{"id":13985,"date":"2017-04-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.invinic.com\/how-do-they-make-pedro-jimenez-so-darned-delicious"},"modified":"2017-10-05T14:44:50","modified_gmt":"2017-10-05T12:44:50","slug":"how-do-they-make-pedro-jimenez-so-darned-delicious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.invinic.com\/en\/how-do-they-make-pedro-jimenez-so-darned-delicious","title":{"rendered":"How Do They Make Pedro Jimenez So Darned Delicious?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pedro Jimenez<\/strong> is like drinking a liquidised sticky toffee pudding. It\u2019s that good, but unlike a chocolate bar, it has no added sugar. It\u2019s just made from grapes<\/a> like any other wine. So how on Earth do they make such a flavourful, delicious wine that feels like bungee jumping on your tongue into a vat of molten toffee? To find out, we must visit Spain in the Springtime.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s Starts with the Soil<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Pedro Jimenez, or PX,<\/strong> grapes are grown on \u2018arena\u2019 and \u2018barro<\/strong>\u2019 soils. Arena is 70% compacted sand, and 10% limestone with a dash of iron oxide, which is very fertile. Barro is even more productive<\/strong>. It\u2019s heavy clay produces wines full of body, and so already you can see how PX gets to be as thick as sauce.<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s Nothing Rushed About Pedro Jimenez<\/strong><\/h2>\n

PX takes its time to ripen. That\u2019s because there\u2019s only 65cm of rain in Jerez<\/a> every year – which is positively miniscule. You\u2019d be hard pressed to make a pot of tea with it. As a result, PX spends all the livelong Spanish summer photosynthesizing sunshine into sugars and flavour molecules. It\u2019s a high powered grape. There\u2019s even a region, Montilla-Moriles, that\u2019s even hotter and drier, where the thin-skinned Pedro Jimenez<\/strong> is unable to hold onto much of its liquid at all. Consequently, the grapes are like raisiny cherry bombs of flavour.<\/p>\n

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Then Pedro Jimenez Spends Some Extra Time Sunbathing<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I wouldn\u2019t mind being a Pedro Jimenez grape<\/strong>. After harvesting, they get to lie out on straw mats under the Spanish sun, and just raisinify. You see as they\u2019ve been separated from the vine, water evaporates from their skins. This concentrates and intensifies their delicious flavours of prunes and molasses<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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After That, Pedro Jimenez Just Hangs Out For a Few Years<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The grapes go through the normal pressing process to make wine<\/a>. But they\u2019re added to a big pyramid system of barrels<\/a> called a \u2018solera\u2019, where young wine at the top is gradually moved down through to barrels at the bottom, where the more mature wine is. The system ensures that you get the same reliable flavour every time you buy a sherry house\u2019s produce. All of this takes place over a few years with the sherry mingling together and developing its flavours.<\/p>\n

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The Result:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Scrumptious. Pedro Jimenez is so nice I introduced it to my mother<\/strong>. That\u2019s how serious I am about my relationship with it. It\u2019s like the best rum and raisin ice cream you\u2019ve ever tasted but with more dark caramel flavours, and yet it\u2019s not saccharine. It\u2019s a heavy, very full bodied wine which pairs beautifully with pudding.<\/p>\n

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Some Excellent Matches:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There\u2019s some great recommendations in our article \u2018Food pairing ideas for Pedro Ximenez<\/a>\u2019. But remember – what grows together goes together. As a result, you might want to try some Spanish desserts that the local palette created over many years to match the country\u2019s wines.<\/p>\n