Saturday, December 26, 2009

Sainsbury's Pale Dry Amontillado Sherry

I like the idea of having an open bottle of sherry in the fridge, ready to pull out at a moment's notice, without worrying about 'opening a bottle' and if it will be finished, if it will keep, etc. This is what sherry is good for.

Continuing my current obsession with Amontillado sherry, I've been trying various supermarket own-labels. Theoretically they should be good quality and value. This one, at £5.69 for a one litre bottle, is cheap.

And cheap-tasting. It's probably the most disappointing sherry I've tried. I'm not sure what makes a 'pale' Amontillado (perhaps minimal exposure to oxygen?), but that's what this is. It's not as rich as other Amontillados I've tried, but it's more the flavour that is a let down. It's tastes like sherry, but with a bit of a rotten-fruit note to it. It's not terrible, and has the requisite nutty finish, but this isn't one I'd recommend.

This is made for Sainsbury's by Bodegas Williams & Humbert.

Sainsbury's
Pale Dry Amontillado Sherry
Jerez, Spain
£5.69 (1L)
2/5

1 comment:

  1. Just came across your blog while searching notes for the Sainsbury's Manzanilla Superior. I quickly diverted into this post, and I must say I feel relieve to see your opinion on this wine.

    Pale amotillado means that the colour has ben chemically extracted. It is a type of drink that was develop to appeal to the female market back in the mid 20th century. It is certainly not the type of sherry that the locals drink in Jerez. It is in fact one of those variations that appeared due to the market expansion of pass decades.

    I'm also a big fan of all the wines made by Lustau, a much more serious bodega with a real interest in the original styles.

    I think it is important to say that wines like this pale amontillado are seen now as responsible for the lost of sales and popularity of sherry in the last 20 years. And with reason I must say. I will always support sherry and I think the best way to help people understand what is good about it is to blame the low quality ones and to show them the real thing.

    Bring on the manzanillas, finos, amotillados, etc... Congratulations on the blog and keep up the good work.

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