Elegantly Dressed Wednesday: Sherry
I adore sherry, and not just for its smooth and nutty flavour. Every time I clap my eyes on a bottle of Fino, I’m transported back over twenty years to the pre-lunch sherry-drinking ritual my grandparents adhered to. I can see the midday sunshine pouring through the sashes, twinkling through the little glasses of wine to become dancing points of light.
I can also see the labels. Tio Pepe in the main, but later supplemented by the gaiety of La Gitana, the reliable sombreness of Harveys, the martial splendour of Hidalgo Napoleon. No other wine, whatever its merits, has a better standard of dress than sherry.
My favourite sherry is certainly the last brand. Sold to the French troops as “Napoleon” in the early 19th-century, it was also marketed to the British soldiers under the name “Wellington”. Even better for someone as impatient as myself, the amontillado seco is best drunk at room temperature, saving me the trouble of pacing agitatedly round the fridge.
That said, I’ve never tried the Hidalgo Napoleon Pedro Ximenez Viejo. Something tells me its likely to be a whole lot better than the dregs end of the Morrison’s Fino I’ve got at the moment.
Still, I raise it to elegant wines, wherever they may be found.
Published on 14th May, 2008
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