Sherry wine how is it made

The white grape varieties grown in the region of Jerez can be used to create a surprisingly wide range of types of Sherry with a distinctive palette of colours. Amongst other things, this great diversity depends on the degree to which the wines are exposed to oxygen during the ageing process.

Receive the latest news from Sherry Wines. Subscribe now! Thank you for joining our sherrylover community. We respect your privacy and promise to only send you news and events related to the D. Lovely complex nose of marmalade, spice, dried fruits and lemons. The palate is lively and complex with brilliant citrus freshness under the nutty old furniture and herb notes. Brilliantly vibrant. The palate is rich with herby, tarry fruit and good acid. Expressive and complex.

Lively with lovely tangy citrussy freshness on the palate, together with richer, more raisiny sweetness. It has an off-dry character because of the richness of the fruit.

Dry, with herby, appley, tangy fruit. Quite bright and fresh with good acidity. The palate has some fruit sweetness with good acidity. Complex and broad. Warm vanilla and spice nose. The palate is soft, spicy and nutty with herby, lemony fruit and attractive nutty complexity. Aromatic, spicy, nutty nose with tangy citrussy freshness. The palate is broad and rich with lovely fresh, citrussy, spicy notes as well as some complex earthiness.

Rich, spicy, slightly tarry, intense nose. The palate is sweetly fruited with rich, grapey, raisiny character. Intense stuff.

Complex, fresh, tangy nose with tar, spice, old casks and some lemony freshness. The palate is fresh with a herby tang to the dry, nutty, citrussy fruit. Complex, persistent and lively with a long finish.

Weird nose but lovely palate. The palate is sweet, complex and raisiny with tarry notes. Very long finish. Odd but lovely. Light, fresh and lemony. Fresh, complex salty citrus flavours on the palate.

Long and complex, in a lighter style. Fresh, light and a bit funky with good acid and herby, citrus, orange peel character. Dry, with a lovely savouriness. Warm, rich, casky, nutty and raisiny on the nose. The palate is long and complex with broad, spicy flavours.

Lovely rich, warm, spicy, casky nose. The palate is fresh and bold with lovely complex spicy notes and rich, grapey, raisiny, citrus characters. The palate is rich and intense with lovely spiciness. Complex, broad and with a long finish. Tangy, citrussy nose. The palate is light and expressive with herby, citrussy complexity and a persistent, high-acid freshness. Fantastic complexity here. The palate is funky and complex with profound, fresh, nutty, lemony complexity.

Very expressive. Old furniture nose with hints of orange peel and raisins. The palate is massively complex with tarry, spicy, raisiny fruit and fresh citrus notes. Complex, tangy nose is rich and fresh at the same time. The palate is dry with fresh, complex nutty notes and some citrus freshness, as well as some salty hints. However, the two ageing techniques are uniquely different and result in distinctive wines.

It functions as a barrier by absorbing oxygen and protects the wine from air exposure. As mentioned earlier, a space of one-sixth of the barrel is left empty.

In this case, it provides a sufficient supply of oxygen to encourage healthy flor growth. As it thrives only in a limited alcoholic strength of between Flor is also sensitive to humidity and lower levels of ambient moisture will produce a thinner growth. For this reason, the flor is particularly thick near the coast, which results in even lower oxygen contact and more delicate flavours. Gonzalez Byass. When ageing sherry under a layer of flor, care must be taken not to damage it when transferring the wine to different barrels.

Sherry aged under a layer of flor will often take on the flavours of the yeast, which are typically evocative of bread and biscuits. It also retains a pale colour due to its limited contact with oxygen. You can learn more about the sherries influenced by this technique with our guide to the different types of sherry.

This term means that the wine matures through prolonged direct air exposure. Likewise, the casks have one-sixth of empty space. However, on this occasion, it increases direct oxygen contact with the wine.

Similarly, the choice of porous oak allows for better circulation. Indeed, the casks are quite old, which reduces its influence, and their large size allows for little contact with the wood.

The increase in alcohol strength then kills the flor and launches a process of oxidative ageing. Sherry that has been oxidatively aged will have a distinctively darker colour. Similarly, it will take on rich flavours of dried fruit, nuts, and caramel. As before you can learn more through our guide to the different types of sherry. Often referred to as a Solera system, this technique consists of partially transferring sherry along a series of casks while it ages.

When sherry is removed from the last cask in the series to be bottled, it is topped up with more from the previous barrel. Each barrel is will be refilled in order, eventually leaving room in the one with the youngest sherry to be replenished with new sherry.

Historically, the barrels were stacked in a pyramid and each row represented a different stage in the ageing process. While some producers continue to perform the process by physically stacking barrels, many clearly label them and have them arranged in a way that saves space.

As the sherry is only partially emptied each time, it allows for young and mature sherry to mix together and marry their flavours. Consequently, the process allows the sherry to be simultaneously blended while it ages. In theory, the oldest solera cask may contain traces of wine that is several decades old.