THE SHERRY WINE
Sherry Wines offers a wiede range of colours , aromas
and sensations.Its unique ageing system of "Soleras
and Criaderas"and biological ageing under "flor"
, a layer of yeast that develops on the surface of the
wine while it is ageing the "botas" (American
oak casks).
"Soleras and Criaderas System"
In the wine cellars the butts are lined up in rows of
maximum of four levels.The lowest row (at the floor
level ) is called Solera and contains the oldest wine.The
butts in the row immediately above it , is called the
first Criadera (or "Clase" in Sanlúcar)
which contain wine younger than the Solera and in the
row above the first, the second Criadera the wines are
much younger.And so on until we reach the last row.
The wine for bottling is always drawn off from the Solera
but only 1/3 is taken from each butt of Solera.These
wine is going to be replaced by 1/3 of the first Criadera
and so on up to the wines of the last row of butts ,
which are blended with the new wines from the last harvest.
This operation is known as "running the scales"
.
This system of ageing is a very dynamic process which
allow the wines to acquire gradually the fine qualities
of old wines and the freshness of the younger wines.
There are two type of ageing in Sherry:
Ageing under "flor" (called biological ageing)
and the oxidative ageing.
Ageing under "Flor" Fino and Manzanilla -
Dry white wines .15%vol. Minimum ageing of three years
in cask to qualify for the D.O.
Oxidative Ageing
Oloroso , Palo Cortado , Sweet Oloroso, Cream and Pedro
Ximenez.
The only style of sherry wine that undergoes the two
types of ageing is the Amontillado. This wine age as
Manzanilla or Fino first for a minimum of three years
and then start an oxidative ageing for many years.
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