Many guests know sherry as the sweet bottle at the back of a relative’s cupboard. The sherry we pour is mostly the opposite: dry, bright and made to be drunk with food. It comes from the triangle of towns around Jerez in southern Spain, from white grapes grown on chalky soil, and it takes its character from the way it ages.
The styles on our list
- Fino and manzanilla: pale, bone dry and salty, aged under a layer of yeast called flor. Served cold.
- Amontillado: begins as a fino, then ages without flor and turns amber and nutty.
- Oloroso: aged without flor from the start, darker and rounder, and still dry.
- Pedro Ximénez: made from dried grapes, dark and sweet, poured with dessert.
What to eat with it
Fino and manzanilla are the natural partners for the first plates of a meal: almonds, olives, cured ham, anchovies, fried croquettes. The salt in the wine meets the salt in the food and both taste cleaner for it. Amontillado stands up to mushrooms, artichokes and the smokier dishes from the grill. Oloroso is the one to try with roast lamb or a cheese board.
If a dish is salty, fried or smoked, there is a sherry that wants to sit next to it.
We keep an open bottle of each style behind the bar and pour by the glass, so a table can move from fino to oloroso across a meal without committing to a bottle. Ask for a taste before you order. Most people who try a cold fino with a plate of ham do not go back.