KEY POINTS:
An afternoon ambling between tapas bars in the sultry Seville sun wasn't the kind work I'd expected to be doing when I came to Andalucia to research sherry. My guide was a semi-retired gent from the Sherry Institute, who, with over half a century of passionate involvement with the stuff, had it running through his veins, and in considerable quantities I'd wager after our picaresque perambulations that day. He stressed there was no better way to experience the region's great wines than like this. He was right. While it was great to witness the almost magical transformation of a simple white wine into the many different types of intensely flavoured sherries maturing in the bodegas of Jerez, my journey through the bars of Seville's Barrio Santa Cruz showed me how this great fortified wine should really be drunk with food.
While the lightest styles, the crisp finos and manzanillas with their salty tang, make great aperitifs, these also work well with seafood and savoury salty cuisines, such as Japanese, and are some of the few wines that can handle smoked fish. Amontillado and palo cortado, with their notes of hazelnuts and almonds, are compatible with more robust fare, such as rabbit and soups like consomme, while the rich and full-bodied olorosos are an equal match for darker meats.
And that's just the dry styles - luscious and raisiny Pedro Ximenez and Muscatels can suit the sweetest of desserts, such as treacle and chocolate puddings.
If these adjectives don't tally with the sherries you've tasted, it could well be that what you've sampled wasn't the real McCoy, which can only be made in the Jerez region of Southern Spain. Jerez-Xeres-Sherry (so good they named it thrice) is the often exquisite result of a long, complex process of dynamic ageing in a solera system. After being fermented like table wines, the dry styles are classified by their character, before being fortified with grape brandy to differing degrees depending on the desired style. They are then graduated through barrels for a period of three years, or longer, when they're drawn off to be bottled.
Sadly, inferior copies and the modern taste for fruit-driven wines that contrast with sherry's unashamedly oxidative styles, means its sales have struggled in recent years. In an attempt to balance demand and supply, recent EU wine reform will see a significant area of vines grubbed up in Jerez that could cut its area by a quarter. As a self-confessed sherry nut, it's a situation that saddens me. But hopefully, as palates become more sophisticated, more people will discover the delights of sherry, one of the most complex and versatile wines in the world.
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The real deal
G&T ALTERNATIVE
Gonzalez Byass Elegante Dry Palomino Fino Sherry $28
The delicate tangy styles of Fino and Manzanilla are the product of a protective blanket of yeast that forms on top of the wine in the barrel. This is a great, fresh, everyday example with subtle notes of oyster shell, apple and yeast. For something even punchier, try its big brother Tio Pepe.
From selected branches of Super Liquor, Wine on Jervois, The Mill _ Newmarket, Mairangi Bay Fine Wines, Red Baron Liquor, Wine and More, Liquorette, Accent On Wine.
AMAZING AMONTILLADO
Valdespino Tio Diego Single Vineyard Amontillado Dry Sherry $47-$49 An amontillado is a fino that's lost its flor, allowing oxygen to enter and resulting in a more robust amber-coloured wine. Mellow, nutty, marmitey and smoky, with a fresh twist of orange zest, this is a fine example.
From Glengarry and selected wine stores nationwide.
DRY AND SAVOURY
Hidalgo Oloroso Faraon $49.95
From the fruitcake notes on the nose, you'd be expecting something sweet, when in fact this is bone dry. From the makers of the famous La Gitana Manzanilla, this intense and savoury oloroso is a mouth-filling wine with rich notes of walnut and spice.
From Wine Vault, Caro's, Wine Direct, Point Wines.
