Waitrose Solera Jerezana Fino del Puerto Sherry

I'm still tasting my way through the Waitrose Solera Jerezana Sherry range. I think this has been my least favourite so far. I've decided I'm not really a Fino person. I've never really had one that I've been that thrilled about (yes even Tio Pepé).

I found this slightly bitter. Better with food, but in my opinion not as good as a nice Manzanilla (to compare to a similar style). It did have a bit of smoky, minerally complexity to it though. OK but not my thing.

Waitrose

Solera Jerezana Fino del Puerto

Jerez, Spain

3/5

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference 12 Year Old Dry Amontillado Sherry

Yes, another Sherry. I just can't help myself, and I'm not even finished!

This wine, from Lustau once again, sports several awards on its label. IWC trophy, IWC gold, IWC best in class. Must be good then.

It is good, but for some reason I didn't enjoy it as much as some other ones I've had recently. It had a slight sour note to it I thought. Perhaps it is also a bit rich, and would have been better appreciated with food, whereas I had it on its own. Good price, too.

UPDATE: I tried this again recently. I've introduced this style of Sherry to my brother-in-law, and now he's addicted to it. Since Waitrose was all out of their Solera Jerezana Palo Cortado, I settled for this. I seemed to appreciate it more this time. I found it had some intense fruit and spice notes (oranges and cloves), and went down rather well.

Sainsbury's

Taste the Difference 12 Year Old Dry Amontillado Sherry

Jerez, Spain

£6.63

3/5

Sainsbury's Manzanilla Superior Sherry

I think this is probably more what I was expecting from a Manzanilla than this. This is light, fresh tasting and 15% alcohol.

It's always worth checking the label on supermarket own-label wines. This is produced by Lustau (a bit of a recurring theme I know), who pretty much always deliver quality Sherry. Lustau doesn't do all of Sainbury's own-label Sherry, but the ones they do that I've tried have always been very good.

This is a bargain at only £5.99. It also has a Decanter World Wine Awards silver medal, which is a good indicator of quality.

I personally prefer Amontillado/Oloroso style sherries, but this is a fine example of the lighter, flor-developed style for a great price.

UPDATE: This is really growing on me. Had another bottle of it last week, and I'm really starting to appreciate it, especially for that price. Upgrade to a 3.5.

Sainsbury's

Manzanilla Superior Sherry

Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain

£5.49

3.5/5

Waitrose Solera Jerezana Manzanilla Sherry

Now for a lighter style of Sherry. Manzanilla is similar to Fino in that it develops with a flor, and exposure to oxygen is minimal. It is to be served chilled, and consumed while it is still fresh. Manzanilla is produced around the port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, instead of Jerez, which produces Fino.

I was expecting something a little lighter and fresher than what I tasted here. This has a strong almond flavour (different than the nutty flavour experienced with oxidized Sherries such as Amontillado), and was fortified to 17%, making it seems a heavier drink than say, a Fino or a lighter Manzanilla. Interesting, but I'm not sure sure I really enjoyed it - something seemed a bit stale about it. I wonder if the bottle has spent too much time on the shelf, or if indeed it is intended to be slightly different in style.

Produced for Waitose by Lustau.

Waitrose

Solera Jerezana Manzanilla Sherry

Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain

£7.99

2.5/5

Waitrose Solera Jerezana Palo Cortado Sherry

Yes, another Sherry. Apologies - I've bought a lot homogeneous 'everyday wine' recently so haven't been experimenting too much with different individual bottles. Except for Sherry.

This is probably my favourite supermarket Sherry yet. Sharper than the Amontillado, it's intensely nutty, complex and has a good, long finish. Great stuff, and highly recommended. Also by Lustau.

Waitrose

Solera Jerezana Palo Cortado Sherry

Jerez, Spain

£7.99

4/5

Waitrose Pale Dry Amontillado Sherry

If you like buying sherry in litre bottles, and like it dry, this is the one to buy (instead of this). Dry (perhaps a tiny touch of sweetness), nutty and pleasantly flavourful, this is good value for good quality.

Produced by Lustau for Waitrose.

Waitrose

Pale Dry Amontillado Sherry

Jerez, Spain

£7.99 (1L)

3/5

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

Waitrose Solera Jerezana Dry Amontillado Sherry

I don't know if any one's noticed but I've been on a bit of a sherry bender recently. I've never taken really to Fino-style sherry - I mean it's OK but I don't get excited about it. I like Oloroso, but I've recently discovered Amontillado, which to me is a lot more versatile than Fino or Oloroso.

Amontillado is good on its own or with food, isn't too rich, and ranges from dry and tangy to rich and nutty - you just have to find the right one for you.

This one from Waitrose (courtesy of Lustau) is a good bet. It leans toward the dry and tangy end of the spectrum, and has a tasty, nutty finish. Good quality for a very reasonable price.

Waitrose

Solera Jerezana Dry Amontillado Sherry

Jerez, Spain

£7.99

3.5/5

The Society's Exhibition Viejo Oloroso Sherry

At a recent Wine Society tasting I tried the 'Dulce' (literally 'sweet') version of this wine, which is a blend of PX and Oloroso sherries, not unlike a cream sherry. I asked what the difference between this 'Dulce' blend and a cream sherry was, and the answer was something to do with the ratio of the blend - I think a greater proportion of PX sherry goes into cream sherry. I wish I could be more precise, but it was the end of the tasting where everyone converges on the sweet wine table, and the guy pouring was busy trying to answer my questions while pouring sherry for pretty much the entire room.

