Mencia Mencia Sherry Greece Peloponnese

Sherry is made in a unique way using the solera system, which blends fractional shares of young wine from oak barrels with older, more mature wines. Sherry has no vintage date because it is blended from a variety of years. Rare, old sherries can contain wine that dates back 25 to 50 years or more, the date the solera was begun. If a bottle has a date on it, it probably refers to the date the company was founded.

Most sherries begin with the Palomino grape, which enjoys a generally mild climate in and around the triad of towns known as the "Sherry Triangle" and grows in white, limestone and clay soils that look like beach sand. The Pedro Ximenez type of sweet sherry comes from the Pedro Ximenez grape.

Sherry is a "fortified" wine, which means that distilled, neutral spirits are used to fortify the sherry. The added liquor means that the final sherry will be 16 to 20 percent alcohol (higher than table wines) and that it will have a longer shelf life than table wines.

As one of the oldest wine producing countries in the world, Greece has millenia of experience and expertise when it comes to viticulture, and has developed a set of flavors and characteristics which are found nowhere else on earth. The ancient Greeks revered and deified wine, and were the first true innovators in the history of wine, adding everything from seawater to honey and spices in order to find exciting new taste combinations and aromas. Today, Greek wines are just as varied, although far more refined and sophisticated than their ancient counterparts. The practice of enhancing Greek wines with aromatic substances never left the country, though, as can be seen in the popular Retsina wines, which use pine resin to provide their unique taste and aroma combinations. There is far more to Greek wine than merely Retsina, however, and the vast variety on offer is a testament to the expertise of Greek wineries making the most of the wonderful climate, terrain and grape varietals they work with.

The Peloponnese wine region of Greece is one with some serious history behind it. Mentioned by Homer in one of his epic poems, it was named Ampelonessa in Ancient Greek - literally translating to ‘land full of vines’. It has survived massive political upheaval, several devastating wars and the full force of the phylloxera epidemic, and remains one of Greece’s key wine producing regions to this day. Indeed, the twenty-first century has seen something of a renaissance for Peloponnese wines, and they’ve found themselves more in demand than they’ve ever been thanks to a renewed interest in Greek produce, and the traditional methods the vintners who work there use in their winemaking.

Peloponnese is a large wine region, and it is characterized by its range and variety. This is due to the massive differences in terroir found from one appellation to the next, and sun-baked plains, misty hillsides and breezy plateaus are all accounted for as you move from one part to another. Despite this, there is one grape varietal which sits head and shoulders among the others in this part of Greece, and that is the gorgeous Agiorghitiko grape. This vine is native to the region, and it produces the deep red, velvety and complex wines the area is famed for.