Solera

[*urcoder]

Hi guys,
I posted a question on the marketplace forum and someone suggested I ask the experts on here.
Does anybody know if there is a limit on the amount of original vintage left in a bottle of solera or does it tend towards zero ?
Also is it possible to date a bottle of madeira by the shape of bottle or label ?

[Al B.]

I hope Keith doesn't mind if I rephrase the question - or maybe even ask a different if similar question - but does anyone know whether you can draw down and top up a solera wine indefinitely (and therefore end up with a wine that contains virtually none of the wine from the year that the solera was started) or is there a legal limit to the amount of topping up that can be done before the rest of the solera must be bottled?

Thanks,

Alex

[Marco D.]

I have always remembered that you can only replace 10% of the wine a maximum of 10 times which would leave you with about 50% of the original base wine. I think I read this in Alex Liddell's book.

There is a topic in the archives that discussed this:
http://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopfo ... ra+illegal

[Gary Banker]

I think that the amount of the original wine that is left after ten replacements is about 35%. Whatever the correct figure, after following a system like that, there is still a substantial amount of the original wine and another significant fraction that is over fifty years old. It sounds very inviting to me.

I don't think that I have ever seen one of the soleras. I guess I got interested in madeira after you old-timers had drunk all the easily available ones in the US. Patrick Grubb has several on his list, but my wine budget is too stretched to make another purchase there anytime soon.

Gary

[Peter Reutter]

Ten times 10% is the classic solera system for Madeira wines. It differs from the Sherry solera system in the way that you do not have multiple layers of casks with the young wine starting at the top and gradually working its way down to the bottom row on the floor (floor = suelo > solera). I have only seen a cask once that had been used in a solera. When I asked about the fate of "all the other casks" the reply was that there are no other casks. The solera had been made in this single cask. So in this case it really worked in the way that they took 10% away from the cask and replaced it with 10% of a new wine.

Regards

Peter

[Marco D.]

I think that the amount of the original wine that is left after ten replacements is about 35%.

Hmmm.... Unless I did the math wrong, I came up with 35% as well... I wonder where I referenced the 50% number from?

The solera had been made in this single cask. So in this case it really worked in the way that they took 10% away from the cask and replaced it with 10% of a new wine.

I wonder what they do with the 10% they take away? I'm sure it must be pretty good juice.

[Peter Reutter]

Yes, the funny thing is that with 10 times 10% system the solera of course should become more complex over time, but at first it contains more of the original starting wine. Which wine would you prefer?
So far nobody (not even on Madeira island) could (or wanted to) explain to me what happens to those first 10% parts. Is this wine bottled? And if so, as what? Young solera, "almost vintage" whatever?
I often wondered if the 10 times 10% story is true, or if it is more like blending ten parts together over a long period of time and until you have all the ten parts together nothing is removed from the cask.
If anybody has the answer to all this, then pleeease respond...

Peter

[Marco D.]

Perhaps Roy can get the solera details from the producers he visits on his upcoming "Fortification Tour".