YASD - Yet Another Sherry Dinner

The AOF turned to Mephistophelean tactics this time around, offering a research fellowship to one of our attendees if he backed out of the dinner. To his eternal shame he accepted*.

But thanks to an intense recruiting effort we found six hardy souls who gathered at Ping’s Seafood for a wonderful selection of Sherries with some top notch food. Fortunately we hit the “good chef” lottery this time around. Unfortunately my note taking suffered due to a painfully loud and crowded dining room for a Monday night but we’ll see what we can do.


Bodegas Tradicion Fino October 2013 - beautiful, light and rainwatery

Hidalgo La Panessa Especial Fino - a bit more full bodied than the Tradicion but a a very short finish - at first. It really came alive with the crispy silverfish and continued to blossom with air. From one of my least favorites it made its way to being one of my favorites.

Equipo Navazos La Bota 45 Fino - this started out as one of my favorites and never left that position. More intense and complex. Great on its own and with the food. Loved this.

Equipo Navazos La Bota 30 Manzanilla Pasada - soft ocean wave lifting you up


Domecq Amontillado 51-1a - Rich, saline, good but not in the top of tonight’s lineup. Great backstory though as Domecq was founded back in 1720, this solera was started in 1830 and it is currently owned by Osborne.

1964 Gonzalez Byass Oloroso Anada - long, finely etched detailed flavors. I so wanted to try this again that I ordered a bottle from Germany about 2 years ago. Did not disappoint.

1970 Bodegas Tradicion Oloroso Anada - a soft mouthfilling cloud of flavor

Interesting comparison, the table was pretty well split on which one they preferred. For me it was the Byass.



Corey and I had an interesting discussion where we agreed that Sherry is even more enjoyable when tasted in the context of other Sherries rather than going back and forth with “regular” wine.

A great meal with some great Sherries.

http://www.wineberserkers.com/forum/posting.php?mode=edit&f=1&p=1230989



* Psst - AOF! For future reference my price is $5000 or a bottle of DRC from a good vintage. This is negotiable.

I love Sherry. I wish I a) drank more of it b) knew more about it and c) could afford to do both.

As far as b) Sherry, Manzanilla and Montilla by Liem and Barquin is the place to start.
And for c) Sherry is still affordable and will last over several days which makes it one of the more reasonably priced areas to explore. I’m guessing the availability of sherry is still pretty limited outside of the major markets.

There are wonderful reasonably priced Sherries especially since, as Tom mentions, many of them will last for quite a while in the fridge.

One of my favorites for ridiculous quality for the price is the Hidalgo VOS Wellington Palo Cortado (personally I don’t think the VORS is worth the uptick in price though I know of someone who’s going to disagree with me )

But the base Valdespino Fino in half bottle at under $20 is one of those perfect summer wines when you just want a small glass of something with a light snack.

And the Alvear Montillas are perennial bargains.

Sounds nice Jay. Sorry I wasn’t in town. I have nobody to drink sherry with these days!

Tom - I’m sure you know this but SOME sherry will last for a few days, or rather weeks and in some cases, months, i.e. the olorosos, Amontillados, and palo cortados. Finos are more like any white wine - they can be OK for a couple days, but not much longer, especially the lighter ones.

You called?!?

Sounds like another smashing Sherry soirée! Thank you, in particular, for the EN 45 note — I imagine that was released somewhat recently, which gives me hope that I’ll be able to find some at one of my L.A. wine stores.

Greg, mostly I wanted to dispel the idea that finos are only good for an hour or two after opening. That claim had put me off opening the full size bottles. It’s interesting to see how wines develop over several days. Any bottle lasting more than several days would be a rarity.

Sorry I couldn’t make this, I really want to learn more about Sherry. Sounds like a great time!

Thanks for posting notes, Jay. This was a great time with lots of wonderful wines and very nice food. I was pretty impressed with just about all of the wines and would drink any of them any time. The two vintage sherries showed interesting antique-cabinetry wood flavors from their long elevage – really interesting.