The Rarest Sherries. A Charity Tasting from the UC Davis Archives
Presented by two Sherry Gurus, Darrell Corti and Greg Hirson
Sunday, April 17, 2016. 2 pm to 3:30 pm.
Silverado Sensory Theater, in the Robert Mondavi Institute, UC Davis.
Click here to register.
Participation limited to 70.
Registration $100.
Taste a style of sherry that has been lost to history. Quina or quinado Sherries were a made by adding quinine, for its medicinal effects and bitter taste, the latter balanced by residual sweetness. The wines were promoted as both aperitifs and digestifs, and some even have medical symbols on the bottles. Most have claims to revive or restore you to better health! They were very popular in the early to mid-20th century but are now nearly impossible to find.
These wines from the 1940's retain the bitterness from the quinine added, and are still very refreshing when mixed, as recommended, with sparking water (provided ). We will taste 10 of these Quinado Sherries including famous producers such as Osborne and Bustamante, and add a few surprises as well.
These particular wines came to UC Davis in 1985, when Mr. Dennis Foley donated a large collection of Sherries he had obtained from a Burgos, Spain drinking establishment that had closed in the 1950s and the wines left in a basement cellar in the town. The wines appear to have been largely bottled in the 1940's, just after the Spanish civil war, but some are older and some are newer. Since 1985, the wines have been held in the old underground UC Davis cellar at 57 F. Sherries lack vintage dating and most of these companies no longer exist, so "vintage" or bottling dates are not accessible.
In most cases the wines in our cellar are the only existing bottles available. After the tasting we will poll the audience to see if there might be interest in purchasing a few bottles at a future auction.
The proceeds of the tasting will support the Departments efforts to enroll students from underserved communities, the Broadening Horizons program.
For more information please contact Andrea Thompson, aehthompson@ucdavis.edu, 530-752-1049, or
Andrew Waterhouse, alwaterhouse@ucdavis.edu