Full Answer
What is Apera wine?
Apera is the term used in Australia for Australian wines made like Sherry, in a solera and usually from palomino grapes. Australian vintners use the term out of respect for true Sherry which comes from the Jerez region of Spain. That said, Australian apera wines are delicious in their own right.
Is Apera the same as Sherry?
Your inquiry was submitted successfully and our wine experts will get in touch with you soon. Thank you for contacting us. Earlier known as Australian Sherry, Apera is a fortified wine, named so as a result of an agreement that made Sherry a reserved term for wines produced in the Jerez town of Spain.
What are the different styles of fortified wine?
Other styles you also see include White Fortifieds which may be sweet or dry, Pink Fortifieds and even Liqueur Styles. Now onto “sherry” styles which are now known in Australia as Apera. These wines can be dry, medium dry, medium sweet or sweet/cream.
Where does fortified wine come from?
Fortified wines can be made anywhere, but they're often categorized and regulated based on their specific region of origin. For example, much like true Champagne can only come from that region in France (everything else is simply sparkling wine), only fortified wine produced in the designated region of Jerez, Spain, can be called sherry.
Why is fortified wine used in wine making?
Before modern refrigeration, fortified wine was produced in an attempt to prevent wine spoilage by increasing its alcohol content ( 1 ). ). Distilled spirits like brandy are added at varying times during the fermentation process, which boosts the alcohol content and alters the flavor of the final product.
What is the best fortified wine?
Here are the most common types of fortified wine: 1 Port wine. This type originates in Portugal but is now produced worldwide. Brandy is added to the wine before it has finished fermenting, resulting in a sweeter flavor. 2 Sherry. Sherry is available in several varieties based on the type of grapes used. Though it’s traditionally dry, it’s sometimes sweetened and served as a dessert wine. 3 Madeira. Originating in the Portuguese Madeira Islands, this type is heated and oxidized by exposing it to air. Brandy is added at different times during fermentation, causing variations in flavors. 4 Marsala. Marsala is a common cooking wine that’s fortified after fermentation, giving it a distinct dry flavor. It’s also sometimes sweetened, making it a great addition to dessert recipes. 5 Vermouth. Available both dry and sweet, vermouth is a fortified white wine that’s often flavored with herbs and spices like cloves and cinnamon. It’s also used to make cocktails like martinis, Manhattans, and Negronis.
How is fortified wine made?
Summary. Fortified wine is produced by adding distilled spirits to wine during or after fermentation. It’s available in both dry and sweet varieties, often served before or after meals or used in cooking.
Why is brandy added to wine?
Distilled spirits like brandy are added at varying times during the fermentation process, which boosts the alcohol content and alters the flavor of the final product. If the spirits are added before the fermentation process is complete, the fortified wine acquires a sweeter taste.
What is vermouth used for?
It’s also used to make cocktails like martinis, Manhattans, and Negronis. Many types of fortified wine are available, each varying based on their unique flavor and production method.
How much alcohol is in fortified wine?
Fortified wine has a much higher alcohol content than regular varieties. Due to the addition of distilled spirits, such as brandy, fortified wines can contain 17–20% alcohol, compared with 10–15% for traditional wine.
How many ounces of wine is a serving?
The serving size can vary based on the wine type and alcohol content, but one serving of fortified wine is usually about 3 ounces (88 ml).
How long is Nutty wine aged?
Nutty starts out as a pale dry apera and then the wine is removed from the flor and aged in oak. Using a modified solera system, the wine is aged for 23 years - a lifetime - intensifying its nuttiness and complexity and smooth drinkability. Pink is a pretty, deep vermillion colour with no flor involved.
What is an apera bar?
To enhance the aperitif message, the Pfeiffers have developed what they call an ''apera bar'', which is a slim wooden platform about 25 centimetres long with three holes to carry three large shot glasses. The straight-sided glasses are very Spain, very Spanish tapas bar, which, funnily enough, is what was intended.
What is the name of the wine that is aperitif?
Last month the new name was officially launched: apera. It's not so much a word as a jumble of letters, and it's hard to get your mind and tongue around until you realise the reasoning behind it. Apera is a play on aperitif, or that's the idea, and the wine formerly known as sherry makes for a wonderful aperitif, so there is real synergy there.
What is pink liqueur?
Pink is a pretty, deep vermillion colour with no flor involved. It's a fortified liqueur style, a study in the balance between fruit, alcohol and sweetness, with cherries and soft aromatics from grapes that include shiraz and gewurztraminer.
What college was Flor yeast?
There were many failures (the flor yeast is a mercurial thing) until Roseworthy College, Australia's then premier training college, stepped in and pursued the quest with some serious research. By the 1940s and '50s, the style was at the forefront of huge consumer demand for fortifieds.
When did sherry wine start?
New as it appears, there is a long history of the wine formerly known as sherry in this country. In 1909 , Francois de Castella, the state viticulturist for Victoria, attempted to introduce cultures of flor yeast - the special yeast that grows on the surface of a wine and gives a wine such as fino or amontillado sherry its distinctive nutty character - from Spain. He failed.
When did Australian sherry die?
AUSTRALIAN sherry is dead. It died on September 1, 2010, when our winemakers acknowledged the injustice done to a great Spanish wine by their seconding of a name that was not theirs to use. They gave the name back to Spain. That, of course, was the right thing to do, but it created a major setback for the wine left behind.
How old is Mr Pickwick Port?
Another of the Barossa’s superb tawny ports, Saltram’s classic Mr Pickwick Port has an average age of over 25 years with a pale amber-brown colour to match. The wine has a complex developed, rancio nose whose freshness and lift belie its age.
What is the Campbells Merchant Prince Muscat?
The sister wine to the Isabella, the Merchant Prince is the frontignan-based expression of Campbells’ premium aged fortified material. Rounder and fleshier than the fortifieds of Morris and Baileys, this is nevertheless one of the reasons why Rutherglen is synonymous with classic aged muscat.
What is Rosewood wine?
Chambers’ Rosewood winery is an unforgettably rustic and ramshackle arrangement best suited to the making and maturation of classic old fortifieds, of which the best are labelled ‘Special Liqueur’. This is an ancient blend with components that date back several generations, into the last century. Its intensity and persistence of incredibly raisined, concentrated fruit stand this apart as a great muscat of rare individuality.
What is DP 116?
Based on the DP 117, DP 116 is given additional maturation to achieve its heady bouquet of rich fruit, old oak and flor yeast character. Old for an amontillado, its flavours nevertheless remain intense and rich. Like the DP 117, it’s been given a snappy new suit to wear.
Where are McWilliams wines made?
McWilliams have never been given due credit for the quality and consistency of their premium fortifieds, although it’s well known in wine industry circles that many of their wines, grown and made in Griffith, give the Rutherglen boys a good run for their money on the wine show circuit.
Who succeeded Mick Morris?
For sheer consistency, great age, richness and almost insuperable drinkability, the nod for the best goes to one of wine’s true gentlemen, Mick Morris, now succeeded by son David. May they both live forever; like their wines appear to have done.
Is DP 90s wine true?
The DP 90’ s show pedigre e is almost too fanciful to be true; it is the country’s most awarded wine. As for drinkability, it is lighter in colour than most, concentrated, developed not surprisingly, given its average age of 21 years and incredibly long and clean. A national treasure.
