November was another busy month for Sherry in Greater China, with seminars in Hong Kong and Shanghai and other related activities. I am very pleased that two Sherry lovers, Shanghai writer and artist Mian Hua and well-known Taiwan wine writer Lin Yu-Shen will both serve Sherry at their events. With more importers importing a greater range of Sherries and consumers starting to learn of the beauty of Sherry, the future of Sherry in Greater China is indeed bright. Don't forget to visit on Sherry website at www.sherry.tw. If you or your company has any questions concerning Sherry we here to help you. Finally, as the weather turns cold, I suggest everyone warms themselves with a beautiful glass of Sherry! Its one of the best ways to make the winter more fun and stylish.

Sherry wines, which capture all the sunshine of Spain inside its bottles, remain an acquaintance to local Taiwanese. As a professional winery magazine, I have to say that this unfamiliarity is a loss for the Taiwanese wine consumers.

After years of experience in writing wine reviews, I have tasted thousands of wines from all over the world. Yet, I have never seen any type of wine that resembles the Sherry, with a wide spectrum in color and taste, ranging from a light golden to a dark brown and from dry to very sweet.

Though hard to imagine, the small region as Jerez is able to produce such a varied, distinctive, and symbolic taste of Spain. It is too bad that Taiwanese consumers have long considered Sherry to be a "simple and sweetened fortified wine", which is a major misunderstanding. In fact, Sherry wines can be traced an ancient history and have been profoundly studied. Without avid attempts to get to know the Sherry, you will never see its many splendid facets. As you dig deeper through more intimate contacts, Sherry wines will surely bring more excitement to your wine tasting adventures.

Tasting a wine is not simply a question of drinking it: it needs to be analyzed by using all our senses. We need to be aware of the sensations we perceive, to their evolution and consistency, and then try to describe, interpret, and remember them. Sight, smell, touch, taste, and some would even say hearing, are all employed in our appreciation of Sherry, a type of wine which is almost unique in terms of its extraordinary range of organoleptic qualities, qualities which we will try to describe below.

Fino is a wine with a brilliant color ranging from straw yellow to pale gold; it has sharp and delicate aromas, with slight almond touches and hints of fresh bread and country herbs. It is very dry, delicate, and light to the palate. Its aftertaste picks up the almond touches to leave a pleasant sense of freshness. In the aroma of Manzanilla we also find hints of flowers recalling camomile, almond touches, and baking aromas.

Amontillado is a wine with an elegant color ranging from topaz to amber. It has a subtle and delicate aroma with an ethereal base softened by hazelnut and plant aromas recalling aromatic herbs and black tobacco. It enters the mouth smoothly and is of balanced acidity; its development is complex and suggestive, emphasizing a dry finale and a prolonged aftertaste in which hints of dried fruit and wined wood return. The darker the color of the Oloroso, which ranges from amber to mahogany, the longer it has been aged. Its aromas are warm and complete and also complex and powerful, with pronounced touches of nuts such as walnut, and toasted plant, and balsamic hints that recall fine wood, Virginia tobacco, and dead leaves. Spicy and animal notes that recall truffles and leather can also be appreciated. In the mouth this is a tasty and very structured wine, potent, complete, and full-bodied. Its glycerin content means that is mild to the palate. It lingers in the mouth with its complex and powerful nose. Touches of fine wood stand out to give an elegant dry finale.

Medium sherry (from amber to dark chestnut color) gives strong aromas with touches characteristic of Amontillado and slightly sweet hints such as those of pastries, quince jelly, and roast apples. In the mouth it has a somewhat dry entrance that gradually becomes sweet to end up as a vaporous mild aftertaste.

Cream sherry, which ranges from chestnut to dark mahogany in color and is oily in appearance, has the marked nose of the Oloroso, but combines sweet touches like those of dried and toasted fruits such as nougat and caramel. In the mouth it is inviting with a velvety texture and a balanced sweetness, with a seductive and elegant passage and a long aftertaste in which the sense of sweetness is combined with the typical touches of Oloroso.

