Brewing of sherry

Listan (also known as "first-class Shirley grape"-palomino Fino) is a traditional grape variety in Jerez, accounting for 95% of the grape planting area. The varieties planted in other grape producing areas are mainly Pedro Ximenez grapes and a small amount of Moscatel.

The fate, reputation and history of Jerez are closely related to the local quality wine (sherry). Jerez wines are mainly divided into two categories: fino and olorosso. A fresh and refreshing yeast film was formed on the surface of Fino Shirley, but not on Europa Shirley. After 1 year storage, both Fino Shirley and Oro Rosso Shirley will be stored in wooden barrels with wine base in turn, and older wines will be used to improve the taste. On the one hand, the winery will put the oldest wine on the market, on the other hand, it will store the new wine in barrels, one by one, and come back and forth every week. The new wine continuously absorbs the taste and characteristics of the old wine in the method of sequential and graded mixing.

Pinot: A wine with yeast membrane produced in Qianjerez or Puerto Santa Maria. The age of wine is between 5 and 9 years.

Manzanilla: A feno sherry produced in the coastal city of Santa Rugar Meda in the cool climate of Debalus. The age of wine is between 5 and 9 years.

Oloroso: A wine with yeast membrane, produced in the above three cities. The age of the wine is between 10 and 15 years.

Amontillado: An aged wine, aged between 10 and 15.

Cream: Sweet wine made from Pedro Simone grapes or Muscat grapes. The age of wine is between 5- 15 years. 1, traditional method

Shirley has her own special taste, which is usually described as "the taste of wheat like nuts". The color changes from white to deep yellow, and the sweetness changes from "not sweet at all" to "slightly sweet". Just like Porter liqueur, its sweetness is affected by the time when brandy is added in the fermentation.

The only place in the world that produces unique sherry is Andalusi Creek (﹝AudaLuuia﹞) in Spain, which consists of Heriz, ﹝Jerez de la Frontera﹞, El Santa Maria﹞, Port and Sangruga.

There are two grape varieties used to brew Shirley: (﹝Palomino﹞) and Pedro Jimenez (Pedro Xim \' enez). After the grapes are pressed, they are fermented in new oak barrels. The first fermentation takes about three to seven days. After a large amount of foam is produced, they will slowly ferment for about ten weeks. During this period, the sugar contained in grapes will be converted into alcohol. The following year 1 month, the wine gradually clarified and the sediment sank to the bottom of the barrel. In February, without manual operation, some wines will produce a white film on the surface. This film is called "﹝Flor﹞", a kind of yeast, which created the famous "Fino". Wine with little or no flowers forms "Orolosso", which are two kinds of sherry created by the magic of nature. In order to promote the vigorous development of "flowering", the lid of the barrel should be loosened to make the air circulate and exposed to bright sunshine. This process is to change glucose and give Shirley a unique taste. About three months later, Shirley was refrigerated. The most important thing that distinguishes sherry from other wines is its processing procedure (﹝Solera﹞), which is used to cultivate new wines from old wines. This treatment process makes the old barrels of the same quality wine permanently preserved. Up to now, there is no wine produced by 1888, but the same quality and level as 1888 can be maintained through this procedure. After evaluation and grading, the alcohol content of new wine was tested, and then brandy was added to improve the alcohol content. The alcohol concentration of "Finau" was increased to 15%, and that of "Oroso" was 17% or 18%.

2. Special brewing method

FLOR and SOLERA in Sorella are actually like the warm climate in Spain, and wine is easy to rot because of the high temperature. In order to prevent this shortcoming, the Spanish came up with a wonderful method: when the wine is fermented in oak barrels, in order to prevent mildew, the wine is put into barrels; However, sherry is in the opposite direction. The Wine Farmers' Association specially set aside a space of13 to let the wine come into contact with the air and produce a white film composed of natural yeast spores, which is called flowering flor by the locals. This layer of flor can not only protect the wine from oxidation and keep its bright color, but also create a better taste and a fresh, rich and mouth-watering bread aroma. Sorella SOLERA, a special aging system, makes sherry both fresh and mellow. In this way, the barrels in the ripening process are stacked several layers (the stacking layers of each winery are different, ranging from 3 layers to 14 layers at most). The bottom barrel contains the oldest wine, while the top barrel contains the youngest wine.

Every once in a while, the winery will take a part of the wine from the bottom and bottle it for sale, then take the wine from the upper barrel and make up the reduced wine below in order, for example, take the second layer to make up the first layer and the third layer to make up the second layer.

Brewing technology of Spanish sherry

Sherry is a transliteration of English Sherry, which has also been translated into Harmony, Shelly and so on. This wine is called Herec in Spain. Because the British like it very much, it is called sherry by its approximate English transliteration.

At present, many countries in the world imitate sherry, but the quality of wine is still the best in Spain.

Production technology and its characteristics: the brewing method of sherry is basically the same as that of ordinary liquor, but it also has its own uniqueness.

