OK so its Monday night and rather sadly I've hit the sherry bottle. But I've done it in style with the most fabulous sherry on the market. It's super dry, feathery light and has an ever so slight salty edge. It comes from the coastal town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. The town is set between the sea and the river and the marshlands to the north, which creates an especially humid and constant microclimate. Now here comes the science bit. According to the producer, these conditions allow a special growth of yeast, known as the 'flor', to grow on the surface of the maturing wine all your round thus protecting it from the detrimental effects of oxygen. Elsewhere in the Sherry district, the flor dies off in the summer and winter months to form the Fino sherry instead. Due to the uniqueness of this wine Manzanilla has its own 'Denominación de Origen' Manzanilla -Sanlúcar de Barrameda, set within the Sherry Denomination. Its a great little story, and this is a great sherry. So I'm going to have another glass with some rather morish unsalted pistashios.
I read in the inside society pages of Surrey Today that Messrs Spybey (surely a pseudonym, a surname can't be that cool?) and Hunt are off to the land of sashimi and sushi. Will we be hearing about their culinary exploits? And will the ice dry sherry be replaced by saki perhaps?
An interested reader.
Posted by: Rob Hunt | Wednesday, 23 August 2006 at 09:56 PM