Ignore the wine snobs, granny sherry is delicious

On a cold winter's night there’s no more satisfying drink than a nice glass of cream sherry.

During the big freeze last month when temperatures went down to - 3 degrees centigrade at night, my wife and I were preparing to go out to the cinema. A big event as I never go to the movies but Gladiator II was on at our local picture house and I’d heard good things about it. But what to drink before the 7pm showing? Definitely not white wine and I couldn’t think of a red beefy enough for the cold. I worried that whisky would make me sleepy and then I remembered a passage from one of my favourite books, Any Human Heart by William Boyd. It’s from the penultimate chapter where the hero is Logan Mountstuart is now in his 70s and on his uppers in London:

“I’m in the Cornwallis this evening enjoying a half pint of Extra Strength lager and a small schooner of Bristol Cream sherry (for any impoverished, committed boozer this combination will work wonders, I guarantee - you don’t want to drink another drop of alcohol and you sleep like a baby)...”

I had some Gonzalez Byass Cristina, a medium sweet oloroso. Close enough. I poured a good measure and drank it back quite quickly. It tasted superb, like molasses and walnuts, and it quickly spread warmth to every extremity of my body. I poured another, sipped it slower and then set off to the cinema glowing like in those old Ready Brek adverts. Sadly the film was absolutely terrible but when I went home I started reading Any Human Heart from cover to cover for probably the tenth time. It was even better, richer and more moving, than I remember.

But back to wine. Cream sherry or sweet oloroso is among the most-maligned styles of wine. As I noted in my wine cliches post, all sherry articles have to include a mention of how sherry isn’t like that nasty sweet stuff that your granny used to knock back at Christmas. When I wrote an article a few years back on sherry for a trade magazine, someone from Gonzales Byass begged me not to use the ‘g word’.

Since Shakespeare’s times wines shipped to Britain have been sweetened and fortified. It was known as travail a l’Anglaise (the English way) and wasn’t just used for sherry. Products like Harvey’s Bristol Cream, a blend of PX, oloroso and various other types of sherry, are unknown in Spain. Even the amontillados were sweetened. Henry Vizetelly, a Victorian author who wrote a book on sherry, quoted a wine merchant:

“Whenever I receive an order for the driest amontillado I have, I always put a gallon or more of dulce into it before shipping it, because I know that if I sent the wine in its natural state I should be certain to have it returned…”

For as long as the British have been enjoying such wines, there have been sherry hipsters complaining that they weren’t authentic and seeking a taste of the real Spain. In the late 19th century there was Walter McGee who wrote under the pen name Don Pedro Verdad (Sir Peter Truth) decrying the practice of adulterating pure Jerez wines. Dickens was also a sherry purist. He wrote in 1858 about a “nutty full flavoured, unbrandied Amontillado sherry, the golden juice I have so often held up to the light with ridiculous affection of knowingness.” The key word here is unbrandied.

People like Dickens were in a minority, however, the British tend to prefer their sherry sweetened. And they still do. The Sherry Marketing Board strategy seems to be based on saying, you have been doing wrong all these years. Chuck out your schooner, get some proper wine glasses and appreciate the joys of an austere amontillado or a en rama manzanilla.

And while I do appreciate these wines, it seems most British people don’t. Sherry sales are declining but cream sherry is still just about holding up. The dirty secret is that British customers really like cream sherry. Not because they are stupid or because they have been brainwashed by Big Sherry but because it’s a delicious drink that suits the climate. Victoria Moore was on top form in the Daily Telegraph last week explaining why and how cream sherry is such a good fit for Christmas:

“brown sherry, not the paler fino or manzanilla - is a drink I pour all through November and December. I go for the luscious sweetness of Rich Cream. It’s good poured neat straight from the fridge. It’s even better on the rocks in a big tumbler, garnished with a juicy wheel of orange, like the easiest of Christmas cocktails”

She continues:

“Today sherry faces another crisis: sales keep on dropping. The problem, I’d argue, is not the taste of the wine. Or its price. Despite recent duty changes which have made it more expensive, sherry is still good value. Probably, it just needs to stop having so much integrity and start to look more gaudy. Maybe wrap a length of tinsel round the bottle and rename it “Mince Pie Wine”.

The Sherry Marketing Board should drop all the dry sherry hipsterism and food matching and lean into the style that suits the British climate. Not only does it taste good but it warms you up and it goes brilliantly with all kinds of Christmassy things. Not just mince pies but Christmas pudding, chocolate and Stilton. When the temperature is dropping and your wood fire is struggling to heat your draughty Victorian house, then it’s time to reach for the sweet sherry.

Here are some suggestions:

Gonzalez Byass Cristina (Drink Finder £18.99)

Superb medium sweet sherry. If you want something a bit richer go for Solera 1847 and if you’re splashing out, try the awe-inspiring Matusalem Muy Viejo.

Waitrose Rich Cream sherry (Waitrose £9.99)

Made by Lustau, a great producer. On the nose there’s raisins, orange peel and floral notes, lots of PX character. Take a sip and it’s sweet with muscovado sugar but not cloying with a nice tang.

Tesco Finest Creamy Sherry (Tesco £7.25 for half bottle)

This is made by Gonzalez Byass and tastes like rum and raisin ice cream. It is super smooth, rich and creamy.