SHERRY/MONTILLA-MORILES

For almost two centuries Tio Pepe cellar masters have used the 'Palma' chalk mark system in their bodega.  Traditionally the Palma mark was used on barrels to indicate wines of exceptional finesse and delicacy of aromas.  The more "Palmas" on barrel the greater the maturity of the wine.

From the winery...

Only half a cask is bottled of this 52 year old Amontillado.

Time and the winery have taken care of this Amontillado Muy Viejo, transforming it into a truly splendid wine. It has been ageing for 52 years and bottled from cask number 5 in Bodega La Constancia Solera Museo.

Intense mahogany colour with amber shades, yet clean and bright. High glycerine content and persistent legs.

Spectacular, complex and profound nose, reminding you of antique furniture, cedar, lacquer and varnish. Pure concentration where we can still appreciate the origin of biological ageing.

The wine shows an overwhelming, very dry, direct, profound and almost wild palate. Its finish is impressive, round, showing a perfect balance between acidity and ageing with notes of iodine, brine, cocoa and caramel. The aftertaste is like a dream come true, where the roasted and balsamic flavours blend together with the salinity and bitterness make this wine a true legend.

A classic dry fino that tastes like sherry, but is made made from the Pedro Xim?nez grape (rather than, more typically, Palomino) and is completely unfortified as well as coming from Montilla-Moriles rather than Jerez, which is the city where sherry comes from. 

This wine was made following the traditional solera ageing system in barrels and was aged under a veil of natural yeast known as the flor - exactly like sherry. This gives the wine its distinctive flavours of toasted almonds, olives and salty tang, finishing on a clean and refreshing flavour note.

It is one of the rare wines which will happily partner dishes containing vinegar. Pair it with jam?n serrano, mussels, salted Marcona almonds, marinated olives, croquettes, clams or gazpac

This is a perfect aperitif, made from the Palomino grape. Dry and complex, this sherry shows shows oxidative notes of died fruit and nuts and a fragrant nose. The Elegate Fino Sherry is a great match for cheese, fish and white meats.  

If spicy flavours rock your world, try this treacly, intensely luscious sweet sherry from one of the great producers in southern Spain - Lustau. This wine is made 100% from the Pedro Ximenez grape, also known as PX. It's a white grape, which is typically given long hang time on the vines followed by sun drying to create its intensely rich, sweet flavours, which come partially from the shrivelled well ripened grapes and partially from the production - this wine is fermented to a low level of alcohol and then fortified. 

Sticky date pudding or home made ginger bread, here's your perfect match.

We love sweet sherry but it's not to be confused with the great, tangy dry sherries of the world, which are an entire delicious category in their own right. 

Sweet wine from Andalucia in the south of Spain where the grapes are late harvested and dried to concentrate flavours into sweet treats such as this lovely  fortified wine. 

Complex flavours here include caramel, walnut and hazelnut aromas.

This wine comes from Andalusia in the south of Spain, the same region that is home to sherry but this wine lies just outside of the geographic sherry triangle, so it is not, strictly speaking, sherry, although it tastes just like an outstanding amontillado style.

Deliciously treacly sweet sherry from a great producer - this is the ultimate liquid match for sticky date pudding or warmed gingerbread, fresh from the oven.

Bodegas Hidalgo - a rare sherry producer, six successive generations...

Bodegas Hidalgo is one of the few independent sherry producers remaining in Andalucia in the south of Spain - the home of sherry. All of its grapes come from its own vineyards, another rarity these days and one that definitely supports the universally high quality of its wines, which are made at Sanl?car de Barrameda near the Guadalquivir River, at sea level. The continuous exposure to sea breezes bears a strong influence on the quality of the wines and their long aging process, helping to keep barrels moist in the solera system, which creates a slow and steady aging. 

Bodegas Hidalgo produces about 200,000 cases of sherry and brandy every year.