1. Grape varieties and picking. Sherry in Spain generally starts brewing in early September (when the grapes are fully ripe) and ends in the middle of 10. At first, the early-maturing grape variety palomino was picked, and then the grapes with special flavors were picked, such as Jialiniang, Alishan Rose, Musketeer and Pedro Simenez. When picking grapes, you can't pick them all at once. Choose the ripe ones first, and then pick them when they are immature. Ripe grapes are picked and placed on a straw mat (the straw mat is spread on the ground). Put them next to each other and don't overlap. Expose yourself to the sun during the day and cover with canvas at night (to prevent dew or rain from getting wet). Exposure to the sun is a good way to increase the sugar content of grapes, which is unique in Spain (faster than the method of drying in the shade and less prone to mildew). In the process of exposure, always check carefully, and take away the rotten ones immediately if you find them, so as not to expand. Experience shows that normal good weather (autumn) usually lasts for 4~5 days.

2. Crush and juice. Breaking grapes is still the old way-stepping on your feet. The clearest grape juice can be collected directly in wooden barrels, and when there is no grape juice flowing out of the grape residue, it will be moved to the press for squeezing. The first pressed grape juice is mixed with the graded juice. Because it is squeezed from grapes that have been sun-dried to remove most of the water, the sugar content is very high, generally above 260 g/L. This mixed juice can be used for fermentation after clarification.

After the grape pomace is wetted with water, it is squeezed for the second and third time continuously, and then fermented separately. The alcohol content of the wine brewed by it is low, and it is generally sold locally or redistilled to make brandy.

3. Fermentation. The clarified grape juice is moved to an oak fermentation barrel of 480-500 liters, and 25-30 grams of sulfur dioxide is added per 100 kg of grape juice to kill the miscellaneous bacteria in the grape juice. After 2 hours, the yeast seed solution was inoculated, and the inoculation amount was 5-6%. The main fermentation temperature was kept at 30℃. After about 3 weeks, there was almost no sugar in the grape juice and the fermentation almost stopped. At this time, change barrels immediately, and separate a large number of wine feet deposited under the main fermentation barrel from new wine to avoid the smell of wine feet or hydrogen sulfide.

After changing barrels, there is still a small amount of sugar left in the wine, which can still be fermented in the fermentation barrel, which is called post-fermentation, and can be extended to two or three months.

4. Add brandy and mix. In the first month or the second month, the upper layer sake is transported to the sterilized wooden barrel through siphon. Siphon method can completely separate wine from wine, and each poda (500 kg container) is added with 8~ 10 liter of fine brandy (alcohol concentration is 76~78%). On the one hand, it can improve the alcohol content in wine, on the other hand, it can resist the invasion of miscellaneous bacteria.

5. Change barrels to remove slag. After adding brandy, let it stand and precipitate. In summer, change the barrels to remove slag and add brandy. If it is not clear enough, you can add 2 kg of fresh bovine blood or 65,438+02 egg protein to every 65,438+06 kg of wine and stir. Bentonite is also useful. The usage is to dissolve bentonite in a part of brandy or wine, then pour it into a bucket and let it stand for precipitation.

6. Hot and cold treatment. Siphon sake and treat at 50~60℃ or 58~65℃ for 2~3 months. Then it is moved to the barrel of-10℃ cold storage for cold treatment. Then filtering, deslagging and changing barrels.

7. Storage aging. The treated wine is moved into the barrel of the wine cellar and stored for 2-4 years. During the aging period, the color of the wine gradually deepened, the taste became complex and soft, and the oak aroma leached from the container dissolved in the wine. The oxidation of various substances in wine produces complex compounds of acids and alcohols.

If the wine cellar is a warm and dry place, the wine evaporates more water than the evaporated alcohol, so the alcohol concentration increases slightly; If the wine cellar is in a low temperature and humid place, the change is not big, and sometimes the alcohol concentration will drop slightly.

After the film is formed, the barrel will not be washed, so that microorganisms will always be stored in the barrel, and the wine will have a unique ester flavor. Another special operation process is not to fill the barrel with wine. Locals say it's easy to oxidize and accelerate aging.

8. Mix and bottle. Spain mostly adopts grading blending method. That is, between a series of barrels aged in different years, a certain amount of wine (generally 10~25%) is taken out from the older barrels once or more every year, and then the same amount of wine is taken out from the barrels with shorter aging period to make up, so that a certain amount of aged wine will be bottled and listed every year, and the quality will not change much.

Deep ventilation fermentation method In order to increase production, California adopted deep ventilation fermentation method to produce sherry. That is, after post-fermentation, appropriate amount of brandy was added to liquor to make its alcohol concentration reach about 65438 05%, and then film-forming yeast (especially with strong alcohol tolerance) was inoculated for deep ventilation fermentation. By using this technology, the alcohol content of wine mash can reach 16~20%, and it has the unique flavor of sherry.

Types and styles: Sherry can be divided into two categories: natural wine and high-concentration wine. Manzanillo and Amontillado are the best natural wines, and they are representative high-grade sherry. High concentration sherry will add sugar or alcohol, or both. Some wines are as high as 20-25%. This kind of high-concentration sherry is smaller than wine, and it is mostly used for blending wine or cooking.

Sherry is light yellow or dark brown, and some are amber (such as Amontinado), clear and transparent; It is a world-famous fortified wine with complex and soft taste and rich aroma. Europe and America, especially the British, especially love it.

Sherry has a high alcohol content of 15 ~ 20%. The sugar in wine is artificially added. The sugar content of sweet sherry is as high as 20~25%, and the sugar content of dry sherry is 0. 15g/ 100ml (remaining after fermentation). Total acid is 0.44g/ 100ml.