Popular in Sherry (Jerez) and in the Jura, wines aged with a film of yeast (velo de flor) are becoming more trendy in Chile.
What is Velo de Flor?
After fermentation, aging wines, particularly not very powerful wines, can develop a thin, white, powdery layer of yeast on top of it from exposure to oxygen. This is called a veil of flor. This is normally something winemakers avoid by filling and refilling their barrels all the way to the top (after evaporation) to avoid having a pocket of oxygen for the veil of flor to develop.
For Sherry and Vin Jaune wines in the Jura, they intentionally don’t fill their barrels all the way for a veil of flor to develop. Although the veil of flor imparts oxidative notes with more exposure to oxygen, it ends up eating the oxygen, and the film protects it from over-oxidation. This process can reduce volatile acidity, make the wine lighter and buttery in texture and give it strong aromas like tangy apple, bready, herbal, floral, nutty, and savory notes. The color of the wine stays light because it is protected from oxidation.
Types of Wines with Velo de Flor
There are two main regions for wines with Velo de Flor: Sherry (Jerez) in Spain and the Vin Jaune wines in the Jura, France.
Sherry uses a solera system, where the wines are aged and partially mixed with older vintages gradually. In the case of Fino and Manzanilla Sherry, they both go through aging with velo de flor. The difference is mainly the climate of its aging as the latter is located closer to the ocean, where the humidity and cooler weather allow the velo of flor to stay all year while more inland, Fino Sherry has less consistent velo de flor in warmer weather, so it’s more oxidative.
Amontillado Sherry starts off like Fino in that it is aged in the solera system with velo de flor, but it then is fortified to kill the velo de flor and is aged oxidatively. Oloroso Sherry, on the other hand, are purely oxidative with no velo de flor. Therefore, Amontillado is in between Fino and Oloroso in style. Palo Corto is similar to Amontillado in that it starts off with velo de flor, but before fortification, it loses its velo de flor and starts to age more oxidatively. It’s basically a way for them to sell wines that fail to maintain their velo de flor long enough to be Fino or Amontillado. Sweet PX (Pedro Ximenez) can be produced in Jerez too, but it doesn’t use velo de flor.
All Sherries are generally fortified, but there’s been a revived trend of making unfortified Sherry with velo de flor, which is essentially like the Jura region’s Vin Jaune, which are unfortified. Vin Jaune also differs from Sherry in that it uses a different variety, Savagnin, while Sherry uses Palomino, Moscatel and Pedro Ximenez grapes instead. Plus, Savagnin is a higher-alcohol grape, so the alcohol level is often not much lower than fortified sherries. Moreover, the Jura is generally cooler and more humid than Jerez, making it ideal for velo de flor (or sous voile in French). By the way, if you see a Jura producer labeled Ouillé, then it’s a wine aged in barrels filled to the top and regularly topped-up to avoid forming velo de flor.
The practice of velo de flor is not that common around the world, but there are always producers here and there experimenting, especially among boutique or natural wine producers. In addition, some places used to have a larger tradition of using velo de flor like Dry Szamorodni Tokaj, which has both botrytis and velo de flor.
Chilean Velo de Flor Wines
Velo de flor wines in Chile are unfortified like Vin Jaune, but without the 6+ years aging requirement of Vin Jaune. Some of the wines with velo de flor that I’ve had were only partially aged this way though. Like with skin contact (orange) wines, it’s something that’s becoming trendy among cutting edge/natural winemakers.
There also seems to be a historical connection to the early Spanish settlers growing the same varieties from Jerez and using similar methods such as in their Asoleado wines, which use sun-dried grapes similar to PX wines or straw wines. However, I have not seen any winemaking traditions in Chile similar to fortified Sherry with velo de flor.
Some of the wines I’ve seen or tried with velo de flor in Chile besides the one I’m reviewing in this post are: Garces Silva Agapes (Sauvignon Blanc with Solera aging), Carmen Florillon (Semillon aged 12 months with velo de flor), Ineditas Reptiliano (Moscatel de Alejandria skin contact), and French winemaker from Jura Arnaud Faupin’s Vin Jaune O (Viognier). In addition, I’ve tasted Copa’s Semillon and Fernando Almeda’s Albarino, which have had partial aging with velo de flor. I’m not sure it’s something they do or can do every vintage though.
I’m sure there are more out there that I haven’t discovered yet, but I found this one (tasting notes below) with a definite intention to make a velo de flor wine given its name and use of the Solera system.
Tasting Notes
NV Clos Santa Ana Velo Colchagua
Clos Santa Ana is located in Peralillo in Colchagua. It’s a small boutique winery.
A blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling using the Solera system like with Sherry. This means its vinified and aged in not completely filled neutral containers allowing a velo de flor (a thin film of yeast) to grow. The label says “different vintages 2017,” which I think means it contains different vintages up to when it was bottled in 2017 or it could be since 2017. The color is light orange /peach pink and clear with a touch of cloudiness. I like the aromatics. There’s fruit mixed with nutty and earthy notes. Sort of reminds me of aged red wine. I don’t get much orange wine characteristics other than it having a bit of soft tannic grip and the color, but there’s definitely been some skin contact. The velo de flor shows in mild sherry and oxidized wine notes. It’s really tangy with citrus and dry citrus peel notes. It’s only medium-light bodied at most, so it’s easy to drink and food friendly with its acidity without being too natural wine/orange/velo de flor-ish. It’s still not for beginners necessarily, but nobody is going to complain if served this either. There’s enough fruit for beginners. Wine geeks and natural wine lovers should pounce on it. Just unique overall. 93
Do you like wines with velo de flor like Sherry or Vin Jaune? Which are your favorite?
Extremely interesting post. I loved it. I hope more chilean producers would join the journey of “velo de flor” wines. I haven’t tasted so many “velo de flor” wines, however the ones I´ve had the privilege to taste (from Spain and Chile) were all a superb sensorial experience, with very complex and layered nose, and rich new flavours in palate.
Let me suggest one chilean wine that blow my mind up. “Raro de Raros” by Viña Prado. Orange wine from Moscatel grape, with 36 months biological aging under “velo de flor”.
Thanks for your comments. As I said, I’m sure there are a lot more out there that I haven’t tried or seen. I’ve tried Vina Prado before, but never their Raro de Raros. I really need to attend the next Chanchos Deslenguados tasting in Santiago, where a lot of natural wine producers present their wines and where you’re more likely to find orange and velo de flor styles.