I was tasked by this year’s New Orleans Wine and Food Experience (N.O.W.F.E.) to spearhead one of their many annual entertaining and educational seminars. Last year we had the executive chef from the famous Hershey Company pair chocolate with wine. We had so much success with this seminar that we decided to carry through with the “sweet” theme and create a seminar around pastries.
It was suggested that we serve them with Port wines and call the seminar “Port and Pastries Paired to Perfection.” Great idea, but we needed a little more diversity, so we added Sherry wines to the mix. We then rounded up some of the best New Orleans pastry chefs and asked them to taste through samples of Ports and Sherries and select ones to use in the creation of their signature dishes. As expected, the Ports we chose for the chefs were absolutely beautiful, but the Sherries totally blew my mind. To be quite honest, it had never occurred to me before to drink these luscious Spanish beauties. What have I been missing? That’s when the song came into my head – “Sherry Baby, won’t you come out tonight . . .” (Sorry about that age-revealing nostalgia there.)
Sherry is a fortified wine from Southwest Spain from a city called Jerez, pronounced “hair-eth”. The English anglicized it and called it Sherry. In researching Sherry I found that it is considered by many one of the most underrated wines in the world. The best part is that they are inexpensive considering the quality of the product.
Appreciation of Sherry in the United States has lagged behind the current surge in popularity of other Spanish wines. This is probably because of misconceptions about what Sherries really are. In my early wine days, I sold jugs of cheap domestically produced Sherry that was either stirred into sauces by grandma, or drizzled into turtle soup. One grocery store buyer I knew called it “Cream-a-Sherry,” which brought images of cream of mushroom soup to mind. I was therefore never interested in trying it because of these unsavory associations. Very sporadically, I have tried Sherries over the years, but they just haven’t impressed me much - until now.
So what is Sherry? It can be very dry and pale straw in color, or very sweet with a dark mahogany hue, or it can be somewhere in between. Dry Sherries are typically served chilled, sweet Sherries at room temperature.
Sherries differ from Ports (another fortified wine) in many ways. Sherry is fortified with Brandy after the fermentation process is complete. With Port, the Brandy is added during fermentation to stop the process. Unlike most wines, Sherries are intentionally exposed to air as they age.
There are two main types of Sherries, Fino and Oloroso. Air and alcohol are the two variables that give these wines their distinct qualities.
Fino-style Sherries have air introduced to them in the barrel. This creates a layer of yeast (called flor) that floats on top of the wine and prevents additional air from oxidizing the wine further. The three major types of Fino-style Sherries are:
Fino – typically drunk as an aperitif, but also great with olives, mild cheeses, ham, and salami.
Manzanilla – Driest of the Fino-styles, with a distinctive sea-like saltiness. These are perfect with almonds and tapas-style food.
Amontillado – Darker than the previous styles, these fall halfway between the Fino and Oloroso styles. They are very versatile. Delicious on their own, or a great accompaniment to soup (this is where the original idea of adding it to turtle soup came from.) They are served cool, but not too chilled.
Oloroso-style Sherries are fortified to a higher alcohol level (18% vs. Fino’s 15%) This higher alcohol kills the flor that would protect it from further oxidation. As the oxygen reaches the wine, it develops raisiny, nutty flavors and deepens the color. The three main types are:
Oloroso – These range from dry to sweet, with a rich nutty flavor and a dark mahogany color. A dry Oloroso is a very concentrated and pairs well with rich foods such as venison and smoked game. A sweet Oloroso can be consumed with a Spanish flan or as an after dinner digestif.
Cream Sherry – Darker still, a cream sherry is a sweetened Oloroso wine. Fantastic with fruit-based desserts.
Pedro Ximenez – Affectionately known as PX. It is a wonderful sweet Sherry made from the Pedro Ximenez grape. With flavors of brown sugar, caramel, and dried figs, it pairs beautifully with chocolate, blue cheese, and dried fruit-like figs and prunes.
If you are looking for an authentic Sherry you will probably have to visit your favorite wine shop or have it ordered in for you. The Sherry house we used in our N.O.W.F.E. seminar is Lustau. They are highly respected in the industry and receive fantastic press from the critics.
With its range and diversity of styles, Sherry is one of the most versatile of all wines. Think of any type of food, and there will be a Sherry that accompanies it perfectly. “Sherry baby . . . (I can’t get that song out of my head . . .)”