I included a link to this exchange a couple of weeks ago as part of a general post on writings about Terroir and the wines of Jerez and Sanlucar but having had time to read it in full I really think it deserves a post to itself. (In fact it deserves to be widely read in full, but all I can do is encourage etc.).

The original post sets out a conversation reflecting on the probable causes of the minerality that many perceive in manzanillas between Fernando Angulo (of Champagne Sherry and Alba Viticultores) and Alvaro Giron Sierra (well known to readers of this blog and the source for the link).

The conversation was from 2010 but was posted in December 2013. In it, Fernando Angulo sets the ball rolling attributing the minerality of the manzanillas to the observable characteristics of the terroir (in both senses – land and bodega), the sea air and mineral soils, themselves the relic of the jurassic past, and their impact on the vine, the fruit and, even more importantly, the flor. In response, Alvaro Giron points out the lack of scientific evidence and the conventional theory that the perception of salinity is a result of the flor having consumed the glycerine from the wine, leaving the mineral element “naked” to the tastebuds, and warns against the difficulty of comparing given the use of palominos from jerez in the production of manzanilla.

What follows, however, is an absolutely enthralling below the line debate between the two authors, Willy Perez and Ramiro Ibañez which ranges far wider than the title suggests. The debate takes place over 5 days and 23 hours, and the exchanges are of a very high quality indeed – well reasoned and dense with facts and technical detail – and when you look at the times of the posts, you can see that the guys were consumed by it for a few days there (some of the posts are comfortably past midnight). There are 43 comments in total over 30+ pages and even if you look just at the more substantive entries there are no fewer than 21 – four by Fernando Angulo, eight by Alvaro Giron, five by Willy Perez and four by Ramiro Ibañez.

You quite literally get everything you could ask for, including (from memory and not necesarrily in order):

• Descriptions of the chemistry and its effects on perceptions of flavour
• Changes in the structure of the industry in Sanlucar through history
• The former use of blends of fruit grown on albariza and clay (clay and sandy clay)
• The tactile sensations produced by the wines
• The topography and geology of the region, characteristics of different pagos, relevance of altitude
• Impact of the disappearance of the “navazos”(the coastal gardens and meadows, not the winemakers who have taken that name)
• Strains of palomino
• The average ages of the vines
• Fermentation in bota vs inox
• Fermentation in lagares vs bodegas
• Relevance of foliage and pruning
• The historic relevance of and views regarding fortification
• Willy Perez’s 16.3º mosto and unfortified fino
• Relevance of the “aserpio”
• The relative merits of terroir, fruit, solera and maker
• Strains of flor and their effects on biological ageing
• The impact of the acetaldehides for the flavour and aroma profiles of the wines
• Comparisons with burgundy and other regions, particularly the great manzanillas of the 50s
• Biodynamics
• The harikiri of the progressive loss of genetic stock
• The experience of the champagne region
• The wisdom of el Bolli, el “Seneca de la viña”

It makes for a fascinating and entertaining read, largely due to the different perspective that each of the authors brings: Alvaro Giron’s knowledge of the region’s history and his inquisitive, scientific approach; Fernando Angulo’s interest in comparison with wines from regions worldwide; and Willy Perez and Ramiro Ibañez from the point of view of winemakers with a common enthusiasm but some intriguingly different perspectives.

For this reader, the absolute highlights are the posts by the winemakers: the technical knowledge and passion that shines in those posts is brilliant, and in their interventions you can see some of the thinking behind some of the most exciting projects going on in Jerez and Sanlucar today. (It is also frankly encouraging to see how much thought is involved.)

Really one of the best collections of thoughts I have read to date and one I can see myself re-reading many times.

A really nice piece by Andrew Jefford on the Decanter site in relation to this subject which is so very close to my heart, and especially, the “region’s youngsters” (including you know who, but also the guys at Alba).

In fact I thought this would be a good moment to compile some of the recent writings I have seen on this topic (by no means comprehensive I am sure, but if you want comprehensive this is not the blog for you).

• The first piece I was aware of was Paz Ivison’s En busca del … ¿Jerez Perdido? in elmundovino back in 2014  (preblog – translated by Sherrynotes), and she wrote a second fantastic column El pago se demuestra vinificando in June 2015.
• In March 2015 Alvaro Giron reminded everyone of the possibilities in probably the best post I have read to date – Una historia probable de los jereces secos: del azar a la necesidad.
• In August Ruben Luyten at Sherrynotes referenced the reawakened interest in an excellent post called Pagos, or terroir in sherry
• In October there was a brilliant write up in Spanish Wine Lover of Ramiro Ibañez in particular.
• Then in January this year there was a major breakthrough thanks to an absolutely seminal, breathtakingly insightful work on the Sherry.wine site called What’s new in Jerez and Sanlucar.
• In February this year the Guia Penin joined in with la Revolucion Silenciosa de Jerez (silent in the sense that the bear was silent in the woods).
• Then the great Victor de la Serna penned a piece Asi renace Jerez y Montilla
• And now this by Mr Jefford.

In the meantime, two of the “region’s youngsters” have themselves started to write down the history of not just the terroir but also the vintages. Part I of their book (in Spanish) is required reading.

