In the northern hemisphere, wines strengthened by the addition of alcohol come into their own during the dank, dark nights of January. Many people I know are wary of opening a bottle, thinking it’ll take them ages to finish it. It won’t. Drink Fino and Manzanilla sherry within three days of opening; most other ports and sherries within a week or two; Madeira and many Australian Muscats can survive months in an opened bottle.
Although sherry producers have launched a worthy campaign to stir up attention for their finest products, some of them age-dated nowadays, it is all too difficult to find them on the shelf, unfortunately. The Wine Society takes sherry seriously, as do Tanners of Shrewsbury, but they are members of a tiny minority. Meanwhile, profit from mainstream sherry’s laughably low prices – and enjoy some of the versatile new sweet bottlings. Portugal’s fortified wines port and Madeira continue to be much more expensive. The bargains, as in last week’s sweet wines, come from Australia. For stockists outside the UK, try winesearcher.com
Dry and tangy
Waitrose Fino Sherry £4.69 Caballero
This is a wine, yes a wine, aimed at wine drinkers rather than sherry drinkers. At just 15 per cent alcohol it is about as strong as many a New World red and yet is extremely fresh and appetising. Terrible label unfortunately, and fino sherry is hardly the sort of wine to decant – in fact it should be drunk so fresh and straight out of the bottle than the Jerezanos themselves, in sherry’s town of origin, sell it mainly in half bottles. This is the price of a full 75cl bottle however and is quite exceptional value. If you are determined to drink a famous brand rather than a supermarket label, seek out La Ina or Tio Pepe, generally at more than £8.
Waitrose Amontillado Sherry £4.99 Antonio Romeiro
Along with Marks & Spencer, Waitrose seem one of the few big retailers to put real effort into their sherry selection (if not its packaging). This is the classic, well-aged version of the wine above, averaging 10 years’ cask ageing apparently – and all for an extra 30 pence. This gentle wine is genuinely interesting, long, dense and pungent. I would decant it and serve it blind. It is quite dry enough for mainstream wine drinkers, and notches up 18.5 per cent. It should be drunk within a week, however, and deserves to be.
Henriques & Henriques 15 year old Verdelho £16.99 50cl Waitrose, £17.95 Lea & Sandeman
Just so lively and bracing – but a bit fuller than a dry sherry
Australian stickies
Mick Morris Liqueur MuscatNV South Eastern Australia £6.99 50cl Tesco
Exceptional value – burnt sugar syrup with overtones of rum essence. Both dental hygienists and Weightwatchers would faint at this.
Campbells Rutherglen MuscatNV £7.99 37.5cl Oddbins, Somerfield
This is probably the best value of these three. Pale orange, very racy and delicate with little lift and really satin texture. If refined Ruthgerglen Muscat exists, this just might be it.
Stanton & Killeen Classic Rutherglen Muscat NV £17.50 50cl Noel Young of Trumpington, Auriol Wines of Hartely Wintney
Dark tawny showing real age and complexity. There are rose petals on the nose then treacly fruit on the palate and most impressive length of flavour. For sipping very, very slowly.
Richer sherries
Rich Cream Sherry £4.99 Marks & Spencer
Light walnut colour with a greenish rim. Very sweet and slightly syrupy. Certainly not fine but much more interesting than most of the big brands and good value at £4.99. 17 per cent alcohol.
Sticky Pudding Wine Barbadillo £6.49 50cl Sainsbury’s
This must be the best, or at least cleverest, sherry packaging in the world – a dark half-litre of raisined Pedro Ximenez grapes marketed on the seductive Haagen Dazs ticket. It tastes like a cross between caramel and rum and raisin ice cream. Not subtle but good value. A previous wine of the week.
Gonzalez Byass Solera 1847 Sweet Cream Sherry £8.99 Waitrose
A serious sweet sherry, launched only recently and based on a blend of wines begun more than 150 years ago although with an average ago of about 10 years. Smartly dressed up to look relatively clean and modern. Dark tawny.
Gonzalez Byass Matusalem Rich Oloroso £10.99 Fortnum & Mason, Harvey Nichols, larger Sainsbury’s, Selfridges
The grown up version of Solera 1847, liquid Christmas pudding, though great with mature Cheddar too.
Ports of all sorts
Taylor LBV 1999 £9.99 Majestic
Taylor tend to go mad with their prices at Christmas. This is unremarkable as a port – sweet, floral, fresh and relatively light – but is certainly a fine price, especially if you buy any two Taylor ports from Majestic (see another below) and lop a further £2 off each bottle.
Quinta do Noval 10 yr old tawny From £12.69 from Richard Granger, Great Grog of Edinburgh, Midhurst Wine Shippers, The Winesmith of Peterborough
Lovely round, characterful, mellow tawny port from the AXA port farm about which I wrote in November. Or you could treat yourself to Noval’s deliciously mature and nutty Colheita 1974, a 30 year-old vintage-dated tawny, which is £34.99 or £15.99 a half from Berry Bros, Cambridge Wine Merchants, Oddbins, Selfridges, Tanners of Shrewsbury, Theatre of Wine in Greenwich and Wimbledon Wine Cellars.
Niepoort Late Bottled Vintage 2000 £13.50/£7 a half Fortnum & Mason
Really serious wine with so much character it practically crawls out of the bottle and across your palate. Fiery, slightly dry and briary. Not especially sweet but chewy and intriguing. This wine would be great with cheese – not mellow enough for sipping without food, I’d say.
Dow’s Crusted Port 1999 £13-14 Asda, Berry Bros, Oddbins, Tesco, Waitrose
Very full and rich and brambly on the front palate – full vintage port thrust – and then finishes with nice, dry liquorice savour. This is a wine that has to be stood upright for at least a few hours, preferably overnight, and decanted off the sediment before serving.
20 yr old tawny (Guimaraens) £19.99 Marks & Spencer
Excellent price for a rich wine mellowed in casks for more than 20 years. Pale tawny in colour with lots of raisin flavours and even a bit of chewiness on the finish. On no account keep this; it will not improve. Sip with new season’s walnuts and contemplate life’s marvels. From a sister company to Taylor.
Taylor Quinta de Vargellas 1996 £24 (£22 if two Taylors ports are bought) Majestic, £22.34 Tesco
Heady, scented, fine, ract, claret-like port with prunes, violets and a clean, dry finish. Good stuff.
