The flor is thicker and that salty coastal tang is evident in its taste. For those who know Latin, VORS stands for “vinum optimum rare signatum”, and for those who don’t, “very old rare sherry”, the highest accolade a sherry can achieve.

Like other Manzanilla Sherries, this one is dry, crisp, and incredibly light.

As an Amontillado, this sherry was not kept under a protective layer of yeast the entire time it was aged. Sweet and luscious it’s a superb dessert wine. Oloroso: Either dry or sweet, this is a dark sherry with stronger more concentrated nutty and dried fruit flavours. In fact, the winery that produces it is currently owned by the Spanish royal family and has only recently become available to those of us without blue blood.

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It is the driest and some would say the purest form of the sherry blender’s art. Manzanilla is a special style of Sherry that can only be made in the coastal region of Sanlucar de Barrameda since it's kept under a protective flor made of wild yeast native to this small corner of Spain. Palo Cortado: This started life as a fino or amontillado until, for some reason the flor disappeared leaving a sherry that’s less dry but with more depth of flavour. In recent years it’s also been the basis for some splendid sherry cocktails.

We think the best buy has to be the Berry Bros & Rudd dry oloroso Sanlúcar de Barrameda, with it’s concentrated nutty flavours of fruit, caramel and spices. Made from grapes grown in El Puerto de Santa María, one of the three towns in Spain’s sherry triangle it offers stringent peach and apple flavours with a long and savoury finish.

It derives from the Spanish word “sacar” meaning to draw out which is what happened to the sherry before it was shipped to England back in the days of Shakespeare. Made from aromatic wine grapes that are allowed to dry on the vines, Hidalgo Alameda Cream Sherry tops this list as the best Cream Sherry. A world of sunshine in a glass. Like her, it claims to be intense, powerful yet elegant, which would seem to be a pretty accurate description of this manzanilla with its citrus notes and hints of almonds and olives. Serve slightly chilled with salted almonds as a refreshing aperitif or just enjoy it at room temperature with the odd mince pie or two. Doubly so in this case since it’s an “en rama” sherry, ie, a “raw” one taken straight from the cask without any additional treatment. Not sure on the difference between manzanilla and oloroso? This Sherry has a long finish and a relatively light mouthfeel.

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? The founders of Xeco have an admirable aim. Sickly sweet and served in dusty glasses, it was a thing to avoid. A blend of palomino (90 per cent) and pedro ximénez (10 per cent) grapes that gets its romantic name from the story that local workers would stop at the bodega on their way home and ask for a bottle of oloroso with a touch of pedro ximénez, which they claimed made the wine taste more “amoroso”. Huge casks are housed in ground-level wine cellars called bodegas. It can be dry or sweet, crisp or nutty, and though it is usually used as a cooking wine in the New World, in Spain it's usually enjoyed instead of wine, either before or after dinner, or even paired with certain fish and poultry dishes.

The flor or yeast layer that covers fino or amontillado sherries will sometimes disappear leaving a sherry that’s a cross between a fino and an oloroso.

From an organic bodega, it’s suitable for vegans and vegetarians. A mouthful of magic.

Want an ad-free experience?Subscribe to Independent Premium. IndyBest product reviews are unbiased, independent advice you can trust. We've got it covered, 15 best sherries that are much more than just a Christmas tipple, Sustainable and organic kids' clothing brands, Paraben and sulphate free shampoo & conditioner, 8 best wine coolers for keeping your bottles chilled in style, Best online wine shops for all bottles, from affordable to vintage, 9 best European wines from non-EU countries to survive Brexit with, 10 best orange wines that celebrate the resurging wine-making trend, Berry Bros & Rudd dry oloroso Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Once thought of as merely a Christmas staple, sherry is at last taking its rightful place in the wine world as a superb example of Spanish winemaking. A product of the renowned Barbadillo bodega in the coastal town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, this is a sweet sherry that sings out with flavours of nuts, dates, dried fruit and caramel. So, teaming up with the already long-established Diez Merito bodega in Spain’s sherry triangle they have brought out a fino which not only looks good but also has that crisp and savoury taste which should bring in the punters.

So eventually, each cask contains a full blend of different vintages while maintaining a consistent style. Bit of a history lesson here: sack is nothing to do the stuff people used to hump coal or potatoes in. Copyright 2020 Bestcovery.com, LLC. We’re in VORS territory again here with a superlative palo cortado from Jerez.

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This is a dark and dry oloroso which should light up any winter’s evening. They’re also exploiting the fact that it can form the basis of a host of simple but effective and attractive sherry cocktails. Manzanilla is Spanish for chamomile and there’s evidence of that too in this dry and quaffable sherry. It’s standing in the wine world is perhaps best summed up in the subtitle of the newly published and wonderfully researched history of the wine by Ben Howkins Sherry: Maligned, Misunderstood, Magnificent! As a result, it was exposed to oxygen in the casks, which has given it a nutty aroma and a rich amber color. One hopes this smooth, elegant medium-dry sherry with its flavours of caramel and dried fruit made their loved ones react the same way as Doris Day in the song “S’wonderful”: “You've made my life so glamorous, You can't blame me for feeling amorous.”. But there’s nothing old fashioned about this amontillado which in fact is an en rama sherry with minimal filtration.

Golden amber in colour, this is a dry oloroso from Jerez which, like all good sherries, can be enjoyed with a variety of culinary delights, from salted nuts to creamy cheeses or a chicken liver pâté.

There’s no doubting the popularity of this sherry staple from one of the big names. You’re not just buying a bottle of sherry here, you’re buying history and heritage at a bargain price. It's made from a base of 100 percent Palomino wine, and has notes of almond, lemon curd, and even a hint of Spanish seaside. You can trust our independent reviews. If any sherry style can be considered “classic” then surely fino fits that bill. It is the driest and some would say the purest form of the sherry blender’s art. Pedro ximénez: Unlike the sherries above which are made using the palomino grape, this is made using the grape which give this style its name, usually shortened to just “PX”. We may earn commission from some of the retailers, but we never allow this to influence selections, which are formed from real-world testing and expert advice.

But how things have changed.

Finally, a word about the solera system used in the production of sherry.

(Académie du Vin, £20). If any sherry style can be considered “classic” then surely fino fits that bill. Dry Sherries, which include Fino, Manzanilla, and sometimes Amontillado have a crisp aftertaste and a lower sugar content than their sweet counterparts. It can be dry or sweet, crisp or nutty, and though it is usually used as a cooking wine in the New World, in Spain it's usually enjoyed instead of wine, either before or after dinner, or even paired with certain fish and poultry dishes. There’s also a slightly salty or saline note which is evident in this superb manzanilla from Casilla Verde family estate about 7km from the sea in Pago Miraflores Baja.

This example has been aged for up to 30 years resulting in a rich and textured sherry with hugely concentrated flavours.