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Sherry & Montilla Moriles — Wines for the 21st Century
As part of the work we're doing to support and promote fortified wines in the UK despite having to cancel the Big Fortified Tasting this year, we've been arranging a series of tutored tastings. Many people from TPF took part in the first two Quevedo tastings on May 7 and May 8.

I'm delighted to announce our next tasting. This is a tasting of a range of 6 different wines from Sherry, Manzanilla and Montilla Moriles where each wine has been carefully chosen to allow a comparison against others. 3 of the wines are reductively matured and 3 are oxidatively matured allowing a comparison of the two styles. 2 are Manzanilla wines from the Palamino grape, but matured for different lengths of time. 1 is a sweet 1994 vintage Pedro Ximénez while 1 is a dry fino style Pedro Ximénez. The wines also include a Palo Cortado, which is a top of the range Sherry having been carefully selected before following the path to become a Palo Cortado.

Sarah Jane Evans is a Master of Wine and has incredible knowledge of the wines of Spain. She is also an entertaining speaker as any of you who have had the benefit of watching her presentations as part of the 67 Pall Mall tastings will know. Sarah Jane will be leading a live and interactive YouTube tasting of the wines, at 7.30pm on Thursday 23rd July. The tasting will cover the wines comparing and contrasting the styles, ages, production and maturation approaches taken for each type of wine and by each producer.

The wines being tasted are:

• Manzanilla La Guita from José Estévez (20cl)
• Manzanilla Solear from Bodegas Barbadillo (37.5cl)
• Fino C.B. from Bodegas Alvear in Montilla Moriles (37.5cl)
• Don Zoilo Collecíon 12 Year Old Oloroso from Bodegas Williams & Humbert (37.5cl)
• Palo Cortado Península from Emilio Lustau (37.5cl)
• 1994 Pedro Ximénez from Toro Albalá in Montilla Moriles (25cl)

The Tasting Packs are available from Vintage Wine & Port, who are supporting the Big Fortified Tasting with the event. And they represent a bit of a bargain - not only do you get Sarah Jane's expertise to teach you about Sherry styles but you also get £75 worth of wine for £69 in each pack. (Delivery is free if you spend over £100 - so buy two tasting packs or top up with some of Tony's fabulous selection of Ports.)

The aim of the tasting is to appeal to both the newcomer to Sherry who is trying to understand the difference between a fino and an oloroso style while at the same time appealing to the more experienced Sherry drinker by including some top grade wines such as a 1994 vintage Pedro Ximénez and a Palo Cortado. With the easing of lockdown, you can now share a tasting pack with a friend and spread the Sherry word even further.

Sarah Jane's presentation will also cover food pairings. Until I was speaking with her to plan this tasting I had never even considered Sherry to accompany a spicy curry, but it really works!

I saw your adverts for this on Twitter and was very impressed with the selection (and the price!). My main problem is working out a bottle of Port that costs c.£31 to add to the order...

JacobH wrote:I saw your adverts for this on Twitter and was very impressed with the selection (and the price!). My main problem is working out a bottle of Port that costs c.£31 to add to the order...

Stop worrying about how you get over the free delivery threshold and order one of the Quevedo tasting packs still available!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

If anyone is interested in this tasting, email or PM me and I can provide you with a TPF discount code.

Have signed up for this and very much looking forward to furthering my knowledge.

Tony has suggested that I make it easier for people and post a link to the TPF member discount price for the Sherry Tasting. If you order using this link, you will get the TPF member's discount for the Sherry Tasting Experience pack.

And if you don't want to buy the pack, please still join the tasting on YouTube at 7.30pm on Thursday 23rd July.

AHB wrote: ↑14:04 Fri 10 Jul 2020 If anyone is interested in this tasting, email or PM me and I can provide you with a TPF discount code.

Blast, I ordered without seeing this post!

<edit>

Spoke to Tony at VWP and he's sorting this out for me - mentioned he knew a couple of others from here who had ordered at full retail and was planning to talk to them so if you are one of them I suggest you chat to him.

