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Are You A Fan Of Sherry Wine?
Are you a fan of Sherry wine? Do you know how many different types of Sherry there are? Or what it means to be a fortified wine? When a wine is fortified all it means is that alcohol spirits are added to the juice during or after fermentation to stop sugars from being converted to more alcohol. In the process of making Sherry, grape spirits are added while fermentation is happening. After this process the Sherry is divided into two categories, Fino Sherry and Oloroso Sherry and from there they are divided into more types of Sherry.
The wine grapes used in the production of Sherry are: the Palomino grape which is the base wine for all Sherry, the Pedro Ximenez, which is used as a sweetening agent and the Moscatel grape which provides color. Sherries are classified into two groups depending on the quality of the juice after fermentation. The higher quality juice is put into the Fino category. Everything else is put into the Oloroso category.
The finest types of Sherry are the Fino Sherries. Fino Sherry is made solely from the Palomino grape. It gets its flavor and aromas from the yeast it is fermented in along with controlled oxidation, or controlled exposure to oxygen. Fino Sherry is the least acidic of the Sherries with a pleasant taste of roasted almonds.
Manzanilla Sherry is another type of Sherry in the Fino category. It is characterized by the presence of the yeast S. Beticus, which imparts a salted almond flavor. Manzanilla Sherries mature in direct contact with the air for short periods of time to achieve their color and flavor.
Amontillado Sherry is the last of the Fino types of Sherry. However, it starts to move away from the Fino category as it matures in the open air, deepening in color and taking on a more maderized flavor of roasted hazelnuts. These types of Sherry are sweetened with either vino dulce (a sweetener made from sun-dried Palomino grapes) or dulce de almibar (pure sugar).
Free-run juice is separated from the pressed juice to make Finos, the pressed juice is used for Oloroso production. These are still terrific Sherries all in themselves and should not be seen as inferior.
Oloroso Sherry is aged purely through oxidation which means that the direct exposure to the air ages it faster. Oloroso Sherry is always sweet. It has a dark brown color increasing its alcohol level, body weight and aroma. The taste of Oloroso Sherry is toasted pecans.
A rare style of Sherry is the Palo-Cortado. It has all the aromas of an Amontillado but doesn't go through the same process of yeast contact. On the other hand its colors and flavors are similar to Oloroso Sherry. It can be categorized in the middle of Fino and Oloroso but because of its unstable nature it eventually falls into the Oloroso style.
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