Bottle aged Sherries

[Eric Ifune]

Maderia and Port are my first choices for fortified wines. After that would be Setubal and Sherry. I do enjoy Sherries quite a bit. I've a few Sherries with 20+ years of bottle age on them. These are Oloroso based. I doubt fino styles would benefit much. I do think these Oloroso type wines can change, if not improve, with bottle age. This goes against the accepted wisdom. I opened a Sandeman Character Sherry yesterday with about 15 years of bottle age. It was a medium-dry Oloroso. With bottle age, it had become much more delicate. Probably not more complex, but beautifully balanced with loads of that Sherry tang. It seemed each different flavor was more distinct and amplified.
Does anyone else have an opinion about bottle aged Sherries?

[Carlos Rodriguez]

Eric,
Fino is a young wine to be drunk on his first years. The rest of Sherry wines can be kept for many years, but they don´t get better with time in the bottle. The Sherry's are aged in wood and not in the bottle.

[Tom Archer]

One day the sherry producers may realise just how much damage they caused themselves by walking away from ageworthy wines.

Three years ago I acquired a couple of bottles of Gonzalez Byass 1937 "coronation" sherry - properly cellared and with driven corks. One was opened and found to be absolutely glorious.

Good vintage sherry can be made - but do they make any at all now?

Tom

[Carlos Rodriguez]

Three years ago I acquired a couple of bottles of Gonzalez Byass 1937 "coronation" sherry - properly cellared and with driven corks. One was opened and found to be absolutely glorious.

Good vintage sherry can be made - but do they make any at all now?

Tom,
Sherry wines are made by 'solera' system. When a year is writen in the lable, is the year from the first 'solera' wine that is on this bottle. There aren't sherry from a year, they're always coupages from diferent years.
And Yes! You can find great sherry on the market right now. All the 'V.O.S.' or 'V.O.R.S.' has a very high minimum quality.

[Eric Ifune]

Fino is a young wine to be drunk on his first years. The rest of Sherry wines can be kept for many years, but they don´t get better with time in the bottle. The Sherry's are aged in wood and not in the bottle.

I know that Sherry is not "supposed" to improve with age. My experience is that some can indeed improve in bottle however. Not all, but some. That's why I'm posting this to see if others have the same experience. Madeira and tawny styled Ports are not supposed to change that much in bottle either, but I think they can and do. I have some high quality Sandeman Oloroso and Amoroso Sherries who's soleras have been discontinued. These are bottles with 20+ years in the bottle. They've become less intense, but more distinguished and more Sherry-like, I think.

[Eric Ifune]

Good vintage sherry can be made - but do they make any at all now?

I've heard that a few producers have, but have not made them commercially available. I agree that vintage Sherries are a whole market that they've neglected. It is the antithesis of their marketing history and plans.

[Carlos Rodriguez]

Eric, as all the wine, Sherry also change in bottle, but very, very slow. In some good ones they even seal the cork to be sure that air doesn't come into it. You can keep most of them more than 30 years with very small change (not fino or manzanilla).
One thing that is very apreciate by poducers are old soleras, usually are not for sale. But some times (very rare ones) they put small quantities to sale.

Good vintage sherry can be made - but do they make any at all now?

I've heard that a few producers have, but have not made them commercially available. I agree that vintage Sherries are a whole market that they've neglected. It is the antithesis of their marketing history and plans.

Sherry that is got more than a year old, they start to mix it with other years.

[Tom Archer]

uncle tom wrote:
Three years ago I acquired a couple of bottles of Gonzalez Byass 1937 "coronation" sherry - properly cellared and with driven corks. One was opened and found to be absolutely glorious.

Good vintage sherry can be made - but do they make any at all now?



Tom,
Sherry wines are made by 'solera' system. When a year is writen in the lable, is the year from the first 'solera' wine that is on this bottle. There aren't sherry from a year, they're always coupages from diferent years.
And Yes! You can find great sherry on the market right now. All the 'V.O.S.' or 'V.O.R.S.' has a very high minimum quality.

These bottles were marketed for the Coronation of King George VI in 1937, and had very decayed labels that were typical of the period. Clearly they could not have have contained the wine of 1937, but a blend of vintages prior to that date - so more akin to a Crusted port than a Vintage. They were fitted with long driven corks of good quality, so were clearly intended for laying down.

Although soleras are the norm for sherries, there have been (and may be still are) exceptions.

Tom

[Glenn E.]

Since the topic has come up, can someone explain what a Solera is?

I've seen it on bottles before, but never understood what it actually means.

[Eric Ifune]

A solera uses what is known as fractional blending. A base wine is used; normally a high quality wine. This is sometime listed on the label, but it is only the starting year. Every-so-often, wine is drawn off and replaced with newer wine. There are generally laws determining how much wine can be drawn off and how often replaced. For some wines, including Sherry, there can be whole series of wines, each an older blend, which is used to replentish each successive wine; the oldest being drawn off and bottled.

[Tom Archer]

can someone explain what a Solera is?

In very simple terms:

You want to create a sherry of consistant quality, year in, year out, but the quality and characteristics of each year's production varies.

Solution: You pick a year when the quality of the wine is neither exceptional, nor below par, and typical of the product you want to sell. Using that year's vintage, you fill a very large vat.

The following year, you draw off a small proportion of the wine to bottle, and replace it with wine from the next year's harvest. Because the percentage of new wine is small, any difference in character has little effect on the overall characteristics of the wine in the vat. This process is then repeated year after year, sometimes for generations.

In Madeira, soleras are also used, but they are supposed to only refresh them a limited number of times.

There is no particular reason why reserve or crusted ports could not be produced using a solera system, but the word seems to be absent from the port lexicon.

Tom

[Moses Botbol]

Couple of pictures from Sunday Night drink fest:

[Eric Ifune]

Moses,
Any notes?

[Moses Botbol]

Moses,
Any notes?

No, not really. Lighter style of Sherry that doesn't really taste that "old". Quite dry, but not as much as a Fino. We were all already past our notes portion of the evening when this came into the mix. I still have it and it's certainly drinkable.

[Carlos Rodriguez]

Since the topic has come up, can someone explain what a Solera is?
I've seen it on bottles before, but never understood what it actually means.

Glenn, in this page you can find a good explanation of what solera is and some more topics about sherry.

http://www.emilio-lustau.com/s-about-more.htm

in http://www.emilio-lustau.com/, in the part "About sherry"

[Moses Botbol]

Moses,
Any notes?

Actually, this Sherry took a few days to open up and became a real winner! Slightly oxidized as one could imagine (it is Sherry) and reminded me of a Terrantez Madeira. Dates and some dried fruit up front, with prailene on the finish. Very long finish. Had a copper color, pretty solid to the edge. Amazing long finish, great acid to it. A real joy to drink.

I have only had Sherry a few times that was older than the 60's, and decanting times can even be slower than Madeira it sure seems. I would keep an eye out for such a Sherry in the future, that is for sure.

[Eric Ifune]

Not surprised it took so long to open up if its been in bottle since the 1930's!