24 Monday Jul 2023
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Since I moved to the present Casa Azahar, and downsized (including getting rid of about 80% of my books), I am being very selective about any new book purchases. But I couldn’t resist this one, written by César Saldaña, the president of the Regulatory Council Sherry Academy (and one of my teachers during the Sherry Educator course I took in 2015). So this arrived today and, although I’m just a few pages in, I can already tell it’s going to be a profound and enjoyable experience. ¡Salud! 🥂
17 Monday Apr 2023
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This year’s Sevilla presentation of the 2023 Tío Pepe en Rama took place at the glamourous Villa Luisa. Each spring this limited edition selection is chosen by Gonzales-Byass master wineblender Antonio Flores from two of the oldest Téo Pepe soleras, Rebollo and Constancia, and it is then bottled without filtration or clarification to ensure the freshest “straight from the barrel” fino sherry experience.
I had a great time meeting up with so many friends and colleagues. The sherry community here is quite a special one. My only “complaint” is that we weren’t given a bottle of this year’s en rama to take home as on other occasions. Time to go shopping…
23 Thursday Mar 2023
On Monday I was invited to the presentation of this year’s bottling of La Goya XL Manzanilla en Rama by Bodegas Delgado Zuleta, held at the fabulous Terraza La Fortissima. At first I thought it was going to be a vertical tasting when I saw other versions of La Goya in the ice bucket but when I asked José Antonio Sánchez (technical director and winemaker at DZ) he said it was actually going to be an L-shaped tasting, with different samplings of La Goya from two criaderas and two soleras (criaderas go up and down, soleras sideways). Cool.
Afterwards there we were treated to snacks on the rooftop with other wines from the Delgado Zuleta range: Goyesco Ámbar, Gallipato, Tarabilla and Barbiana en Rama. It was a perfect sunny day and fun to catch up with colleagues and friends.
07 Tuesday Mar 2023
Posted in friends, restaurants, sevilla, sherry, tapas bars
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I was so happy to be invited to the Premios Solera Sevilla presentation honouring the best of Sevilla’s sherry ambassadors. The event was hosted by the Consejo Regulador de Jerez (Sherry Council) at the fabulous La Fortíssima rooftop terrace. And what made this so special for me was that all the recipients of the awards are not only friends who work together to support sherry wines here but they are also friends of mine. To be included in this event was very special indeed. See the winners below…
25 Wednesday Jan 2023
Posted in sherry, tapas, we love tapas
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This week I met up with Nell and Elena – my fab We Love Tapas team – for a Sherry Class at Casa Morales. They were interested in learning more about sherry and I was more than happy to oblige. So we spent a delicious couple of hours tasting five sherries perfectly paired with tapas and it was such a pleasure to have two such enthusiastic students. Team 2023 is turning out to be the best one yet.
