Fabulous fortifieds
Let’s hear it for the most forgotten wines on Earth,
says Joelle Thomson…
Here’s an interesting game. Sherry, port, Madeira. What’s the first thing that springs to mind when you hear these words? Great dry wines to eat with tapas? Delicious complex aged wines to decant? The drink used to toast the Declaration of American Independence on 4 July 1776?
You’d be forgiven if these aren’t the first responses that come up, and it’s no surprise, given that sherry’s reputation has been besmirched by the likes of Harvey’s Bristol Cream; that port has been associated with fusty old men in cravats; and that Madeira has all but been forgotten.
Two fortified wine tastings held in the second half of this year were a salient reminder of how great these wines can be. The fact that they are fortified not only adds to their character but stabilises their shelf life so that, once open, they last about four times longer than most wine.
The most famous fortified wine is port and it was born out of necessity. Trade wars between England and France in the late 1600s sent the English elsewhere to find robust red wines.
The wines of Portugal fitted the bill nicely, only they were oxidised and volatile after their long ship journey from Portugal to England, until someone decided to add a dash of brandy to prevent them from oxidising on their travels. This soon became the preferred way to drink these big-bodied red wines so brandy was then added as a matter of course.
Since then, port has branched off into two styles: ‘tawnies’, which are aged in old 800 litre oak barrels (called pipes) for several years and, ‘ruby ports’, which tend to have minimal ageing in wood and can last for decades in bottle. The age of the best tawny ports is indicated on the bottle with 10-, 20- or 30-year-old, occasionally even longer.
“The most famous fortified wine is port and it was born out of necessity. ”
Most ruby port is destined for early drinking, but at the top of the tree is vintage port, which is unfined, unfiltered and bottled with intense, bold, fruity flavours which develop great complexity with age. All port is sweet.
Sherry, on the other hand, is rarely sweet, despite its reputation as a thimble of sugary nothingness at Christmas time. Sherry comes from Andalusia, a region in the south of Spain with a hot tropical climate, incredibly low rainfall (typically 50 millimetres per year) and three well-known wine towns. Jerez de la Frontera is the centre of the sherry industry and is flanked by two smaller towns: Sanlúcar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa María.
Most sherry is made from the Palomino grape, a fairly neutral little white number, which gains character from its ageing process either in old oak or under flor yeast, a filmy white yeast that forms after a light fortification, producing very tangy tasting, dry wines. Nuttier, deeper coloured dry sherries come from long ageing in old oak barrels known as butts. The PX (Pedro Ximenez) grape and Muscat are both used to make miniscule volumes of sweet sherries.
The best sherries are fino, manzanilla, amontillado and palo cortado. Not household names, but exceptional quality wines that taste nearly perfect with seafood, slivers of cured meat, olives and toasted almonds. This is the home of tapas. Sweet sherries taste divine with warm gingerbread.
Madeira is the third great fortified wine and comes from the Portuguese island of Madeira, 1,000 kilometres south west of Portugal. Madeira is having a bit of a resurgence. Its origins are similar to port as it was transported around the world in the hot hulls of ships and was the wine used to toast the declaration of American Independence, but that’s another story. As is Marsala from Sicily and the quirky VDNs (vin doux natural) of the world. Watch this space.
Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana Manzanilla
RRP $32.99
Mineral
Smooth, full-bodied, dry and tangy, great with seafood.
Gonzalez Byass Leonor 12 Anos Palo Cortado
RRP $24.99
Negociants
Nutty, dry, complex and smooth with walnut, caramelised brown sugar and sandalwood flavours.
Joelle Thomson is a journalist, wine writer and author.
