Fino Sherry

As part of my ongoing self-education in the world of wine, I recently forced myself to try some decent sherry. Now I'm not a fan of fortified wine generally - traditional British sherry is bad anyway, but I've never even managed to get worked up about the good ports I've had in the past - but I tried some a friend had a few months ago and was impressed by its fierce, almost overwhelming flavour of toasted nuts.

So I picked up a well-thought of bottle - Waitrose supermarket own brand Fino sherry (it's won awards and plaudits from wine criticts) and gave it a spin. I didn't get blown away by nuts. Instead, I discovered quite a light wine with scents of bread and oak and a well mixed flavour of almonds, toast, honey and floral notes. To my surprise I found it exceptionally unpleasant if served at room temperature and almost entirely tasteless if over-chilled. I don't recall trying a wine quite so temperature dependent in the past.

Anyway I'm not entirely sure it was to my liking. But never having had a reasonably sherry before I'm not sure what I got was the real deal. Does this sound like a typical Fino, or is it something that has corked or is an atypical production in some manner? And what kind of sherry is the nutty monster that my friend served me?

There are three main types of Sherry: fino, amontillado, and oloroso.

Finos are light colored, about 15.5% alcohol, and have a delicate aroma, such as you have described.

Amontillados are darker in hue, more alcoholic, and stronger in flavor and aroma.

Olorosos have a brown color, penetrating aroma, and very strong flavor.

There is a fourth kind of Sherry, palo cortado, that is sort of intermediate between amontillado and oloroso. It's less common than the other three types.

Manzanilla is a Sherry that comes from around the seacoast town of Sanlucar de Barrameda. It is most commonly made in the fino style, although I've had Manzanilla amontillados. The wine has a distinctive salty/sea tang about it.

Note that the best examples of all of these are bone-dry, with no residual sugar. The most successful sweet Sherries are either sweet olorosos or PX, which is made entirely (or mainly) from the pedro ximenez grape variety. IMO sweet or off-dry amontillados aren't as good. Your typical British Sherry is sweet amontillado and I think its proper place is in a trifle rather than a wine glass.

Tio Pepe is one of the most commonly seen dry finos, and is very good. Here in the USA, Dry Sack is an off-dry amontillado and, IMO, not particularly good. The ubiquitous Harvey's Bristol Cream is a sweet oloroso.

My favorite Sherry producer is Emilio Lustau. They produce a wide variety of Sherries and distribute a line of the rare, high-quality Almacenista Sherries produced in small batches.

It sounds like your taste gravitates towards finos rather than amontillados and olorosos.

-Paul W.

Paul has given you a great primer on Sherry. We can just add one thing regarding Fino. Once it is opened it has to been consumed quickly or used in cooking if you can't swallow it all. The reason is that the delicate flavor fades very quickly.

Yes thanks, it's a very informative post.

Mine is now four days old and has kept okay in the fridge so far. It's nearly all gone now and the flavour is growing on me

traditional British sherry is bad anyway

Isn't that an oxymoron!

Surely you don't mean sherry sold in Britain? Aren't you folks one of the classic markets for high-end sherry?

traditional British sherry is bad anyway

Isn't that an oxymoron!

Surely you don't mean sherry sold in Britain? Aren't you folks one of the classic markets for high-end sherry?

We are not allowed to call it British Sherry now, but that term was legally used for Sherry-style wines made in Britain from imported grape must. Can't remember what they call it now - it is not usually on my shopping list!

In general British Wine is made from imported must. But wines that say English or Welsh are in EU terms equivalent to AOC wines from France, and made from grapes grown in the country specified. The country - England or Wales - is the "AOC".

Edit: Having said all that, I suspect Matt was referring to Sherry usually drunk over here. These may well be proper Sherry in a legal sense but cheap, sweet, and usually kept in a cupboard for years!

Get yourself a half-bottle of "La Gitana" Manzanilla Fino from Bodegas Hidalgo. Once in a great while, the popular wine is also the best wine. To get the full experience, you'll also need some olives and almonds from Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

'British Sherry' is made of grape concentrate, and is absolutely dire. I'm glad they've been forced to stop using the word 'Sherry.'

Matt
A (wine trader) friend treated me to a glass of ~ 1950s Harveys Bristol Milk recently. Sadly in the ~ 1960s / 1970s Harveys let quality slip, so it was a real joy to taste how good such wines used to be. Find a very old Bristol Cream or Milk though and approach it with enthusiasm.

regards

Ian

No need for old (and presumably) tired bottlings of Harveys. Go for current bottlings of very old wines from the top present-day producers - Valdespino and the rest of the Estévez group, Tradición, Barbadillo, Hidalgo, Lustau's Almacenista range, Rey Fernando de Castilla, and of course the inimitable Equipo Navazos. Nothing in common from supermarket sherry...