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Short Cellar: Amontillado Deluxe |
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Written by Matthew Sullivan
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Tuesday, 12 February 2008 |
Have you ever sampled the popular sherry called Harvey's Bristol Cream? It's a marvel. I once tried replicating its flavour by dissolving a half cup of icing sugar into some Buckley's Cough Syrup, but it lacked the distinctive Bristol bouquet of candied rat. Although chiefly drunk today by little old ladies and toxicologists, Bristol Cream seems to enjoy enough notoriety that it has coloured the popular view of what sherry is (Coors Lite for bridge players) and what it's good for (euthanasia).
What a pity. In truth, sherry can be magnificent. It's a lightly fortified wine from the blistering heat of the Jerez region of Spain. Unlike most wines, they key to good sherry is not really the grapes (which are bland but durable) but the bizarre way they are aged. Sherry matures for long periods in barrels, where it is slowly allowed to react with the air (that's usually bad) and often grows a floating beard of wild yeast. Older sherries in ancient casks are continually blended with newer generations of wine so that your bottle may actually contain elements that are hundreds of years old.
Variations in these remarkable techniques create a variety of sherry types: pale, dry "fino" and "manzanilla" (great with seafood and olives before dinner); rich, nutty "oloroso" (a good match for strong cheese or pate); and the desert wine "pedro ximenez".
Where to start?
I would begin with Amontillado (pronounced like "a monty auto"), which is in-between the lightness of fino and the sweetness of oloroso. It's versatile (I drink it before and after dinner) and often shockingly cheap for the quality.
Here are some of my favourites (in order of preference):
- Lustau Solera "Los Arcos" ($18.95, Vintages #671115) has a gorgeous copper hue lightly shaded with verdigris. The nose is a mix of fresh bread and crème brulee. Tasting it, I had cascading sensations of walnuts, apple crisp and croissant that trickled into a finish of sour apple. Masterful.
- Lustau Solera Rare Amontillado "Escuadrilla" ($13.85, Vintages #660324) is an example of bone-dry and austere sherry at its best. Not as complex as the "Los Arcos" but more lithe and elegant. It has an unusual nose of sponge candy and nutmeg. On the tongue, there is lime, lemon tart and a hint of cedar.
- Savory & James Amontillado Deluxe ($12.20, LCBO #198192) Normally, I avoid any liquor with the word "deluxe" on its label, but sometimes mediocre sherry is better than no sherry at all. It's easy going with maple sugar, caramelized apple and walnuts. Not great... but not Bristol Cream.
Matthew Sullivan is a lawyer with the Department of Justice in Toronto. He writes a weekly blog entry here on lawandstyle.ca. The Short Cellar column appears in the print edition of Precedent. Matthew can be reached at
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I work for a little boutique in the Toronto Distillery, called A Taste of Quebec, where we have the best selection of cheese from Quebec. I have a blue cheese called Le Bleu Benedictin that has a distinctive nutty flavour and I thought pairing it with a sherry would be a nice change. What do you suggest, available at LCBO.