6

The method to produce Sherry and the respective Brandies, called Solera, uses several layers of barrels (frequently four layers). From the lowest layer they take the annual amount they want to sell and refill from the respective layer above. The layer on top is refilled with the newest production. So every Sherry and Brandy produced in this way contains at least (four?) year old wine or spirits, but also much older components of the first year of production, which means that you may expect a drop of first production year in each bottle. ;)

This is why you will not find a year of grape harvest on the bottle labels.

However, except those mentioned in Wikipedia I do not know any other winery or distillery working in that way. I know some that blend (mix) different products at the end of production, but that is not the same.

Improve this question
2
  • I think you should rename this question to "are there any other wines/spirits in the world the Solera system
    – farmersteve
    May 3, 2018 at 17:11
  • Wording is not that important as long as everybody understands. The term "Sherry" of course is reserved for a specific regional product from Jerez de la Fonterra. As Sherry was first, is based on this specific method and best known with its production method talking about "Sherry production method" should not be misunderstood.
    – Salt
    May 4, 2018 at 11:03

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

One wine comes to mind and that is the Apera wine produced in Australia. If you do a google search on apera and solera you will find numerous hits of wineries in Australia and Canada making something that is Sherry-like. Sherry is now a protected name place like Champagne, Chianti and Burgundy and can only be used in Spain of wines produced in the Jerez-Xeres-Sherry DO province of Cádiz in the region of Andalusia. Everything else produced in a sherry-like manner has to be called something else. Many have settled on the Apera (a play on Aperitif) name. See the "Protection of Sherry" in the Sherry Wikipedia.

There are several other wines produced in the world using the Solera system and these include spanish Brandy, Marsala, Mavrodafni, Glenfiddich whisky, some Champagne, awamori in Japan and is well covered in your link in Wikipedia

Improve this answer
1
  • Did some additional research and found that the "solera" method seems to be more common than I thought. There exists even a cachaça produced with that method. Will continue searching for more
    – Salt
    May 4, 2018 at 8:10

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.