Classic brandy and sherry - how sweet?

[Edward Bainbridge]

Ignoring my personal preferences for the moment, I wonder how sweet normal everyday brandy and sherry were in better houses, at a time when they were still staples.

Spanish brandy is sweeter than cognac or armagnac, sometimes irritatingly so, but the word brandy doesn't exclude these, and while amontillado is the classic choice for sherry, this could and can as well be a precious bottle of something strongly accented but very dry as it could be a codeword for medium-sweet.

How was it back in the day?

[Simon A]

During the latter phases of the Second World War, Churchill used to receive consignments of Soviet brandy as gifts from Stalin. These were mostly Ararat (from Armenia) and Sarajashvili (from Georgia), and apparently met with hearty approval from Churchill. Both are somewhat sweeter than Cognac or Armagnac, are very fine brandies, and both have a provenance dating from the 19th century.

Australia is an interesting location for fortified wines; in the early days of British settlement, the only wines that would survive the long trip over the equator were Sherries, Ports and Madeiras, and so these styles became popular wines as local viticulture took off in the early 19th Century in the Hunter and Barossa Valleys. Very high tariffs on imports kept European wines out of reach for most of the population until the 1990's, so arguably the local product had a strong link to styles popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The Australian styles of port, sherry, and madeira are powerful and fruity, and are not considered inferior to their European cousins.

[couch]

In the case of sherries and sherry brandies, I believe the answer to your question depends to a large degree on the intended market. The British have of course been bred into the Jerez houses and families for centuries, but in my experience the styles preferred in the two consuming countries, speaking in general terms, have been different. I never had anything but bone dry sherry in Spain (since the late '70s, when I lived there), except a pure Pedro Ximenez dessert wine, and that infrequently. The summer drink was always fino or manzanilla, in cooler weather or with certain tapas dry amontillado, oloroso, or especially palo cortado, but none were blended with PX or moscatel to make sweeter styles (abocado, amoroso) or dulce (made from sun-dried Palomino grapes) or blended with arrope or vino de color to deepen the natural aged color. I'm sure some Spaniards enjoyed these styles, but they were not the styles most generally prized or most often served. In fact the wine used for blending into the sweeter styles has often been considered lesser wine, just as is true of the component spirits in much blended scotch.

It may be that prior to the mid-twentieth century more Spaniards enjoyed sweeter styles; I don't know. But my impression is that the British climate naturally, and the marketing success of Harvey's with Bristol Cream artificially, has made the UK and other cooler export markets more partial to the wines characterized as rich and creamy. The added sugar gives them heavier body and a comforting warmth. I've noticed in my regular visits to the UK that the drier styles seem to have gained ground in popular esteem in recent years. I don't know whether this is an effect of climate change, a result of easy travel to the continent and thus a perfusion of the Spanish taste into the British, or what.

The better sweetened sherries are returned to the solera after blending to allow the flavors to integrate, so one would expect those solera casks to absorb some sugar. I don't know whether those casks or ones from unsweetened soleras are used for the great old sherry brandies; perhaps it's a deliberate mix that varies with the producer. Perhaps slewfoot or one of our other members can shed more light. The same question could be asked of the sherry casks used to age single malts and now other spirits, a practice initiated I believe by the Macallan some years ago. Could any of the mellowness be the result of small amounts of residual sugar, and not merely the decades of wine and flor passing through the casks?

[Edward Bainbridge]

Both answers interesting, and make a lot of sense.