Cream of the crop: alternative Sherry serves

DO Jerez is highlighting new ways to enjoy different styles of the Spanish region’s famous fortified wines, from bone-dry Fino to sweet cream Sherry.

It has been difficult for Sherry to break free from the stereotype of it being a drink for the older generation. However, if this old cliché won’t be retired, it can at least be turned on its head, as is the aim of a new campaign from Consejo Regulador Jerez-Xérès-Sherry.

Called ‘Grandma Was Right’, the campaign is focused on the idea that “every generation needs a rebel”.

“Sherry is yet to be discovered by a generation of wine lovers and we’re targeting younger wine drinkers,” explains Consejo Regulador Jerez-XérèsSherry president César Saldaña.

“Sherry may be associated with something your grandmother might drink, but grandma has great taste. From Fino to Oloroso, it’s time to reconsider Sherry and rightfully reposition it as one of the world’s great wines.”

While Sherry is often ignored by the larger wine-drinking populace, even an entry-level Fino from a great wine maker shows an astoundingly nuanced and complex character. Fino is the Sherry style that goes through maturation under flor. This biological ageing results in a fortified wine with distinctive aromas of bruised apples and almonds, as well as its distinctly pale appearance. While it is commonly served on its own, for Saldaña, it is a wine that particularly lends itself to being accompanied with food due to its “tremendous versatility”.

“Fino is very dry, but also very savoury, thanks to its biological ageing,” he says. “It’s an amazing taste enhancer that can take food to another dimension. One of the feelings you get drinking chilled Fino is freshness, which is a sensation normally linked to acidity, but it’s actually relatively low in acidity, so it’s a good match for acidic foods, such as salad with a vinaigrette,” he says.

Saldaña is also keen to highlight that cream Sherry, which is created by blending oxidatively-aged Oloroso Sherry with sweet Pedro Ximénez, is not just a drink for Christmas.

For summer sipping, he suggests serving cream Sherry on the rocks with a slice of orange to make a ‘Cream Sherry Sunset’ – as is commonly done by the residents of Jerez.

“You have all the depth of the Oloroso, and the raisiny notes of Pedro Ximénez, with underlying citrussy notes, so the slice of orange enhances that aspect,” Saldaña explains. “The intensity that it has on the nose means you can put it on the rocks, so even if it gets diluted, you still get all of the aromas.”

MIXOLOGY MOMENT

He also says that, in the US market, Sherry is becoming an increasingly popular ingredient among mixologists. “In the US, a big share of the Sherry we sell is used in cocktails and long drinks, and we wanted to apply that experience to the more traditional market of the UK,” Saldaña explains.

And yet, despite these applications perhaps leaning more towards the spirits world than that of wine, Saldaña still believes that Sherry is firmly rooted in the wine family.

“The issue with wine, as with many aspects of our lives, is that it has undergone a globalisation process, and now, for many people, wine is limited to sparkling, white, red and rosé, but there are other ways to enjoy wine,” he suggests. “Sherry is something else, but it is wine. In the case of Sherry, the terroir of the vineyard and the ageing in the cellar, both key elements in the world of wine, are still important to us – we very proudly say that we are a wine, although we might be different.”

To find out more, visit: sherry.wine