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Find your Christmas treat: The perfect sherries for the season

First published in the Irish Times, Wednesday 11th December, 2019

At Christmas I swop my usual fino sherry for another of my favourite wines; aged dry sherry and Madeira. Every year, I make sure I have at least one bottle open, my personal Christmas treat, to dip into when the time is right.

Once opened, a bottle will keep for a week or so and makes the perfect indulgent treat; a glass of Oloroso, Amontillado or Palo Cortado sherry, or a dry Sercial Madeira with some cheese, a few crackers, and maybe some nuts. Pour a small measure into a proper large wine glass to release the amazing aromas.

Dry Amontillado Los Arcos, Lustau

€13.50 per half bottle , 18.5%
A delicious, rich, rounded Amontillado with walnuts and hazelnuts, dried fruits and a touch of toffee. Drink it with firm cheeses and nuts.
From: Mitchell & Son, Dublin 1, Sandycove, and Avoca, Kilmacanogue & Dunboyne, mitchellandson.com; The Wine Centre, Kilkenny, thewinecentre.ie; Gibney’s, Malahide, gibneys.com

Callejuela Amontillado

€32, 18%
A superb precise intensely flavoured sherry with toasted almonds, mahogany polish, tangy crisp citrus acidity and excellent dry length. Serve lightly chilled with fried salty almonds, a few slices of chorizo or some pâté and toast.
From: Clontarf Wines, Dublin 3 clontarfwines.ie; The Corkscrew, Dublin 2, thecorkscrew.ie; Ely 64, Glasthule, ely64.com; Blackrock Cellar, Blackrock, blackrockcellar.com; Green Man Wines, Dublin 6, greenmanwines.ie; Morton’s, Dublin 6, mortons.ie; Whelehan’s Wines, Loughlinstown, whelehanswines.ie

Hidalgo Oloroso Faraon

€16.50 for a 50cl bottle, 18%
A very elegant bone-dry sherry with toasted hazelnuts, citrus peel and raisins finishing on an attractive saline note.
From: jnwine.com

Fernando de Castilla Antique Palo Cortado

€45 per half litre bottle, 19%
An exquisite sherry, elegant and concentrated with orange peel, toasted almonds, finishing long and bone dry. Try with blue cheese on sourdough toast.
From: Ely Wine Store, Maynooth; elywinebar.ie; Searsons, Monkstown, searsons.com

Posted in: Irish Times

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Sherry Cocktails

Dust off the sherry bottle – it’s trendy now
The Spanish wine is becoming a fashionable cocktail addition

First published in The Irish Times
Sat, Sep 12, 2015, 02:15

I am always reluctant to add anything to my wine. I have too much respect for both winemaker and grape. If he or she had wanted their wine to taste fizzy and have bits of fruit floating around in it, they would have added fizzy water and bits of fruit; except then it isn’t wine. Besides, good wine tastes far too nice by itself to consider meddling around with it. Even Kir, the Burgundian aperitif of Aligoté and Crème de Cassis, seems merely a way of using up a rather acidic wine.Obviously there is a point to adding things to average wine – it helps mask any deficiencies. In the cold of winter, mulled wine can be warming, and in summer, a spritzer can be refreshing. But this summer a new wine-based cocktail has become very fashionable, and it is made using a very fine wine.

I have great sympathy for the Jerezanos. They produce sherry, one of the greatest drinks known to man, one that requires lengthy ageing and expert blending. The world, sadly, ignores them much of the time. Despite sherry being hip in the wine bars of London and elsewhere, sales of the real stuff are steady rather than brilliant. However, rescue may be at hand. Sherry cocktails are taking off. You may have come across white port and tonic, muddled or garnished with fresh mint. A rebujito is the Spanish equivalent, a fino sherry with tonic and ice. Apparently they have been knocking it back for years at fiestas all around the south of Spain. It does have advantages; the lovely taste of fino sherry but less of the alcohol, so you don’t slide under the table after a few drinks. If you find fino and tonic a little too dry, you can always add lemonade instead. There are even a few pre-mixed versions available. But this is only the start of sherry and cocktails. The internet is coming down with recipes. Sherry company Lustau has its own site, with suggestions for every style of sherry. Talia Baiocchi has published a book, Sherry: A Modern Guide to the Wine World’s Best-kept Secret, with Cocktails and Recipes.

I thought this was something new, but a little research showed that sherry cocktails go back to the 19th century, which saw the creation of two classics, the Bamboo and the Adonis. And of course there is the sherry cobbler.The Bamboo, invented in the 1890s in the Grand Hotel in Yokohama, Japan, calls for equal parts of fino sherry and dry vermouth with two dashes of Angostura bitters and two of orange bitters. The Adonis, apparently named after a Broadway musical, is made up of two parts fino sherry to one part sweet vermouth with two dashes of orange bitters. The cobbler is of even earlier origin. Recipes vary greatly but all contain sherry (fino or amontillado), sugar and lots of ice. Most contain citrus, usually a slice or two of orange, as well.Moving up in strength, sherry brandy is also now back in fashion, as an ingredient in cocktails. This goes through a unique solera system, producing distinctive, sometimes exquisite brandies. I visited the Lepanto distillery in Gonzalez Byass earlier this year and tasted some amazing brandies. Sadly, they are not available in Ireland. However, if you are travelling back from Spain, look for them in travel retail shops – Lepanto is very cheap given the quality.At a more rarified level, Fernando Castilla and Bodegas Tradicion both make superb sherry brandies. They are not cheap, however. Celtic Whiskey has the Bodegas Tradicion brandy for €75.99 and the amazing Tradicion Platinum brandy for €289.99.I am glad that the sherry houses have found a new audience for their wonderful wines, and I hope it wins new converts to this unique drink. However, I cannot help shuddering slightly at the idea of adding the finest old amontillado to a cocktail.

ImageTio Pepe Palamino Fino
15%
€15.99

One of the best wine brands of all; delicious, light, elegant and refreshing with subtle flavours of almond and green olives.

Stockists: Very widely available including O’Briens, Tesco, Dunnes, SuperValu.

DSCF6033La Iña Fino sherry
15%
€15.99

A great name in sherry, now revived. Lovely tangy fresh dry wine with nuts, green apples and a bracing salinity.

Stockists: Mitchell & Son, chq, Sandycove & Avoca, Kilmacanogue; McCabes, Foxrock & Blackrock.

Lustau Solera Gran Reserva Finest Selection, Brandy de Jerez
40%
€57.95

Remarkable brandy and remarkable value too. Coffee, caramel, chocolate, burnished old mahogany furniture and nuts.

Stockists: Mitchell & Son, chq. The Wine Centre, Kilkenny; McCabe’s;
Deveney’s, Dundrum.

Posted in: Irish Times

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