Eight years ago today I became a Certified Sherry Educator. Since then I have been spreading the sherry gospel far and wide via my Sherry & Tapas Tours and Sherry Tastings and, well, basically anytime anyone wants to listen (and taste). So even on my tapas tours that aren’t specifically focused on sherry, somehow I always manage to slip in a glass or two and some background info. Because while almost everyone has heard of sherry, very few actually know much about it.

It’s been a long and delicious journey since first falling down the “sherry rabbit hole” one day in May 2013 when I asked Rafa, my favourite barman at Las Teresas, for a sherry to pair with my tapa and he hauled out a bottle of VORS Palo Cortado by Bodegas Tradición from behind the bar and said… “have you tried this???”… and then my life changed. Because I had no idea that sherry could be THAT and from that moment on I vowed to find out more about this amazing wine.

That summer I went to the three towns in the Triangle (Jerez, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, El Puerto de Santa María) and visited as many bodegas as I could, I lost count after fifteen. And omg, the welcome I received was amazing. When I got in touch and said I wanted to expand my Sevilla Tapas Tours to include a Sherry & Tapas Tour people were so generous and helpful. I found myself invited on private tours with the owners of small boutique wineries as well as being given the VIP treatment at the larger producers.

Because this is the thing. The sherry community is like a family and I think remains so even these days, even after last year’s expansion of the “Triangle” to include six more sherry making towns. What still exists is the passion and pride in what they are producing, sometimes going back many generations. And even now, with the expansion and with younger producers coming up with their own take on what sherry used to be, and introducing still wines from the same grapes that are totally terroir driven. It’s really an exciting time right now and I can’t wait to see what is going to happen next.