Flor, a naturally occurring cap of yeast. © Fedejerez
Café in Andalusia © Jose Guerra
Despite this rich history, marketing Sherry wines con-
tinues to be a challenge in the United States because of
the broad range of styles and price-points represented
under this single place-specific brand. While traveling
in Jerez last fall, I watched young Spaniards casually
order inexpensive fino mixed with Seven-Up or Sprite in
precisely the way Americans sometimes still order white
wine spritzers. Should Sherry be considered a bar ingre-
dient rather than an autonomous wine product? Cocktail
competitions that feature Sherry wines as a mixer have
generated lots of enthusiasm in the US but this may leave
more expensive Sherries, those meant to be savored as
fine wines rather than used in a mixed drink, in market
limbo. Varying degrees of sweetness also make Sherry’s
messaging a challenge – consumers looking for a sug-
ary-sweet dessert product may inadvertently order a dry
Sherry and vice-versa. Lastly, the very uniqueness of
Sherry as a region within the broader context of Spain’s
wine industry at times has made it the orphan stepchild
to powerhouses like Rioja, Ribera del Duero, or Priorato
that feature dry reds more immediately understandable
to Americans familiar with their own domestic table
wines. As America has no real equivalent to Sherry,
we’re reduced to assuming that it belongs on the gro-
cery store shelf next to other cheap condiments, and
that’s a real retail tragedy.

taste best with seafood because they are “brought up,” or aged in casks in bodegas where the air is saturated with the distinct saline tang of the Atlantic.

Unlike wine-producing regions where grape-to-glass philosophies mean that the winemaker does little to impact the transformation of grape juice to wine, Sherry wines are instead very much man-made wines, with a history of production dating back to 1100 BC when the Phoenicians first brought viticulture to the area. (The city of Cádiz itself is considered the most ancient in all of Europe.) That these wines have endured centuries of political upheaval is a testament to both the ingenuity and perhaps to the unslakable thirst that mark Iberians.

Got moldy-looking yeast stuff persistently forming on top of your fermenting grape juice? Elsewhere, this might spell disaster but in Jerez, they call it kismet and consider it a virtue. This naturally occurring cap of yeast film is called flor and it is utterly unique to the microclimate of this area and to the production of certain delicate types of sherry which I personally love, especially the manzanillas from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, which are one of the world’s great wine treasures. Got some fairly generic, bland grape juice to work with? Tossing in some brandy to jump-start the party and seeing what happens is essentially how the workhorse palomino grape is transformed into legendary Sherry products. The famous “solera system” of interconnected, stacked casks is another example of Iberian ingenuity in wine-making, an invention that allows both for consistency of house style and for continuity of product availability within a given Sherry bodega. Lastly, that these peculiar wines have survived is also due to their inherently sturdy nature, as fortified wines could better withstand the vagaries of sea transport. Christopher Columbus brought Sherry with him to the New World and Magellan spent far more on Sherry wines than on weapons when budgeting for his global circumnavigation.

The solution to all these challenges is education. No other wine-producing region in Spain offers such an appealing quality-to-price ratio so it’s worth it to invest in educational initiatives that can help American consumers better understand the complexity of the Sherry region. (See side-bar on innovative sherry education efforts.) Rare is the person who doesn’t enjoy properly served Sherries paired with exceptional cuisine; it’s getting them to open their minds and their mouths in the first place that will in turn get them to open their pocketbooks.

Times have changed since the early days of New World explorers, whose courage was itself fortified with generous amounts of Sherry. Nowadays, American consumers interested in exploring these wines themselves can find superb examples of Sherry made across a range of styles at prices that are ridiculously low for the quality inside the bottle. Enjoy light-bodied whites like pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc? Try a lightly-chilled bottle of fino next time, which pairs beautifully with grilled shrimp, salted almonds and other simple nibbles that are the hallmark of Spain’s tapas culture. Like aged tawny port wines or small-batch bourbons to sip on after dinner? Look for sherry wines labeled amontillado, which is a dry style that offers plenty of alcohol and layers of smoky, vanillin notes. Like most wine products worth discovering, wines from this region require both curiosity and sophistication, so I heartily encourage you to uncork some bottles and do some reading – your palate and your dinner guests will thank you for it.

Venenciadora © Jose Guerra

sHeRRY eDUcAtIon
eFFoRts

Of particular note is the recent “Secret Sherry Society” campaign that targets a web-savvy generation used to turning to online search for beverage information. This innovative website, www.secretsherrysociety.com, balances comprehensive information on Sherry wines with a whimsical approach to social networking, i.e., using aliases and upload-ed pictures to gain membership to an exclusive club that is nevertheless easily located via Google and is thus not quite so secret. It’s fun and represents a broad market approach to demystifying Sherry for a whole new generation of consumers who might not even know what Harvey’s is anyway.

Similarly, Fedejerez (Federación de Bodegas del Marco de Jerez) has increasingly allocated funds to support “train the trainer” outreaches in key American markets where Sherry experts offer seminars, tastings and meal pairings for influencers in both retail and restaurant settings. A series of events that I personally participated in here in Los Angeles really drove home for me how simply uncorking Sherry wines and sharing them can help battle misconceptions among consumers.

© Fedejerez