Anyway, this the dry version of the wine. It is an old, aged wine, and is very concentrated and syrupy, but without any cloying sweetness. Typical flavours of nuts, but also some caramel and dark toffee - odd in a way without the sweetness, but good. I drank this mostly on its own, but I think it would be better with some sort of hard, mature cheese, after a meal.

This was made for The Wine Society by Sanchez Romate.

The Wine Society

Exhibtition Viejo Oloroso Sherry

Jerez, Spain

£10.95

3.5/5

Sanchez Romate Maribel Amontillado Sherry

This very good dry Amontillado sherry is available from the Wine Society for the ridiculously favourable price of £6.50 a bottle until December 17th.

Amontillado sherry is a style of sherry that started off under a flor of yeast, but then was exposed to oxygen, either on purpose or because the flor failed to develop. The result is a darker coloured, nutty flavoured wine somewhere between Fino and Oloroso in body and richness.

I'm having difficulty trying to tell the difference between Amontillado, Oloroso, and Palo Cortado. All have been exposed to oxygen and all have a dark colour and nutty taste. Perhaps the Oloroso and Palo Cortado are richer and have more of those caramel flavours, the result of longer barrel age.

I'm really enjoying this bottle - I think it's actually the first Amontillado I've tried. It's great to have a small glass before dinner, or while I'm cooking. Also, being an oxidised wine, once opened it will keep for several days in the fridge.

This sherry is specially selected and bottled for The Wine Society.

Sanchez Romate

Maribel Amontillado Sherry

Jerez, Spain

The Wine Society

£6.50 (£7.50)

3.5/5

Berry Bros. & Rudd Palo Cortado de Jerez 1/50 Vides

Palo Cortado Sherry is a style of sherry halfway between a Fino (or Amontillado) and an Oloroso. The wine is initially intended to be a flor-aged style such as Fino, but the flor dies away prematurely and the wine is exposed to the air, and takes on the nutty, oxidized character of Oloroso while retaining the tangy character of a flor-aged sherry.

Palo Cortado is also rare, as apparently only 1-2% of wines end up being used for this style.

This wine in particular bears the name of Sherry company Emilio Lustau SA. However, the actual producer of the sherry is the 'Almacenista' - the Bodegas who actually buys the wine or grape must and matures the sherry in their cellars. Lustau honours these Bodegas by including them on the label. In this case the Almacenista is Vides SA.

One other curiosity about the label - what does the '1/50' mean? This means that this wine was obtained from the producer's solera system of 50 barrels, or 'butts'.

Now, how was the wine? Pretty good I'd have to say. It's exactly how I described it in the first paragraph. It has the dark brown colouring and the initial nutty, caramel flavours of an Oloroso, but finishes with a salty tang reminiscent of a flor-aged sherry. Good depth and complexity, and the hybrid character is fascinating.

Lustau SA/Vides SA

Palo Cortado 1/50

Jerez, Spain

Berry Bros. & Rudd

£11.70 (375 ml)

3.5/5

Barbadillo Manzanilla Sherry

I was looking for a wine to match with smoked salmon, which we were serving as an appetizer for Easter dinner, and a Google search came up with Manzanilla sherry.  Being a sherry fan, I didn't need to look any further.  However I also decided to serve a Chardonnay, suspecting that not everyone would be into the sherry.

Manzanilla sherry is a dry sherry produced around the city of Sanlúcar, Spain.  It is similar to Fino sherry, which is produced around Jerez.

It is very dry, with a strong, sharp flavour.  I'm not convinced it was the ultimate match for the salmon, but it was good enough.  This type of sherry is a great food-matcher, and I'm struggling to think of anything it wouldn't go with.  That said, I didn't particularly enjoy the combination that much - I think I would have preferred something a bit softer (like the Chardonnay!).

Barbadillo

Manzanilla Sherry

Sanlúcar, Spain

Oddbins

£6.99

3/5

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference 12 Year Old Dry Oloroso Sherry

I'll get this out of the way now: dry Oloroso (and dry sherry in general) is NOT the same thing your granny has in her drinks cabinet. That stuff is likely a cream sherry, and is sweetened by mixing with sweeter sherries.

At the moment dry Oloroso is my favourite style of sherry. Quick sherry primer: there are 2 basic styles of sherry, those made with a protective layer of yeast covering the sherry in the cask (called a flor), and those without. An example of the former is a fino sherry (i.e. Tio Pepe). Oloroso is of the latter variety. The lack of flor allows oxygen to interact with the wine and age it, and it give the wine a darker colour and a stronger, nutty flavour.

This is a fantastic aperitif wine. Just serve it with a bowl of nuts, or olives or cured ham (Spanish or Italian parma ham).

I've only tried one or two brands of Oloroso sherry, so I can't really say how this one compares to others on the market, but I really like it. This particular wine is made for Sainsbury's by Lustau.

Sainbury's
Taste the Difference Dry Oloroso Sherry
Jerez, Spain
£6.99
3.5/5