Thanks Rich...
The TPF product is hidden so you can only go through Alex's link above. If anyone from TPF has already ordered please let me know and I will adjust etc.

Alex has put a lot of effort into putting together a great line-up.

There is also a TPF Quevedo link Quevedo Tasting . There are not many of these available - I'll start a thread on the Port side.

My set arrived today: excellent speedy service.

I don’t know why I was oblivious to the existence of 20cl bottles of manzanilla before: one of the big problems I have with sherry is that the mood to drink it doesn’t come around that often and so I often waste quite a lot of any bottle I open, particularly with the finos which don’t seem to last very long once opened.

Fino only lasts a week, two at the most if kept in the fridge, once opened.

The 20cl bottles were a special request, I don’t think they’re a standard size...but the producers And their UK agents will be watching the tasting so please ask the question as to where you can buy them.

Thank you Alex and Tony for the opportunity to participate in this, Sherry is not my thing generally but I look forward to broadening my horizons

Would there be any interest in a post-tasting Zoom gathering as was held after the Quevedo tasting?

CPR 1 wrote:Thank you Alex and Tony for the opportunity to participate in this, Sherry is not my thing generally but I look forward to broadening my horizons

Same here. Also happy to zoom and discuss after.

Anyone else interested in a Zoom chat after the Sherry / Montilla Moriles tasting? I'm happy to set up a zoom call and send the link out to people.

AHB wrote: ↑12:13 Tue 21 Jul 2020 Anyone else interested in a Zoom chat after the Sherry / Montilla Moriles tasting? I'm happy to set up a zoom call and send the link out to people.

yes please

Yes please

AHB wrote: ↑12:13 Tue 21 Jul 2020 Anyone else interested in a Zoom chat after the Sherry / Montilla Moriles tasting? I'm happy to set up a zoom call and send the link out to people.

Yes please.

Yes please.

Alex, did you send out a link for a Zoom?

This was really excellent. Thank you to everyone involved in organising it. I’m almost embarrassed about how little I knew about the subject beforehand; particularly the grape varieties used (or the lack thereof) and the maturation processes.

The other thing that was really striking is how complex the production is and yet the prices are insanely low. How are any of them making any money out of this?

My favourites were the Barbadillo Solear Manzanilla (seemingly available for about £6.50 for a half-bottle which is just crazy) and the Don Zoilo 12YO Oloroso. I was particularly pleased to find such a cheap Manzanilla which I liked: I can easily see this replacing a dry martini as an aperitif since i won’t feel too guilty if I don’t finish the bottle before it goes beyond the peak. I have a feeling those are two of the less sophisticated choices on offer: probably equivalent to choosing a Cockburn Special Reserve and Taylor 10 Year Old Tawny at a Port tasting but it will encourage me to try some more.

The only one I struggled with was the PX. I could appreciate it was a very fine wine but I still struggle to work out any circumstance when I might want to drink a glass. This was demonstrated just before the tasting by me finding another bottle of PX that has been open and in the bottom of my fridge since Christmas 2018...

(After the tasting we re-calibrated our palates with a few odds and end of Port that was in my fridge which was reassuring in that it demonstrated that I shouldn’t be selling off my Port to replace with sherry just yet!)

Thanks again! Looking forward to the Quevedo tasting.

And did you notice that your question on the 20cl bottle was asked?

I did indeed!

Have done a number of Sherry tastings over the years, and this was one of the best.

If you haven’t already partaken then VWP still have the tasting packs available. Exceptionally good value.

nac wrote: ↑22:13 Thu 30 Jul 2020 Have done a number of Sherry tastings over the years, and this was one of the best.

If you haven’t already partaken then VWP still have the tasting packs available. Exceptionally good value.

Completely agree. Anyone who is interested in the different styles of wine or gaining more knowledge about sherry should indulge in this. A great opportunity to taste some fantastic sherry in a unique pack. I learnt a lot and had a very pleasant evening of drinking to boot. The recommended food pairing is a must.