But the interest in this subject is not at all recent and within minutes of posting the above list I have been given the following reading assignments (thanks again Alvaro):

• ¿Terruño en Jerez?  by Alvaro Giron Sierra in Elmundovino in February 2009 and the ensuing debate
• Terruño Jerezano, Testaruda Realidad by Jesus Barquin, again in Elmundovino (and apparently just one of many contributions through the years on said essential website), in August 2009
• Terroir in two senses and none by Jesus Barquin (although the article doesn’t seem to be available – if anyone does have a lead on it let me know)
• This piece The notion of Terroir and noble wines on the Jerez-Xeres-Sherry blog summarizes and translates the contribution of Victor de la Serna in a symposium before the AIV in June 2012
• Brooklynwineguy made a nice post about a dinner organized by the great Peter Liem back in July 2012
• And a cracking post and ensuing debate in 2013 Salinidad en las Manzanillas by Giron, Angulo and Perez – will report back next week when I have finished reading it!

Most importantly though, this message is clearly getting across – anecdotally one of the Sherry Women was telling me about a fantastic tasting of sherries lead by Juanjo Asencho focussing on terroirs late last year – and let us hope that the trend continues.

Spanishwinelover.com really do an excellent job and their coverage of the aforementioned manifesto is no exception. I think the manifesto is an incredibly important, and positive, development and I could not agree more with the aims expressed (you can see some of my own musings on uniqueness in jerez here and here).

Given its importance I take the liberty of reproducing the translation of the manifesto itself below but I recommend you look at the Spanishwinelover post to see the background, signatories and other details.

Spain boasts the richest biodiversity and the most varied landscapes in Europe but it also faces the greatest challenges in terms of environmental awareness and conservation. The world of wine is no exception.

The Spanish wine appellation system has proved effective in protecting geographical names and origin, but it has been oblivious to soil differentiation and levels of quality. Efforts have been aimed at turning our vineyards into the world’s biggest, not the best.

However, we have the history, the places and also the passion needed to make the most out of our exceptional crus and vineyards.

Deep changes are needed to boost our wine heritage and bring a sense of self-worth onto Spanish wine. It must be a global change for everyone involved, from producers to the authorities.

All the great wines in the world come from exceptional vineyards. That’s why the most revered wine regions have passed laws to defend and protect those unique sites.

We firmly believe that the best way to identify wines based on their origin, quality, identity and authenticity is by means of a pyramid-like structure. Wines made anywhere in the region would be at the base; village wines would be a step above while single-vineyard wines would be at the very top.

All producers will benefit from such a structure. Only by raising the bar and demanding ourselves more, will we be able to improve quality and explain Spain’s wine reality more accurately. It will also help to sell all kinds of wine better.

Therefore, we call upon the Regulatory Boards to be sensitive to the new wine reality that is emerging all over Spain and to approach a classification of the land in terms of quality. We are certain that establishing such distinctions is the first step towards excellence. Beyond emerging as an unstoppable trend, terroir wines are the best way to improve the quality of Spanish wines and achieve international recognition.

I really have never understood the resistance to going down this kind of path – surely the “volume” producers also benefit from the increased profile of their regions? In any event, bravo to all involved, I wish them good luck and I truly hope something can be done.

This blog post by Alvaro Giron Sierra on the Vila Viniteca blog is probably the most interesting that I have ever read in relation to the wines of Jerez. It is a real piece of scholarship, littered with contemporary evidence and even historic photographs, is mercifully free from the blarney and anecdote that plagues most writing about Jerez, offers some superb insights about the history of the wines and wine making in the region and finishes with a shrewd suggestion of what must be the way forward for the future.

The central theme is that it is a great error to project onto the past: the wines made in Jerez were not, in the past, the wines we know today. He makes a great counterpoint with the most fashionable debate in modern times – about whether palo cortados are “made” or “born” (“se hace o se nace”). As the author points out, in fact for most of history almost all wines in Jerez were “born”: it is only in recent times that wine makers in Jerez have had the knowledge and technology needed to “predictively” make the wines they intended, rather than reacting to and managing the evolution of wines that refused to be governed. (This is in fact something I find fascinating in relation to a lot of wine regions that have been famous for centuries: the evolution or even the wholesale revolution in the wines made there.)

There are some superb insights in the piece: the historic existence of numerous grape varieties with different strengths and characters; the huge variations in the wines fermented in “botas” and the massive resulting wine-making possibilities; the importance of the solera as a means of averaging not just vertically but horizontally; the ignorance until relatively recently of the crucial importance of the flor; and maybe most importantly for the future, the differences in quality attributable to the soil and demonstrated by single vineyard wines. There are many more, but I don’t intend to repeat them all – you should really read the piece itself.

It is a fascinating read and the conclusions the author makes sound absolutely right to me. A single grape, the solera process, a rudimentary classification and scant attention to terroir may have been an excellent way of making a very good wine sold by the barrel in the 19^th Century, but Jerez today needs to seek to make possible the unique, outstanding wines being produced in other wine making regions. It is revolutionary – superficially a call to care less for tradition and more for the pursuit of excellence – but on closer examination it is a call to respect the traditions that made singular wines possible in the pre-industrial age, to cast off the limitations assumed and look again at all the possibilities.

The revolution may have already begun: the author himself is at the forefront of a project – Equipo Navazos – that is arguably leading the charge, having evolved from pickers of forgotten, prize botas to makers of interesting, singular wines, but they are far from being alone. Excellent, singular wines are being made and all we can do is seek them out, ask for them, buy them, try them and, if we like them, praise them. I fully intend to do my part at least.