🏷️ Solera

Solera is an ageing system in which wine from barrels of different ages is blended gradually. The barrels stand in tiers. The bottom row, called the solera, holds the oldest wine. Above it are criadera rows with younger wine. When wine is bottled it is taken only from the bottom row, and no more than a third at a time. What is removed is topped up from the row above, and that one from the next.

In this way wines of different years mix gradually. The result is a wine with no single vintage but with a steady style that is the same year after year. The average age of wine in a solera rises slowly. The system was devised in Spain and is the main method for making sherry. It is also used for brandy de Jerez and sherry vinegar.

Similar systems exist in Portugal, for example for Madeira, and in Italy, where the method is used for Marsala Vergine. The solera is tied to the criadera, to wine ageing and to Spanish wine. It is not a brand but a method: it gives complexity and an even taste. Solera wines keep well and need no long wait after purchase.