deepish amber with mahogany tints through to yellow at the rim, legs.
Nose
Lovely clean fresh Oloroso with a sweet aroma of garrapiñadas (almonds in caramel), hazelnuts, hints of walnut, autumn leaves, old moist barrels, dried fruits, some toasted notes with fine traces of citrus and cinnamon, damp esparto curtains (used at the bodega windows to shield the barrels from the sun). This is a complex wine which at first seems straightforward but just grow and develops.

Palate
Velvety, fresh and sweet at first developing nicely, then the drier notes of wood, nuts, mineral, earth, and dried fruits such as apricot, it is dry and there is a noticeable acidity giving the wine a lovely tang which balances the glyceric sweetness and carries across the flavour which has almost interminable length. Beautiful.
Comments
This magnificent wine is named after the XVIII century Palacio Villapanés in the Barrio San Miguel not far from this important old bodega now run by the 5th generation of the family in the centre of Jerez. Outside the Palacio is a statue of the legendary singer and actress Lola Flores. The wine comes from the same solera as the Oloroso Gobernador, probably established in the 1870s, which is bottled at about 12 years of age, while the Villapanés is sold at more like 20. Interestingly, some of the butts retained flor for a while before ageing oxidatively, and the bodega feels that it is this which gives the wine its elegance, and no doubt some of its crispness.

Price
About 30 Euros in Spain, and probably about £30+ in the UK where it is imported by Les Caves de Pyrene - who don't seem to do much with it, more's the pity.