Fue una reunión fantástica.  Los Sherry Explorers celebramos nuestro fin de curso con unas invitadas extraordinarias.  Doña Pilar Pla, bodeguera de Maestro Sierra, y su hija, la Dra. M. Carmen Borrego Pla,  Profesora de la Universidad de Sevilla especialista en Historia de América y también bodeguera que nos habló de los viajes de las naves que iban al Nuevo Mundo.

It was an amazing monthly meeting.  The Sherry Explorers shared our final gathering of the season with some extraordinary and special guests – Doña Pilar Pla, owner/vintner of the Maestro Sierra winery, and her daughter, Dr. M. Carmen Borrego Pla,  Professor at the University of Seville and specialist in American History.  She is also a vintner  and spoke to us about the voyages of the ships that sailed to the New World.

Antes de la charla los nuevos Sherry Explorers hicieron su juramento con su copa de fino Maestro Sierra, una venencia y el salacot.  Dos de los nuevos exploradores eran dos jóvenes, Maite y Sofía de El Paso, Texas, ciudad hermana de Jerez,  que venían de viaje fin de carrera a España y se aseguraron de estar en El Puerto para nuestra reunión.

Before the presentation began, the new Sherry Explorers were sworn-in with a glass of Maestro Sierra fino sherry, a venencia, and a Pith helmet.  Two of the new explorers were young ladies, Maite and Sofía from El Paso, Texas, the sister-city of Jerez de la Frontera.  They were here touring Spain after being awarded their respective college degrees, and made sure to make a stop in El Puerto in order to attend our meeting.

La charla fue como mencioné antes interesantísima y aprendimos mucho sobre los viajes de las naves a India.   Solo algunos ejemplos.  La “Carrera indiana” era como se denominaba al viaje de Sevilla al Nuevo Mundo, de ahí el uso de ´carrera´ universitaria, algo que tiene un principio y un fin.  

The presentation was, as I mentioned earlier, very interesting.  We learned a lot about the ships that were bound for the “Indies” with some examples of specific voyages.   The “Race to the Indies” was what they called these round-trip voyages which departed from Seville to the New World, and returned to Spain.   The present-day term “carrera,” referring to the trajectory in obtaining a university degree, is derived from the name that was utilized to describe these voyages, i.e. something that has a beginning and an end.

Cuando llegaban las “flotas indianas” el muelle sevillano se llenaba de velas blancas, mercancías, pasajeros, navegantes y “arrumadores” que eran los mozos de cuerdaque colocaban ordenadamente las mercancías en las bodegas de las naves y de donde deriva “arrumbadores” que son los que supervisaban y colocaban las “botas” del jerez en las bodegas.

When the merchant fleets would arrive to Seville,  the dock was filled with white sails, merchandise, horses, passengers, sailors and there were also those who were called “arrumadores,“ the stevedores who would orderly store the goods in a ship´s hold and from which the word “arrumbadores” was derived.  Eventually, the name was also applied to those persons who supervised the loading and storing of sherry barrels in sherry wineries.

Los toneles y barriles se colocaban en filas superpuestas, en “andanas“, término que sigue utilizándose en las bodegas del jerez.

The barrels and casks were stacked horizontally in overlapping rows referred to as  “andanas” (tiers), a term which is still utilized in the sherry wineries.

Entre la carga y sobre todo en los espacios existentes entre los barriles, se escondían los “abarrotes“, fardos muy pequeños pero de mucho valor, en muchos casos contrabando y que darían ligar al término “abarrotado” que indica algo completamento lleno.

Amongst the cargo and, especially in the small spaces that existed between the barrels, “abarrotes” were hidden.  These were small packages of valuable goods which often contained what was considered to be contraband.  The  term “abarrotado,” which means something that is “fully packed,” arose from this practice.

Os recomiendo visitar la página web de M. Carmen Borrego Pla  http://www.carmenborregopla.es/victoria/  y la de la bodega Maestro Sierra  http://www.maestrosierra.com/nuevaweb/

I highly recommend that you visit Dr. M. Carmen Borrego Pla´s website at:  http://www.carmenborregopla.es/victoria/ and the Maestro Sierra website at:  http://www.maestrosierra.com/nuevaweb/

Después de la presentación de la Dra. Borrego, pasamos a disfrutar de una copa de fino Maestro Sierra y de Amoroso.  Nos contaba M. Carmen que el  Amoroso Medium El Maestro Sierra es una especialidad única y exclusiva de su bodega y nace de una tradición del Jerez más sencillo y profundo: la de los obreros que a la vuelta de la faena al hogar paraban en el despacho de vinos y, además del habitual, pedían al bodeguero una garrafa de Oloroso con un toque de Pedro Ximénez para que a sus esposas les resultase más “amoroso”.  Así el Amoroso Medium es un coupage elaborado a partir del 90% de Oloroso de 15 años y el 10% de Pedro Ximénez, que envejece después armónicamente unido en bota de roble durante otros cuatro años más.  Acompañamos a los vinos con las tapas aportadas por los Sherry Explorers y el jurado secreto eligió la tortilla campera y la tarta de peras y chocolate.    Un final de curso perfecto.  Os pasamos el vídeo con más fotos.

After Dr. Borrego´s presentation, we proceeded to taste some Maestro Sierra fino sherry and Amoroso Medium Cream sherry.   Mari Carmen told us that the  Maestro Sierra Amoroso Medium sherry is a special blend that is unique and specially prepared at the Maestro Sierra winery.  It is a result of a tradition in the City of Jerez that was very simple but significant:  that of the workers, who were heading back home from the harvest, stopping to have some wine at a local winery bar.  In addition to having their preferred wine, they would ask the vintner for a jug  of  Oloroso to be prepared with a touch of Pedro Ximénez so that the workers´ wives would consider it to be more of an “amoroso” (amorous, loving, affectionate, caring) gift.  Accordingly, the Amoroso Medium Cream sherry is still a blend that is created with  90 percent, 15 year-old Oloroso sherry and  10% of  Pedro Ximénez sherry.  After they are blended, the resulting cream sherry wine is aged in an oak cask for another four years.  We paired these excellent wines with the tapas that were provided by our fellow Sherry Explorers.  The secret jury elected the  tortilla campera and the pear and chocolate cake as the best for that evening.  It was a perfect ending to a perfect season.  I am attaching a video montage which contains some more photos.