Through the grapevine: Sherry developments in Spain

The world of sherry is currently in a state of change and development. Not only have there been changes to the regions of sherry maturation, where they’ve expanded from three to nine, but we’ve also seen the reintroduction of multiple lost grape varieties.

In late 2022, The Consejo Regulador de Vinos de Jerez y Manzanilla de Sanlúcar (the governing body of all things sherry) included a staggering six new varieties in the list of grapes allowed for production. These were used in the 19th century but were lost to a scourge caused by the phylloxera insect in the 1850s.

As you can imagine, there is the potential for lots of change and many exciting opportunities for these wines. To fully appreciate them, it’s worth looking at the basic steps for producing biologically aged sherries like fino and manzanilla. Bear in mind this is a complex process, so we’ll miss out some of the finer details.

Fino and manzanilla are what we call biologically aged sherries. This is due to the presence of a layer of yeast called flor. One of its main functions is to protect the wine from oxidisation over the entirety of its journey as a biologically aged wine. This preserves a light, crisp character and gives the wine a yellow or pale-yellow colour.

Looking at the early stages of production, we need grapes. Up to this point, the sovereign of biologically aged wines in the sherry region has been the palomino grape. That said, its use does not come without challenges. Its relatively low amount of sugar leads to wines that are lower in alcohol, coming in between 13% abv and 13.5% abv. This wine is still not sherry but ‘mosto’ (‘must’) and will need to be fortified with wine alcohol to reach between 15% abv and 16.5% abv – the recommended range for flor to grow and thrive.

Due to the pivotal role of flor, producers will do their best to try and provide a comfortable environment for its growth. As such the cask holding the wine (traditionally a butt of 500 to 650 litres) will not be filled to the brim. Instead, it will be partially filled to ensure the yeast has breathing space, allowing it to develop and perform its role as the protector of the wine.
What we have now is a ‘must’ that has been fortified and included in the solera system. Despite the same grape being used, we will have to differentiate between fino and manzanilla based on the production and maturation regions. Fortunately, there is only one place where manzanilla is made, so whenever we see it, we will know it comes from the beautiful town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda.  

Once extracted from the solera system, the wine will be filtered and bottled. The colour and character of the wines will be similar to a white wine, with the only difference being that it will have spent much longer in an ageing system, traditionally being between three-years-old and six-years-old.  

Now that we are familiar with the foundations of the production process, let’s get back to the grapes that have been reintroduced. Since late 2022, the bodegas have been allowed to work with six different grape varieties: beba, cañocazo, mantúo castellano, mantúo de pilas, perruno and vigiriega. It is too early to tell which ones will be used and what they will be used for, but if we run the maths, we can definitely see potential for a surge in the already dizzying variety of sherry wines.  

Out of the seven different unblended sherries we have access to, fino, manzanilla, oloroso, amontillado and palo cortado are produced with palomino grapes, though there might be some exceptions. The other two grapes, Pedro Ximénez and moscatel, are used for their homonymous types of sherry and may not be affected by these new varieties.