Did you know it is International Sherry Week ( 7th to 13th November 2022 ) and if you follow my instagram you will know I have a bit of a thing for Sherry and fortified wine in general? Actually, it’s a full-blown love affair on my part as it is an astounding wine and a lot of experts agree with me. Penny for penny Sherry is some of the best value, well-made wine on the market. But a word of warning, drinking sherry is not like drinking an easy-going fresh and fruity Pinot Grigio. Sherry is multifaceted and complex. It can be bone dry to almost sickly sweet, nutty, almost salty, and with layers and layers of flavour.
Lustau Manzanilla de Sanlucar En Rama 2021
Today’s choice is produced by one of the most venerated names in sherry Lustau, who have been making wine for more than a century. They are one of the only producers to make sherry in the three cities that mark the holy trinity of sherry styles: Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María, and Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Manzanilla is produced in the last of these towns in bodegas, or wineries, on the mouth of the Guadalquivir river. Manzanilla is produced entirely from the palomino grape and this wine is bottled ‘ En Rama ’ which means it is straight from the barrel with no filtering or fining.
Lustau Manzanilla de Sanlucar is lemon yellow in the glass, with a briny aroma like the sea after a storm and highlights of aniseed and garden herbs. The wine is bone dry but refreshing, nutty as you expect with a pleasing level of bitterness. Serve chilled exactly like white wine, I keep mine in the door of the fridge, throw some Gordal olives in a bowl, grab some Manchego cheese and enjoy this little bit of Spain in a glass.
Grape variety Palomino
Country of origin Spain
Region Sanlúcar de Barrameda
Vintage 2021
Alcohol 15 %
Notes
The wine is aged for five years in American oak barrels under the yeasty layer of flor a peculiarity of sherry making.
The Caskaway 