 Hello, Mr. Cortado. Sherry, it's not just for cooking, our old ladies. They're really complex wines. We're gonna learn more in this video. Hello, hello, hello! Welcome back to Exotic Wine Travel. I am your host, Matthew Horky. Welcome back to the show. We're gonna talk about Sherry today, a style of wine that is confusing, confounding, kind of misunderstood. A lot of people, when they think of Sherry, they think of just cooking something to cook with, or old grannies sipping it on the porch, or that it's just sweet. But no, there's a lot of Sherry out there that's complex, thought-provoking. Sherry is actually just an English play on the name Hereth. That's the name of the town. I guess it was difficult for the British to pronounce, so it just became Sherry. Sherry's a fascinating wine region. Lots of history. The Phoenicians are believed to have introduced viticulture to the very southwest corner of Spain, right near the Straits of Gibraltar. Really interesting wines. Because it's so hot and dry here, they had to adapt and learn how to make a certain special type of wine. A majority of Sherry production is actually dry. And today we're gonna talk about one of those complex dry Sherries, one of the mysterious Palo Cortado. These wines are dry, they're fortified, they're a little bit heftier, they're a little bit bigger in alcohol. So there's something to really sip on and contemplate. Palo Cortado is the rarest type of Sherry. I think around 2 to 3% of all Sherry produced every year, bottled is actually Palo Cortado. So first, to understand Sherry, which is a complex subject in itself, you gotta understand the styles of Sherry. On one side, you have the ones aged under the floor, or under a layer of yeast. Those are biologically aged Sherries, and then ones that are aged oxidatively. So on one side, you have your Finos and your Manzanillas. Those are aged under a thin film of yeast called the floor. And within those styles, you have other classifications, other ages going down to Amontillado. On a side note, I love wines that are aged under the floor. When you drink Sherry-style wines or other wines that are aged under the floor, I feel like it's kind of what people may have been drinking 2,000, 3,000 years ago in this part of the world. On the right side, you have Oloroso. These are darker wines that are aged without the floor. And for the most part, these are dry until you get down to the bottom where you get some cream Sherries. Those are sweet Sherries. In between the style, you have what we have here, Palo Cortado. For the longest time, I thought it was named after a person. But Palo Cortado is not named after a person. It means cross stick in Spanish. And let me explain. Palo Cortado are barrels of wine that originally are meant for biological aging, like Finos and Montillados. But after a year, the wine makers, the cellar masters, they taste the wines. They usually mark the Fino with a straight-up line. And after a year, if they think the barrels are exceptional, they use a cross stick, which that's what Palo Cortado is. And these barrels are candidates to become Palo Cortado. The wines can start aging biologically. Then eventually, the floor dies. Then they get some oxidative aging. That's why they get some more color like an Oloroso. Palo Cortado is a rare and misunderstood type of Sherry. Actually, when I was just learning about wine, I asked so many people, can you really tell me the difference between a Palo Cortado and a Montillado? And people would give me some generic answers. But yes, it's a selection of a special barrels of wine in the cellar. So we have that one here today. This is the Bodegas Arfi, Palo Cortado de la Cruz de 1767. Let's give this a go, shall we? So let's take a look at this wine. Obviously, you get this rich amber golden color. And these, like I said, these are really unique, complex wines. You're going to get notes of toffee, dried nuts, almond, coffee. Sometimes a little bit of a squeeze, almost like dried lemon peel type notes. Like I said, these are really complex, thought-provoking wines. Not the easiest for people that are just getting into wine, but this is hardcore wine geek stuff. To understand sherry, you also have to understand the process, the Solera method. And to make it kind of simplified, think about a stack of barrels with the youngest wines on top and the oldest wines on bottom. So what happens is you take the wine from the bottom barrel, the oldest wine, and you actually put that into the bottle. You replace that with wine from the barrel above. And they replace wine from the barrel above from the barrel above. So you go down, down, down, down. So in other words, the wines are multi-vintage or blend of vintages, but you always have complex, the oldest blend down at the bottom. And that's what ends up in the bottle. Since polo cartados are aged for a long time, the wines really concentrate down as they evaporate. These are fortified wines. The alcohol gets pretty high, like on this bodega arfi. This is 20% alcohol. I think it's pretty well integrated. But I love this bitter almond type of finish. People that have tasted tauniport, this is kind of like a dry version of tauniport. Super long finish. You're going to get a little bit of a glow that slowly goes down your throat. This is super complex. I want to drink more polo cartado because I love this style of wine. I mean, this is an exceptional complex bottle of wine to me. To me, talking like 93, 94 point type of range. The typical pairing they say with this is it goes really well. It can go well, aperitif, dessert. I always suggest cheeses dried meat. I've got a Mediterranean cheese right here. Let's see how this goes. Goes really well. This makes the cheese a little bit even more creamier on the palate. Brings out a little bit more of the fruity notes, the dried fruit to some of the dried citrus notes in the wine. Very nice. Wines under the floor are not the easiest wines to appreciate. They're super complex. I always get this kind of slippery almond note. If that makes kind of sense, there's a certain nuttiness to them. And I think that's what makes them interesting. These type of wines go excellent with a variety of foods. You know, the typical pairing is, you know, hamon prosciutto, dried nuts, that type of deal. But I find they work well with everything, including spicy foods and even sweet foods. You know, I love this style of wine and these wines. The only problem my body has with higher alcohol wines like Tawny Ports, this, spirits like Whiskey Cognac. If I have too much and what I mean too much is like more than one drink. I start to get a headache. My stomach starts to get a little bit queasy, which is unfortunate because I really like to drink these style of wines, but I just can't have too much of it. I guess I just got to train more. So let me know. Do you like sherry? Are you drinking polo cortados? Is there a different style of sherry that you like? Leave it in the comments below. Cheers. Hello. Thanks for watching. Hey, you made it to the end. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Click the bell so you know when new videos are out. If you like content like this, check out our Patreon page where you get some behind the scenes exclusive content. Thanks for watching. Cheers.