The Booklovers' Guide to Wine

The intense sweetness is the result of the grapes being affected by Botrytis cinerea, a fungus commonly known as noble rot. In the autumn, the Ciron River produces an evening mist that descends upon the area and persists until after dawn. These conditions are conducive to the growth of the fungus, which desiccates the grape and concentrates the internal sugars. Harvesters pick individual grapes at dawn, when there is enough light to see but before the sun begins to warm the vines. This labor-intensive process is one of the reasons that the Sauternes and Barsac wines are so expensive. In July 2012, for example, an 1811 bottle of Château d’Yquem sold for £75,000 ($115,000). This is one of the reasons that Sauternes and Barsac wines are often sold in 375 ml half-bottles.

So a delicate Dover Sole, for example, would go well with a Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio, but not with a Chardonnay; while a hearty steak-and-kidney pie would complement a Malbec but probably overwhelm a Beaujolais. However, the Beaujolais would go well with a light lunch, such as cold ham, charcuterie, and salad, while the Chardonnay would be the perfect match for a rich chicken in cream sauce. As noted elsewhere, when in doubt, Champagne goes well with everything.

When selecting wine for a meal, the very first and most important step is to decide whether your food is going to be delicate and mild tasting or hearty and flavorful. Is it going to be fatty or lean? Will it be rich, buttery, and creamy, or will it be thin, sharp, and acidic? The wine and the food must balance each other, so that a hearty dish will match a hearty wine, while a mild-flavored food will require a delicate wine. What is important is that neither the wine nor the food should overwhelm the other.

the very first and most important step is to

Marsala: The town of Marsala in Sicily had long produced a popular white table wine which an English visitor in 1773 decided would be greatly improved by fortifying with extra alcohol, so that it would survive the long sea voyage to England. The wine is aged using the in perpetuum method, similar to the solera process already in use to make Sherry. Marsala can be either sweet or dry, and ranges in color from amber, golden, or ruby. The alcohol content is usually between 15-20 percent.

Madeira: Madeira is a fortified wine made from the Malvasia grape in the Madeira Islands off the west coast of Africa, where European sailors would stop and load up with provisions on their way across the Atlantic or south to The Cape. In both instances, the local wine, fortified with rum or brandy, was not only able to weather the long ocean-crossing but actually improved with the heat of the sun and the rolling of the ship.

Port: Like Sherry, Port is a fortified wine developed for and largely controlled by the English market, even today. It is made from the Touriga National grapes, which are grown in the remote reaches of the River Douro after it crosses the border from Spain. Because of the steep slopes of the vineyards, the grapes are harvested by hand and pressed with human feet in order to thoroughly macerate the grape skins in the juice, thus imparting the dark color to the wine. Fermentation is interrupted by the addition of aguardiente (brandy) before all the sugar is converted, which means that the wine is high in both alcohol and residual sugar.

After fermentation and the fortification with brandy, the Sherry is aged using the solera system in which the barrels of aging wine are stored in a pyramid style with the oldest on the bottom and newest barrels on top. Wine to be bottled is drawn from one third of the oldest, bottom barrels, which are then topped-up with wine from the layer above and so on, until there is space in the top layer of barrels for the new wine to be added. Consequently, over the years and decades, the wines of various vintages are blended together, which is why a bottle of Sherry never has a vintage year on the label. In some cases, some of the content of the bottle could be more than a hundred years old.

The four most common styles of Sherry are:
Fino: This is the palest and driest. Alcohol 15-17. Sugar grams per liter: 0 – 5
Amontillado: Slightly darker than Fino. Alcohol 16-17%. Sugar g/l: 0 – 5
Oloroso: Darker, fuller bodied slightly oxidized. Alcohol 17-22%. Sugar g/l: 0 – 5
Pedro Ximénez: Dark, full-bodied and very sweet. Alcohol 15-22%. Sugar g/l: 212+

The wine is fermented to about 11 percent alcohol, and then blended with brandy to bring it to 15 percent or higher.