enzian

since we are heading to Spain I'd like to learn some basics about sherry. We probably will only have it as an aperitif, not with the meal (wine for that.)


Which type is appropriate for an aperitif? Fino?

Separate question---The one time I was in Spain previously, about 15 years ago, I was there on business with some Brits. One of them, knowing that I like a glass of port after dinner, brought me a wonderful glass of sherry. It was dark, the shade of tawny port, which I assume means it was oxidized. It was served chilled. I asked the bartender what it was and his response was simply "Jerez." Could this have been an Amontillado? Or something else?

Thanks for your help!

Robert2533

Drinking sherry is a learned art, and yes, it is wine, but served chilled. Taking Sherry can involve an entire afternoon as you move from the dry to the sweet, but always taken with food.

Sometimes you start with a fine Fino before lunch or dinner and end with a something like a good Oloroso, very rich and dark.

Aduchamp1

During our first trip to Spain nearly forty years ago we visited Casa Pedro Domecq. We were the only ones on the tour that day and we were in our early twenties. The guide at the beginning did not know we spoke some Spanish and was cursing at all the workers as we passed them, who laughed in return. When we started laughing, he really acted silly. We gave him a huge tip. So much for the sophistaication of sherry.

Revulgo

Sherry types
http://www.sherry.org/EN/tiposclasifica.cfm

ekscrunchy

E: Fino is a common aperitif.

Another popular one in Andalucia is La Gitana, which is a manzanilla made in Sanlucar.

http://www.lagitana.es/html/index1.htm

Your trip must be getting close..I can't wait to read about it!

bilboburgler

Sherry, such a big subject.

The quick answer is
Fino and Manzanilla is the classic fry wine with a hint of oxide or salt water you want to drink with ham, cheese, olives etc.

PX Pedro Ximenez is the colouring wine used in blending. It is now being sold as a very special complicated sweet wine and tends to be dark brown. This may have been what you had.

Oxidised in Sherry is a whole more complicated subject in Sherry, suggest you need a ten minute Wiki read

Echnaton

Fino - dry, pale, light, nutty taste. Not oxidized. Most common apéritif. Served chilled.

Manzanilla - similar to fino, but from the coastal town Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Therefore a hint of salt and seaweed.

Manzanilla Pasada - slightly oxidized, amber colour. Stronger taste, like salty almonds.

Amontillado - medium-oxidized, amber to brownish. Hazelnut taste. Should be dry (mass-market products are sometimes semi-dry).

Oloroso - heavily oxidized, dark, usually dry.

Palo cortado - kind of mixture between Amontillado and Oloroso.

Cream - a reddish blend of Oloroso and a sweet wine, usually from the Pedro Ximénez grape.

Pale Cream - a filtered cream sherry in order to make it paler.

Pedro Ximénez - often very sweet (sometimes dry). Raisin-like taste.

enzian

Thanks, everyone. I had no idea it was so complicated!

Sounds like fino is the one we would like for an aperitif.

As for the darker, slightly sweet one I had before, it sounds like Pedro Ximénez. It wasn't terribly sweet, about like tawny port. Would that have been served chilled? This was summer time, so maybe that was the reason?

CathyM

I've had Pedro Ximenez chilled before - it's a wonderful aperitif or dessert sherry. When I saw your post earlier I thought you may have had Pedro Ximenez.

nytraveler

Um - tawny port would be VERY sweet - as is Pedro Ximenez.

We would sometimes have a fino before dinner. But - nothing else (I dislike sweet wines).

Revulgo

I love Fino La Ina with cured cheese.

bilboburgler

its a generalisation but tawny or brown (these are two different wines not just different names for the same thing)sherry would be cheaper than PX. Brown is normally used in the kitchen.

oopsy

From Monday's NYT, an article on the increase of interest in sherry among Americans:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/di...r=1&ref=dining

I'm curious about what some of you knowledgeable folks think of the overview in the article.

bilboburgler

This article comes out every 2 years or so around the English speaking world. I first saw it in 1980. Don't hold your breath.

Revulgo2

What about the brandy from Jerez?
http://www.brandydejerez.es/index.ph...view_eng&id=26

mohun

This is not entirely off-topic, I hope, but, for domestic consumption and your own cooking and eating, I heartily recommend Toro Albala Risereva sherry wine vinegar. I've used it in salad dressings for years and my favorite mock European breakfast(!) is chilled avocado, chilled sliced ripe tomatoes, chilled prosciutto, and chilled provolone, drizzled with Toro Albala vinegar and virgin olive oil, then seasoned with salt and pepper. And if you happen to have a few basil leaves lying about the house, they make a good bed for the rest of the ingredients.