Once again K&L Wine Merchants‘ Steve Greer has been kind enough jot down some words on a wine topic that crosses his mind. This week the topic is Sherry. Take it away Steve…There is one group of wines that wine drinkers often overlook: fortified wines.

Very loosely described, fortified wines are produced by adding a neutral spirit to fermenting grape juice which stops fermentation. The resulting wine is aged in different ways depending on the style. The three great fortified wines are Sherry, Port and Madeira. I enjoy all three for different reasons, but today I’ll talk about Sherry, which I think is the most versatile of the fortified wines, given its range of styles.

There is a lot to explore in the world of Sherry, but I want to keep this simple so if I had to pick just three areas in which Sherry is unique from the other fortified wines it would be the Flor, the Solera System and Food.

Flor is a natural yeast unique to Sherry that can form on the top of young wine, and it is this Flor that determines one of three styles of sherry to be produced.

Oloroso: Means “fragrant” Sherry that had no flor and was aged in barrel.
Fino: Sherry that develops with a layer of Flor on top of the wine inside the barrel, and the Flor acts as a shield which protects the wine from oxidation.
Amontillado: A Fino where the Flor is allowed to die off and that has then aged in cask for at least 8 years.

The Solera System is an aging system that takes many casks of sherry of different years with the oldest on the first floor and the youngest on the top floor. As wine is bottled from the casks on the first floor (oldest) it is filled with wine from the second. The second is then filled with wine from the third floor and so on. This procedure is repeated at the end of each aging interval.

The food that you can enjoy with Sherry is completely unique from what you’d enjoy with other wines, and that’s the main reason I love Sherry. If like me, you are a big fan of snacking on olives, cheeses and cured meats than you have to try a beautiful Fino. The salty or briny notes and delicate mouth feel is perfect for olives and cheeses.

A tasting tip: You’ll want to serve the Fino at around 45-50 degrees and drink it within a week after opening. One to try: Tio Pepe Fino Sherry.

If you have been looking for a wine to go with fried chicken, you should try an Amontillado which can be served slightly warmer than the Fino. There is a more nutty flavor that comes with an Amontillado, but with hints of the salty notes in the background. One to try: Lustau Dry Amontillado “Los Arcos”.

Oloroso’s can be enjoyed on their own for the deep nutty aromas but they go well with aged cheeses and even BBQ Ribs. One to try: Antonio Barbadillo “San Rafael” Oloroso Dulce.

And for a special treat, try another style of Sherry that is unique and extremely rare. A Palo Cortado is a sherry that initially has it’s flor and is supposed to age to become a Fino or Amontillado, but for reasons unknown loses the shield of flor and begins to oxidize and age as an Oloroso. The result is a cross of an Amontillado and an Oloroso: a wine with some of the richness of Oloroso and some of the crispness of Amontillado. Only 1 in a 1000 barrels turns into a Palo Cortado. One to try: Lustau Palo Cortado “Peninsula”.

More information on Sherry can be found at: www.sherry.org.