Sherry – the opposite of a modern wine

The Dabbler’s wine correspondent Henry Jeffreys finds it’s never too early to open a bottle of sherry…

Sherry is the very opposite of a modern wine – it’s not fruity, it’s not made from a well-known grape variety and worst of all for the accountants who run most of the larger wine companies, it can’t be sold straight after vintage.

Producing good sherry relies on holding large stocks of maturing wine, as in most cases sherry is a blend of different vintages (most but not quite all – a tiny amount of vintage sherry is produced). Wines are blended in a solera, which is best thought of as a series of barrels where wine for bottling is taken out of the oldest barrel, this is then topped up by wine from the next oldest and so on until the youngest barrel which is topped up with the new vintage. In this way the sherry you buy in the shops contains minute quantities of extremely old wines.

The idea is to have a consistent product made to a house style, like champagne. In fact, the two drinks bear a striking resemblance to each other; both are branded blends that are generally made by large corporations because they are expensive to produce. The difference is that whilst champagne is fashionable and even the worst can sell at an inflated price, sherry is not and, whatever the quality, is generally available for less than £10 a bottle.

So with sherry we have a wine made an expensive way but, due to a quirk of fashion or history, not expensive to buy. This is very sad for Jerezanos but extremely good for the impecunious connoisseur. The two most widely available brands – La Gitana and Tio Pepe – offer fine wine at an everyday price. They are also versatile. Serve them very cold and they go with almost everything, and also with nothing: Martin, the manager in my Oddbins days in Leeds, never used to miss his 11am sherry sharpener.

Sherry doesn’t really do it for today’s wine geeks either – it isn’t made by horny-handed sons of the earth on a particular patch of soil. The producers don’t bleat about biodynamics, organics, holistic pest-management or sustainability. Instead, it is made in large quantities by global drinks giants from a blend of vineyards and sold as a brand.

These giants are companies with roots going back to the 17th century. But change is starting to creep in. Perhaps taking a leaf out of the Scotch whisky book, some companies are starting to offer special bottling. Lustau have been doing something like this for a while with their superb Almacenista range but now Navazos have entered the ring buying up distinctive barrels from within soleras to create designer sherries with packaging to match. I tried their La Bota de Fino recently; it’s an impressive drink, a fino with the flavours turned up to eleven. This would normally have been blended into Valedespino’s finos; it is a rare treat to try it on its own though at nearly £30 it is rather out of my price range.

Much more like it for under £8, The Wine Society are now offering a Fino Perdido (‘Lost Fino’) which supposedly replicates how authentic fino sherry used to taste. It’s rich and somewhat funky, like a cross between a fino and a salty old amontillado (a fino that has been left to age, oxidise and go nutty). Delicious stuff but much more of an afternoon drink, I’d stick to Tio Pepe if you’re looking for a mid-morning pick-me-up.

Tio Pepe, Gonzalez Byass – Widely available for around £9.
La Gitana, Hidalgo – Widely available for around £7
Lustau Almacenista range – Prices vary, widely available.
La Bota de Fino Equipo Navazos – £27.50 from Bottle Apostle in Hackney
Fino Perdido – £7.95 from the Wine Society

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About Author Profile: Henry Jeffreys

Henry Jeffreys was born in Harrow, Middlesex. He worked in the wine trade for two years and then moved into publishing with stints at Hodder & Stoughton, Bloomsbury and Granta. Under the name Henry Castiglione, he reviewed books for the Telegraph andthefirstpost.co.uk. Under the name Blake Pudding he was a founder member of the London Review of Breakfasts website as well as a contributor to the Breakfast Bible (Bloomsbury, 2013). Since 2010 he has been writing mainly about drink under his own name. He is wine columnist for the Lady magazine, contributes to the Guardian and was shortlisted for the Fortnum & Mason drink writer of the year 2013 for his work in the Spectator. He is writing a history of Britain told through alcoholic drinks called Empire of Booze. He blogs at Henry’s World of Booze.

10 thoughts on “Sherry – the opposite of a modern wine

  1. Worm
    September 26, 2011 at 14:11

    shhh don’t tell everyone or the prices will go up!!

    I always have a bottle of fino in the house as it is very cheap, it keeps for ages once opened, and for some reason dry sherry is very self-limiting- a couple of small glasses is always enough for me

    also, there can be very few desserts nicer than some ice cream smothered in some unctuous Pedro Ximénez

  2. henrycastiglione@hotmail.com'
    September 26, 2011 at 15:44

    I don’t get that off switch with fino. It’s just so moreish, I can’t say no to another glass.

  3. johngjobling@googlemail.com'
    malty
    September 26, 2011 at 16:01

    Back in the austerity torn fifties the mothers (it’s always the mothers) considered sherry to be the tipple of choice, that is to say there was none, availability being what was on the shelves ‘Cyprus sherry’ it was, how can I say, dreadfull. Then Tio Pepe and Dry Sac (sold in a hessian sack) hit the shelves, move over gin, the new mothers ruin had arrived. Ordered from the bar with those immortal words “make mine a small one”.

  4. charles.folkes@btinternet.com'
    September 26, 2011 at 16:21

    One of the best things I’ve done in Spain was a tour of the Pedro Domeq Bodega in Jerez. It’s a fascinating process, and the building where the maturing wine is kept is in near darkness like a shed for growing rhubarb. The barrels are also signed by visiting dignitaries: Pedro Domeq boasts the John Hancocks of both Napoleon and Nelson, presumably from separate visits…

  5. finalcurtain@gmail.com'
    mahlerman
    September 26, 2011 at 18:55

    Whenever I open a bottle of Fino I always throw away the cork.
    Any dregs go into Bloody Marys.
    You’re right Brit….let’s just keep this as a private club with just a few members…

  6. Gaw
    September 26, 2011 at 19:22

    Do you use a schooner? Does anyone? Great word.

  7. pippagirl@hotmail.com'
    Pippa
    September 27, 2011 at 02:49

    I don’t have an off button for Tio Pepe either. Delicious!

  8. gindrinkers@ooglemail.com'
    September 27, 2011 at 14:15

    Just back from a week staying near Jerez, where much Tio Pepe was consumed and I also went to the Pedro Domecq bodega – mostly because Harvey’s Bristol Cream is my dad’s all time favourite sherry. At the end of the tour the bought out a bottle of chilled Harvey’s, some glasses and left us to it. My dad was delighted.

    While quite partial to a glass of Harvey’s with a mince pie at Christmas, my absolute favourite is La Gitana. I was told, while in Jerez, that manzanilla sherry isn’t actually fortified like fino/oloroso/amontillado and so technically isn’t really sherry – is that true?

  9. henrycastiglione@hotmail.com'
    September 27, 2011 at 15:43

    Oooh that’s a proper wine question. Without looking it up, I think that all mazanilla that is exported is fortified though you may be able to buy some unfortified stuff in Jerez. There is a sherry-style wine made just outside the sherry region called montilla which is unfortified. The word amontillado actually means in a montilla style. Will look into this further when I get home.

    Henry

  10. info@catalancooking.co.uk'
    September 30, 2011 at 20:27

    I still feel sorry that sherry in the UK still has the ‘back of your maiden Auntie’s cupboard’ image.It is such a beautiful drink and there is so much we need to do to promote it more.

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