Sherry: Still your grannies’ favourite?
Richard Hamblin, Manager and Sommelier of The Blueprint Cafe asks the crucial question
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There was an enormous spread on the farmhouse table and I was having trouble recollecting the last time I had seen quite so much butter & cream outside of Neal’s Yard. Not only was there quiche of many varieties, but delicious scones and several very tempting cakes as well. I would have thought the best drink to wash all this down with would be a decent cup of Earl Grey from a delicate china cup. However, out of respect to my recently deceased nonagenarian Aunty Rene whose wake I was attending it was a tiny glass of Sherry. Harveys Bristol Cream I later discovered and saccharine sweet it was too.
Fast forward a week and I was overlooking the Rio Guadalquivir lunching on an enormous plate of gambas with Javier Hidalgo. The drink of choice was, of course, Hidalgo La Gitana Manzanilla, just about the polar extreme to the aforementioned Cream. Manzanilla is the lightest, most delicate and driest of all sherry styles and must be matured in the coastal town of Sanlucar de Barrameda. The proximity to both the Atlantic and river mouth maintains high humidity which ensures that the protective yeast layer or flor persists throughout the year. This protects the wine from any oxidative process whilst it matures in botas of American oak in the huge cathedral like bodegas which dominate the centre of the town.
It was in the cool interior of one of these immense buildings that we saw the pulpo at work. A central pump with so many arms that it must have radically altered the number of employees required to work the Solera system; one of it’s predecessors was but a simple silver plated jug. In order to maintain consistency of style and to protect the reserves of previous years’ wines the Solera blends younger vintages into older ones via a series of barrels.
As such Sherry is a wine which is dominated by its vinification and specifically its maturation, far more than its viticulture. How else to explain the remarkable transformation of a very neutral base wine into the most perfect aperitif and moreish food wine? Indeed our host considered that still wine made from the Palomino grape, which is the workhorse of the region, to be like making love in a boat…………so something very close to water.
There are a slightly bewildering number of styles of Sherry. These are created through varying degrees of fortification leading to ageing either in contact with the air (Oloroso) or whilst protected by the flor layer (Manzanilla & Fino) or indeed a two step combination of both (true Amontillado, Palo Cortado), whilst the best sweet styles can be created through using different grapes such as Moscatel or Pedro Ximinez.
However for a real treat seek out two Very Old Rare Sherries (VORS). The classification means that the youngest elements in the blend are at least 30 years old, whilst in this instance the solera was established way back in 1792. The Amontillado Viejo Hidalgo is nutty, rich and tangy with the Palo Cortado Viejo Hidalgo tasting of butterscotch & walnuts. Both of these are seriously fine, rare wines demanding real length of consideration and couldn’t be further removed from the sweetened commercial styles so popular with an older generation.
Hidalgo Manzanilla ‘La Gitana’ is available throughout June & July on our open air Summer Terrace overlooking the Thames.
Blueprint Café
020 7378 7031
www.danddlondon.com
