Sherry?

[catharine]

Is Sherry a kind of wine? Will I be able to find it in the supermarket with the rest of the wines? Any advice about what kind to buy?

I need it for a recipe and I was wondering whether I would need to run to the liquor store and if I was going to be overwhelmed with choices and varieties.

TIA,
Catharine

[pmmahan]

This is way more than you need to know
but I found this on epicurious. I've always thought of sherry as an after dinner drink, like Port, sweet and heavy.




A FORTIFIED wine made in the JEREZ-XÉRÈX-SHERRY Y
MANZANILLA DE SANLÚCAR DE BARRAMEDA DO, a
designated area located around the town of JEREZ DE LA
FRONTERA in southern Spain's Andalusia region. Along
with PORT and MADEIRA, sherry is considered one of
the three great FORTIFIED wines. Sherries range broadly
in color, flavor, and sweetness, but there are
fundamentally only two types-fino and oloroso. The
difference between these two originates with a
peculiar yeast called FLOR and relates to the level of
ALCOHOL. Flor develops only on fino-type wines and
imparts a sharp, tangy characteristic. It also forms an
insulating layer on the wine's surface that protects the
wine from oxidation (see OXIDIZED) and keeps the
wine's pale color. Flor won't develop in wines with
over 151/2 percent alcohol, so fino-style wines are
generally lower in alcohol than olorosos, which are
fortified up to 18 percent alcohol. Oloroso: Since all sherry barrels are only filled
about five-sixths full, air gets to the olorosos and-because they're not protected
by a layer of flor-causes them to oxidize. This oxidation turns the wine's color
from deep gold to deep brown and endows the aroma and flavor with rich,
nutty-raisiny characteristics. Because olorosos are usually aged longer than most
sherries, they're also more expensive. In Spain, most olorosos are DRY. Cream
sherries are usually lower-grade olorosos that have been heavily sweetened.
Amoroso (also called East India) is also a sweetened oloroso, as is the very
dark, extremely sweet brown sherry. Rayas are also lower-grade olorosos.
Because of their color, lighter olorosos are sometimes called golden sherries.
There are several different variations of fino-style sherries. Fino: This pale,
delicate, very dry, tangy wine is considered by many to be the world's finest
sherry. Finos are excellent when young and should not be aged because they
don't improve and may lose some of their vitality. A fino amontillado occurs
when a fino has lost its flor (at about 6 years) and begins to turn amber-colored
and gain a little of the nutty flavor found in an oloroso. Amontillado, still a
fino-style wine, is aged longer and is darker and softer than a fino amontillado. It
should have a distinctively nutty flavor and retain some of the pungent tang.
Manzanilla is the lightest, most delicate, and most pungent of the fino-style
sherries. It's made in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, a seaside town whose location is
said to give the wine a hint of saltiness. A manzanilla pasada occurs when the
flor fades (at about 7 years) and the wine takes on some of the characteristics of
an amontillado-nutty flavor and darker color-while still retaining its pungent
character. Pale cream sherry is a fino that has been sweetened. Palo cortado is
a cross between an oloroso and a fino and varies from producer to producer.
Supposedly, a palo cortado starts life as a fino-developing and gaining a tangy
character from flor. At some point in its evolution, it deviates and evolves as an
oloroso would by oxidizing and developing rich, nutty characteristics and a
darker color-all while retaining some of a fino's tanginess. This style is very rare
and greatly sought after by sherry connoisseurs. Generally sherries are
non-vintage (see VINTAGE) and the quality is consistent year after year because the
Spanish use the SOLERA system of topping off older wines with the more recently
made sherry. Simply described, the solera system consists of a number of tiers of
sherry casks from oldest to the most recently made. Usually one-quarter to
one-third of the oldest wine is drawn off for bottling and then replaced by wine
from the next oldest tier and so on up through the solera system. This process
lets the old wines infuse the younger wines with character while the younger
wines give their nutrients to the older wines. In fino-style wines this latter activity
gives the flor something to live on. In 1994 GONZALEZ BYASS introduced two
unusual vintage-dated sherries, a 1963 and a 1966. Both sherries bypassed the
normal solera system aging process and were aged separately in their own oak
casks. Spanish sherry is made primarily from the PALOMINO grape along with
small amounts of PEDRO XIMÉNEZ and Moscatel (MUSCAT). Sherry-style wines are
now also made in the United States, as well as in other parts of the world
including Australia and South Africa. Many wines that call themselves sherry are
inexpensive potables that aren't produced anything like the Spanish originals. A
few, however, attain a close approximation by using flor innoculations and the
solera system. Sherries can be drunk before or after dinner. Dry sherries are
usually served chilled; sweet sherries are served at room temperature.





:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[emilycat]

Catharine,

You may find this thread helpful :) :
http://www.cookinglight.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9185&highlight=sherry

[catharine]

Thanks, pmmahan and emilycat. I don’t know how I missed that earlier thread. That is so helpful. I am off to the grocery store (after work, that is).

[Jacque O]

I was looking for this very information five months after you posted. This just goes to show that your help keeps on going and going and going . . .