Xeres

[Guy Voets-2]

2008/5/24 Pat McBride <eire1systems@...>:

> By the way, do you live in Portugal?  If so, know anything about a wine
> that
> starts with an X, I think it's Xerex or something.  Anyway, we make wine at
> home, we've heard about it but don't know too much.  Is it sweet, dry, and
> if so how dry?
>
> thanks
>
> Pat
>

Hello Pat,

I'm not living in Portugal, but I know the answer to this one: Xeres.
Xeres is the Spanish way to write and say it (also Jerez, namely Jerez de la
Frontera)
• Frontera meaning in this case the frontier that existed at one time, 15th
century, between the Catholic Kingdom of Fernando and Isabella, and the
multicultural society of Al Andalus, moslim dominant, but flourishing with
jewish and christian participation, that gave us such marvels as the Granada
Alhambra - see my http://homepage.mac.com/toucheguy/alhambra/alhambra.html)
- See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus. Through Al Andalus,
Western Europe came in contact again with its forgotten Greek roots, that
would spark of Renaissance - but that's quite another story...
• the Xeres wine is thus from Spain, and comes in different flavours, one of
the best known being the Amontillado (from E.A. Poe's tale). Xeres -or
sherry - not sherry brandy though- goes with flamenco, the andalusian-gitano
music, singing and dancing. People nip from a glass of 'fino' while they
assist the guitar improvisations. The music has been commercialised by
Manito de Plata, the Gypsy Kings or Paco de Lucia, but when you get to see
and hear the real stuff, it's quite something different.
• Like the gitanos, flamenco originates from Rajasthan in India. There they
use the original castagnets, four loose pieces of wood that they keep in
their hands (two in each hand), they make all kinds of sounds by clapping
them together... The Little Princes of the Desert (Chota Divana) from the
West of India make music that is reminiscent of flamenco (I heard them here
in Antwerp last Friday)
--
Guy
using dutch OOo Aqua Beta 3.0.0 (and older) on a iMac Intel DualCore Tiger
and brazilian OOo SRC 680 m241 on an Intel MacBook Pro Leopard
-- please reply only to users@... --
Dodoes can't afford to have headaches

[Pat McBride]

Thanks for your help, Guy.  And, speaking of Spanish wines, do you remember,
or have you read, one of the older James Bond (007) books where M referred
to a Spanish wine that they drank in Gibraltar known as Dominator,
Terminator, something like that.  Apparently it was quite a rough wine;
sailors, like Highland soldiers, will drink anything.  And I can say that
cuz I were one, Highlander that is.

Pat

-----Original Message-----
From: Guy Voets [mailto:nimantuis@...]
Sent: 2008/05/26 01:48
To: social@...
Subject: [social] Xeres


2008/5/24 Pat McBride <eire1systems@...>:

> By the way, do you live in Portugal?  If so, know anything about a wine
> that
> starts with an X, I think it's Xerex or something.  Anyway, we make wine
at
> home, we've heard about it but don't know too much.  Is it sweet, dry, and
> if so how dry?
>
> thanks
>
> Pat
>

Hello Pat,

I'm not living in Portugal, but I know the answer to this one: Xeres.
Xeres is the Spanish way to write and say it (also Jerez, namely Jerez de la
Frontera)
• Frontera meaning in this case the frontier that existed at one time, 15th
century, between the Catholic Kingdom of Fernando and Isabella, and the
multicultural society of Al Andalus, moslim dominant, but flourishing with
jewish and christian participation, that gave us such marvels as the Granada
Alhambra - see my http://homepage.mac.com/toucheguy/alhambra/alhambra.html)
- See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus. Through Al Andalus,
Western Europe came in contact again with its forgotten Greek roots, that
would spark of Renaissance - but that's quite another story...
• the Xeres wine is thus from Spain, and comes in different flavours, one of
the best known being the Amontillado (from E.A. Poe's tale). Xeres -or
sherry - not sherry brandy though- goes with flamenco, the andalusian-gitano
music, singing and dancing. People nip from a glass of 'fino' while they
assist the guitar improvisations. The music has been commercialised by
Manito de Plata, the Gypsy Kings or Paco de Lucia, but when you get to see
and hear the real stuff, it's quite something different.
• Like the gitanos, flamenco originates from Rajasthan in India. There they
use the original castagnets, four loose pieces of wood that they keep in
their hands (two in each hand), they make all kinds of sounds by clapping
them together... The Little Princes of the Desert (Chota Divana) from the
West of India make music that is reminiscent of flamenco (I heard them here
in Antwerp last Friday)
--
Guy
using dutch OOo Aqua Beta 3.0.0 (and older) on a iMac Intel DualCore Tiger
and brazilian OOo SRC 680 m241 on an Intel MacBook Pro Leopard
-- please reply only to users@... --
Dodoes can't afford to have headaches

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