Selosse gets controversial on acidity

V

VS

Victor de la Serna
From an interview with Anselme Selosse we have just published in elmundovino:

"What can you tell me about acidity?"

"In my opinion, in Champagne we are absolutely wrong when we identify acidity as the cause for freshness in a wine. In Spanish wines there's little acidity, but there is sapidity, a word which comes from the Latin 'sapor', taste. I adore what the palomino grape shows in Jerez with that salty, umami side, that sapidity, that saline character which comes from the limestone subsoil. And I love the mouthfeel it brings, which is refreshing. There's minerality, so there's no need for acidity. When I taste great Spanish wines, I have the sensation that the mineral, even metallic, part often comes to the fore. The wines are not acid and therefore they are not hard, so that they become elegant."

"And you like the palomino grape?"

"Yes, I even believe it would be good to make a bubbly with it."
 
While I might agree that, before food, there are elements that can mask or even make up for a lack of acidity, food is usually merciless in unmasking acid deficiency.
 
Have an old-time New England clam chowder with a glass (a real large wine glass - not a pathetic 'copita') of manzanilla pasada, for instance an Equipo Navazos No. 10, Oswaldo, and then report back, please. I think you'll be surprised. (Acidity in sherry is negligible.)
 
originally posted by VS:
Have an old-time New England clam chowder with a glass (a real large wine glass - not a pathetic 'copita') of manzanilla pasada, for instance an Equipo Navazos No. 10, Oswaldo, and then report back, please. I think you'll be surprised. (Acidity in sherry is negligible.)
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Until I do that, I'll certainly take your word for it, but such could be the exceptions that prove the rule.
 
originally posted by VS:
Have an old-time New England clam chowder with a glass (a real large wine glass - not a pathetic 'copita') of manzanilla pasada, for instance an Equipo Navazos No. 10, Oswaldo, and then report back, please. I think you'll be surprised. (Acidity in sherry is negligible.)
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I'll go with vs on this. I recently sat down to a plate of cured and smoked sardines finished with warm olive oil. We paired it with Argueso Manzanilla. It rocked.

Sherry is great with rich and oily seafood, as is sake, but neither have the acidity of wine.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
Well, I suppose making bubbles with it is better than letting it sit around and spoil.
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Does what you said intend that you dont like sherry (as in you consider it spoiled) or that maybe the glut of palomino could be used for bubbly?
 
originally posted by Matteo Mollo:
Does what you said intend that you dont like sherry (as in you consider it spoiled) or that maybe the glut of palomino could be used for bubbly?
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I don't like sherry (and the e-culture here lacks emoticons).

VS would know far, far better than I whether there is a glut of unused palomino around.
 
There's not much glut - vineyard surface has shrunk considerably over the past 20 years.

I am always surprised that some savvy wine lovers don't like "sherry" in general - which I guess encompasses everything from fino to pedro ximnez. Maybe you've never come across a really good one? To me, not liking sherry is pretty much like not liking champagne: difficult to envision.
 
I suppose disliking sherry has a lot to do with disliking oxidized flavors? I personally enjoy them, but I know several people who have a hard time dealing with the nuttiness/funkiness (from fino to PX).
 
originally posted by VS:
There's not much glut - vineyard surface has shrunk considerably over the past 20 years.

I am always surprised that some savvy wine lovers don't like "sherry" in general - which I guess encompasses everything from fino to pedro ximnez. Maybe you've never come across a really good one? To me, not liking sherry is pretty much like not liking champagne: difficult to envision.
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Since I do like sherry I've seen him taste a lot of it over the years. The only one I remember him ever caring for was the Hidalgo Viejo PX.
 
I'm thinking that sherry working with meats and sardines and stuff would not really be a revelation to the owners of some of the tapas bars I've been in.
 
I poured wine at an international sweet wine conference in Jerez a few years back. The welcome dinner was a formal affair, eight or nine courses, each paired with an "appropriate" sherry.
I thought the meat and wine pairing (roast pork stuffed with prunes and an amontillado sherry) to be remarkably unsuccessful. Both halves of the combo really were unhappy sharing space with each other. Most of the Sherry industry folks at our table were of the same mind.
On the other hand, the tapas bars around the conference hall were an unendng revelation night after night.... that sherry can be a stunning food wine is beyond doubt.
And, yes, it even pairs well with natto.... I had a great pairing the other day: Hidalgo La Gitana with natto and parmesan beignets. Yum!

Interesting to hear that Selosse talks about umami in palomino as being a function of grape-soil interaction.
Most umami-ites here in Japan talk about the umami of sherry as being a function of yeast activity, sherry (along with vin jaune and methode champenoise wines) being one of the few wine types typically displaying a high amount of umami character. Sparkling sherry would probably be off the Umami Index charts.

Cheers.
 
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