Old drinks in new editions

Press, 20 November 1982, Page 16

Old drinks in new editions

Sherry. By Julian Jeffs. Faber, 1982 (Third Edition). 314 pp. Appendices. $13.50 (paperback). Port. By George Robertson. Faber, 1982 (revised edition). 188 pp. Appendices. $11.95 (paperback).

(Reviewed by Graham and Ruth Zanker)

Jeffs is the general editor of Faber’s distinguished series of low-priced books on port, sherry, Bordeaux and Burgundy. He sets a cracking pace for the rest of the series in his “Sherry.” This classic winebook, a third edition of which is welcome in view of recent developments in the sherry industry, is a masterpiece among works on wine for the way it combines formidable authoritativeness with a crisp and entertaining sense of humour. The first section is an informative history of the wine and great shippers of the sherry-producing zone around Jerez in Andalusia. Jeffs is naturally most concerned to follow the fortunes of the English shippers who have been present in Jerez since the Middle Ages. The approach is both historically justified and in itself fascinating, for . the English shippers had to survive in Spain through difficult periods such as the Spanish wars with England (Andalusian mothers still invoke Drake, “el Draque,” as a bogey for their children). In the second section, on the sherry vines and vineyards, the layman finds himself happily reading through quite technical detail. Jeffs’ secret is his clearheadedness and mastery of the droll, digressive anecdote. The third section deals with the treatment of sherry from its infancy till its final blending, describing the “flor” of the fino sherry, the solera system of maturing the wine, and different types of sherry. A final chapter has many excellent suggestions for the serving and consumption of sherry. Much here will seem revolutionary to the Antipodean: the decanter is jettisoned as irrelevant and possibly harmful, the wine should not be drunk in "sherry glasses” but in “tulips,” it should be drunk with meals, not as a mere aperitif, and in quantities larger than those to which we have relegated it nowadays. Robertson does not write as elegantly as Jeffs, but manages the same successful combination of personal anecdote and a profound technical and historical knowledge of the trade. He has spent his working life with the distinguished port ■shippers, Croft. The history of port, like that of sherry,, has startling English

connections, and English shippers still meet to taste at the sixteenth-century “Factory House” in Oporto. Few wines can be grown in such cruel country. The upper regions in Portugal are mountainous, arid, freezing in winter and a furnace in summer, and yet here, on tiny man-made terraces, some 40 different grape varieties are grown. (In high-quality ports it is common for up to 14 types of grape to be blended, usually from different vintages, and skilful blending is at a premium.) Robertson discusses the history and geography of this remarkable area, and the viticulture and vintages of its wine. A clearer map and an index defining terms would have prevented initial confusion in what is plainly a complex subject. The final chapter explodes a few myths: for example, most ports require no ; decanting, nor do they need special treatment or storage as they remain in the cask until shipped, vintage-bottled

port constituting a mere 2 per cent of all trade; port should not be looked upon solelv as an after-dinner drink, but as an aperitif: the hoary old charge that port leads to gout is refuted with fitting firmness. The spirit and style of both books are. perhaps, best conveyed by this comment of Jeffs’ on sherry: "When a Jerezano opens a bottle of sherry, he throws a little on the floor before filling his glass. There is a good reason for this, as it gets rid of the wine .that might have been corrupted by contact with the cork. But it is also a ritual — a sacrifice to the earth that gave the wine its being. Then he does the really important thing: he drinks the rest of the bottle. But he bears in mind the rule of St Gildas, the Wise: ‘lf any monk through drinking too freely gets thick of speech so that he cannot join in the psalmody, he is to be deprived of his supper’."