Winecast: Sherry, Pt. IV

Hello everybody and welcome to the WineCast. This will be the final WineCast on Sherry, at least for the time being, closing out a four-part series. This cast will actually be pretty brief, more of a supplement to the other casts really, focusing mostly on the age-designated Sherries and then saying a few words about pairing food with Sherry at the suggestion of my fellow YouTuber and all-around Sherry enthusiast Luke Derricott, the GastroTraveler, whose YouTube channel of the same name was referenced in Part 3 of this series and that you would in no way injure yourself to check out. So let's get started with age-designated Sherries. In recognition of the fact that many of the wines in Soleras are quite old, the Consejo Regulador, or Regulatory Council for Jerez, has approved age designations for some styles of Sherry. The styles that are approved for these designations are those that age oxidatively, either in full or part, and thus spend a lot of time in Solera. So Oloroso, Amontillado, Palo Cortado, or PX. The V.O.S., or in Latin, Vinum Optimum Signatum designation, which is frequently given in English as Very Old Sherry, but that doesn't even come close to its actual meaning of Designated as Excellent Wine, is reserved for wines from a Solera with an average age of 20 or more years. This designation has to be confirmed by both a tasting panel that assesses whether the wine tastes like 20-plus year old wine, as well as through a complicated chemical analysis of the wine. And the designation is reconfirmed for each Saca to be bottled, so each time a producer wants to bottle a V.O.S., he has to submit a sample of the Saca to be bottled for that designation to be awarded. The next tier up, V.O.R.S., or Vinum Optimum Rare Signatum, again mistranslated as Very Old Rare Sherry, and more accurately as Excellent Wine Designated as follows the same procedure as V.O.S., except for wines from a Solera with an average age of 30 or more years. These designations are also accompanied by a requirement to hold back and keep in Solera a certain amount of wine in liters for each liter the Sherry house wants to sell. For V.O.S. wines, it's 20 liters in Solera for each liter sold, and for V.O.R.S. wines, it's 30 liters. So let's say a house wanted to sell 100 liters of V.O.S. wine to qualify, apart from the tasting and chemical analysis, they have to make sure that what remains in the Solera after the Saca of 100 liters is at least 2,000 liters of Sherry, or 20 times 100. Finally, there's an additional designation called Vinos de Jerez con Indicación de Edad, or Jerez wines with an age indication, that can be given for wines of either 12 or 15 years average age, and unlike the previous designations, the entire Solera, not each individual Saca, is classified. So each Saca doesn't have to be reconfirmed once the Solera is given this designation. Though a number of houses have embraced these designations and released some excellent Sherry under them, some houses are being standoffish if only because the wine in some of their Soleras is much older than 20 or 30 years, and they don't want the reputation of their wines to be connected to such low numbers. So keep in mind that while there are some really amazing Sherries being released under these age designations, there are some truly old and stellar examples that don't have any age designation at all. So by now, hopefully you're pretty familiar with Sherry as a wine and are anxious to try some, and while Sherries can certainly be enjoyed on their own, you're absolutely missing something terrific if you don't pair them with food, as they are incomparably food-friendly and versatile. What food should you pair with them, and with what styles? Well, if you think of Sherry styles lying along a spectrum that goes from lighter styles to heavier styles, and then you think of the various parts of a traditional western style meal as running along a similar spectrum, then the pairings almost right themselves. Biologically aged Sherries, the Finos and Monsanias, light and delicate as they are, go well with lighter and delicate elements in a meal, or do well by themselves as aperitifs. Because of their unique flavors, as well as their tendency to present notes of brine or sea spray, they're an excellent pairing with seafood, especially lighter fish and lighter flesh to shellfish, like shrimp and crab. Biologically aged Sherries are among the most versatile Sherries in the world, and go well with small plates or tapas, and in fact the tapas concept originates in the same part of Spain, as does Sherry. Finos and Monsanias are also a great accompaniment to salads, especially lightly dressed salads with citrus notes that play off of the lemony elements in those Sherries. Moving up the scale in terms of richness just a bit, the intermediate styles Amontillado and Palo Cortado are great with heavier fare-like soups, especially broth-based soups, and they also go well with richer shellfish, like oysters. Roasted white meats, like pork or veal and fowl, do well with this style too, as do vegetable dishes. What about red meats? Feel free to bring out the big dogs, the Olorosos, with their umami and nutty notes that go well with roasted red meats and denser, soups like stews, as well as with roasted or long-cooked vegetables. And for dessert, head for the naturally sweet styles, with Moscatel, because of its floral and light fruit character, doing well with desserts that are based on fruit, and PX, with its chocolate and raisin notes, doing well with, well, chocolate and dried fruit-based desserts, and especially with milk chocolate being one of the few dessert wines that can really stand up to that particularly sweet style of chocolate. These suggestions are based on the idea of a western-style dinner or meal, but sherries have enormous potential to pair with all sorts of cuisines, especially those that feature a variety of flavors, especially savory umami-driven flavors, with a special shout-out going to the cuisines of East and Southeast Asia, like the various regional cuisines of China, and those of Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. But the cuisines of India and regions even farther afield, like Ethiopia, would be great candidates as well. A number of these cuisines are famous for their spiciness, and since spicy chili-based foods benefit from a little sweetness, the sweetened styles of sherry, like creams, pale creams, and medium sherries, could be really interesting when paired with spice dishes from these cuisines. Biologically aged sherries, because of their dryness and light body, are also especially good with several famously difficult to pair foods, including asparagus, with its intensely green flavors and artichokes that contain a compound called cynarin that makes foods and wines taste sweeter than they are. Apart from the sweet styles, all sherries do well with vinegar-based foods like pickles and vinaigrettes. These are just some possible suggestions, but hopefully they highlight the versatility and potential of this style for pairing. Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't say at least something about so-called sherries made outside of Jerez. I've already covered the reasons why these semi-generic terms continue to be allowed by some wine-producing countries and other castes, notably the ones on Champagne, Chablis, and Port, so I won't rehash that story here, and I'll just note that it's not sherry if it doesn't come from Jerez and conform to the production standards for that DOC. That said, some producers in the US, Australia, and Canada, as well as a few other places, have been making wine in this style for some time, and some of it, some of it, can be pretty good, and like producers of wines identified as Port but made outside of the Douro Valley, these producers just want a simple, recognizable term that identifies the style for consumers. Australia, and more recently Canada, have taken a step in this direction by officially promoting the name Apera, short for aperitif, as the new term of art, but only time will tell if it sticks, as so far most consumers have continued to use the sherry moniker. And what about cooking sherry? That one's easier to deal with. It's the devil, or at least the devil's child. No, seriously, just straight up, legit, satan, prince of darkness, the power of Christ compels you, get me an exorcist if I ever find it in my kitchen level stuff. It's uniformly a cheap, low-quality wine made loosely in the sherry style that's been, wait for it, salted, and does nothing to benefit the food you put it in and shouldn't be drunk under any circumstances. Are all cooking sherrys this bad? I mean, come on, doesn't someone make a nice, drinkable, artisanal version of cooking sherry? Yes, it's called sherry, and it's made in Jerez. Only in Jerez. Thanks for joining me for another wine cast. I've enjoyed doing this deep dive into sherry, but now it's time to tackle some other wines and wine-related topics, and while I have a few ideas of my own, I always appreciate your suggestions, so please leave me some in the comments. Also, if this cast and others in the series were helpful and interesting to you, please like and subscribe if you haven't already. I'm your host, the Unknown Winecaster, and I'm out. Enjoy the grape, but always enjoy it responsibly.