Reported by Natale Lofaro
Old Sherry was the theme of this tasting, with a mind to how well these Sherries matched to food. We all know Sherry is the most underrated and undervalued wine today. That said, the goal of this tasting was to find the oldest, rarest, and most expensive Sherries available—even at that there were some tremendously undervalued wines.
To make the evening more interesting, we brought along the following foods: olives, prosciutto, Genoa salami, proscuitto salami, speck, walnuts, roasted almonds, five year old Balderson cheddar, Saint Morgon, Cantucci (Almond biscotti), Blue Bresse, Roquefort, and French chocolates with nuts.
The tasting was divided into three flights: dry, off dry/medium, and nectar. And the favourites were:
- Flight one: Lustau “Don Nuno” dry Oloroso only $15.95/375 ml. Fabulous, nutty, maple syrup, smokey aromas, bone dry with a really long nutty finish.
- Flight two: the favourite was an off-dry Palo Cortado VORS 30 called “Apostoles”, by Gonzalez Byass, $25.95/375 ml.
- In the final flight we went into sugar heaven. Outdoing both PXs by a margin of five to one was Lustau’s East India Sherry—sweet Oloroso matured like Madeira (i.e., using the Estufa method), $15.95/375 ml. Less sweet than the PXs, the East India showed aromas of molasses, nuts, maple syrup, and smoke.
Food favourites: For me a revelation—walnuts. Walnuts went well with almost every style of Sherry. The cured meats did well with both the dry and off-dry Sherries. The Almond biscotti were a hit with the off dry sherries. Finally, the chocolates and the sweet sherries matched very well.
Wines listed by region, varietal, wine, price, CSPC, size of bottle:
Dry
Fino, Montilla Moriles, PX, Alvear, $13,95, 687087, 500 ml
Dry Oloroso, Jerez, Palomino, Lustau, $15,95, 532036, 375 ml
1979 Vintage Sherry, Jerez, Palomino, Gonzalez Byass, $119,00, 581694, 750 ml
Palo Cortado VOS 20, Jerez, Palomino, Hidalgo, $39,00, 12260, 750 ml
Medium
Amontillado VORS 30, Jerez, Palomino & PX, Sanchez Romate, $22,95, 699421, 750 ml
Palo Cortado VORS 30, Jerez, Palomino & PX, Gonzalez Byass, $25,95, 969527, 375 ml
Amontillado VOS 20, Jerez, Palomino, Lustau, $167,00, 905299, 750 ml
Oloroso, Montilla Moriles, PX, Alvear, $24,95, 578922, 500 ml
Nectar
Oloroso Dulce VORS 30, Jerez, Palomino & PX, Gonzalez Byass, $27,95, 694323, 375 ml
East India, Jerez, Palomino & PX, Lustau, $15,95, 713636, 375 ml
PX, Montilla Moriles, PX, Alvear, $18,95, 687079, 375 ml
PX VORS 30, Jerez, PX, Gonzalez Byass, $25,95, 721169, 375 m
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The National Capital Sommelier Guild strongly supports moderate and responsible consumption of wine and spirits. Guild dinner events allow a designated driver to attend at a reduced price. The designated driver will not be served alcohol. Guild tasting events provide and encourage the use of spit buckets.