Sherry

Sherry is best understood as a ladder from bone dry to intensely sweet, and this range covers every rung.

Fernando de Castilla, from Jerez, is the backbone: Fino, Amontillado, Palo Cortado, Oloroso, Pedro Ximenez and Cream, in both the standard and the Antique bottlings. Buying two adjacent styles from one house is the fastest way to learn the category, because everything except the ageing is held constant.

Alvear works in Montilla-Moriles rather than Jerez, which is a separate denomination further inland where the grape is Pedro Ximenez rather than Palomino and the wines often reach full strength without fortification. The Fino, Cream and PX Conde de la Cortina are all here, alongside an Alvear vermouth.

The aged soleras are the other strength: Don Zoilo at 15 years across Fino, Amontillado, Oloroso, Palo Cortado and PX, Don Guido PX at 20 years, and Dos Cortados Palo Cortado at 20.

Roberto Amillo's La Saca, drawn from a centennial solera, appears as a limited release.

Palo Cortado is the one to try if you have never had it. It should not really exist and nobody entirely agrees how it happens.

History

Sherry comes from a small triangle in Andalusia between Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlucar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa Maria, and wine has been made there since the Phoenicians.

Two things make it unlike any other wine. The first is flor, a film of yeast that grows on the surface of the wine in barrel and protects it from oxygen while feeding on it. Wine that keeps its flor becomes Fino or Manzanilla, pale and saline. Wine that loses it oxidises and becomes Amontillado or Oloroso, darker and nutty.

The second is the solera. Rather than bottling a vintage, the bodega stacks barrels in tiers and draws a portion from the oldest for bottling, refilling it from the tier above and so on up. Wine is never fully removed and never fully replaced, so a solera started a century ago still contains a trace of its first fill. An age statement on sherry refers to the average age of that system, not the youngest component.

Pedro Ximenez is made differently again: the grapes are laid out in the sun to raisin before pressing.

Port fortifies part way through fermentation while sherry fortifies after it, which is why our guide to Port styles repays reading even if you only drink sherry.

How to drink it

Fino and Manzanilla are white wines and should be treated as such. Serve them properly cold, around 7 degrees, in a normal wine glass rather than a thimble, and drink them within a few days of opening. They are the best thing in the world with olives, almonds, jamon and anything fried.

Amontillado and Palo Cortado want a little warmer, around 12 to 14 degrees. They suit soup, mushrooms, aged cheese and cured meat.

Oloroso is richer still and handles roast meat and game.

Pedro Ximenez is almost black and tastes of raisins, figs and molasses. Pour it cold over vanilla ice cream, which is the single best thing you can do with a bottle of it.

The keeping rules matter. Fino is fragile and fades in days. Amontillado and Oloroso hold for weeks because they have already oxidised. PX will outlive you.

If sherry is new to you, buy a Fino and a PX at the same time. The gap between them is the whole category.