Pedro Ximénez is a wine with a more or less intense ebony color, wide tears of wine, and a visual sensation of great density. To the nose it offers extremely rich aromas, with a predominance of the sweet touches of dried fruits such as raisins, figs, and dates, accompanied by aromas of honey and crystallized fruits, with toasted hints (coffee, bitter chocolate, and cocoa) and liquorice becoming more pronounced with the ageing process. In the mouth it is velvety and oily, with an acidity that mitigates its extreme sweetness and the warmth of the alcohol, and a very long and tasty finale. The other Naturally Sweet Wine from the Jerez Wine Producing Area, Moscatel, offers to the nose the varied touches of the muscatel grape, but floral aromas of jasmine, orange blossom, and honeysuckle can also be appreciated, together with hints of lime and grapefruit touches.

The Sherry Wine Association (SWA) has never had a hard time promoting its wines in Taiwan and Shanghai. Every year, SWA invites V.I.P. representatives from the Jerez region to introduce the distinctive qualities and ancient history of Sherry wines to others in the same field, as well as Sherry wine fans. At the same time, they are able to experience the charm through actual tasting. This year, Director of Sherry Wines Promotion, Mr. Jorge Angell, played an important role in attending as the spokesperson for the Sherry wine. Apart from organizing wine tastings and in-house trainings in Taiwan and Shanghai, SWA also held likewise promotions covering Hong Kong, making sure that the extraordinary taste of the Sherry wine was introduced to the vital wine market of Asia. The debut of different facets of Sherry wines, from dry to sweet, have all made eminent ripples and established high popularity among importers. Therefore, it is certain that in the near future, Sherry wine aficionados in Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong will have a more satisfactory selection.

• Region: Jerez-Xeres-Sherry DO, Spain
• Variety: 100% Pedro Ximenez
• Alcohol: 17%
• Comment: Dark, mahogany wine, which has a bouquet of raisins and molasses, It is smooth and sweet in the mouth, with a pleasant and lasting finish. This wine is one of the complex examples of the style of Sherry.
• Serving & Food Pairing: Serve at 12-16˚C; match with blue cheese, but also a perfect matching with any kinds of dessert, cakes or chocolate for example, or an gratifying performance to served over vanilla ice cream.
• Aging Method: Criaderas y Solera System

• Region: Jerez-Xeres-Sherry DO, Spain
• Variety: 100% Palomino
• Alcohol: 19.5%
• Comment: This mahogany wine has marine, salted and smoked fish aromas, nuts and bitter almonds nose, and extremely dry and salty taste, with a long and complex finish.
• Serving & Food Pairing: Serve at 12-14˚C; this Amontillado with it’s sharp characteristics is a wine which matches with dishes of strong contrasts, such as pickles, smoked fish, as well as spicy oriental cuisine like Thai or Sichuan Style dishes.
• Aging Method: Criaderas y Solera System

Ingredients：

1. For the "pate de foie-gras" clean all the duck liver, remove the veins and those parts that has blood. Add some salt to the liver and some black pepper and then make a roll with plastic wrap taking care of being well closed to avoid open during the cooking time. Cook on 75ºC hot water for 20 minutes. Then put inside the chiller until it´s cold.
2. For the sucking-pig, cook the pig ribs with some salt inside a vacuum bag until the meat is tender with steam.
3. Debone the sucking-pig ribs and extend the meat. Then put the "pate de foie-gras" inside the meat and prepare a roll. Keep on the chiller until it is cold. Wrap with culinary lane to avoid open during the cooking and put inside the oven 200℃ until it’s crispy outside.
4. For the Sherry wine consomme, use the bones we have from the rib to roast it until they get a golden color, then add the Sherry and reduce to half, then cover with 1L of water and reduce it until we obtain 50ml of consomme.
5. For the potato cream boil the potatoes until it is soft, then blend with the cream and the olive oil to obtain a cream. Add some salt and black pepper.
6. For the parsley salt, put inside the blender the parsley and the sea salt and blend it maximum speed until the salt becomes green. Dry with a napkin before use to avoid grumes of salt.
7. Put meet rolls done in instruction 3 in plate, pull Sherry wine consomme and potato cream in turn, then sprinkle parsley salt and serve the cuisine.

★ This recipe is supplied by El Toro Spanish Restaurant.