03 Tuesday Sep 2019
Twitter pals Joel & Kelly first came to visit in 2013 and this week they are back! We met up for a quick sherry and then headed to La Barra de Inchausti for some serious fish and seafood. A lovely evening catching up (and sharing cat pics – they also have three!). Hope to see them again on Sunday before they leave.
06 Saturday Jul 2019
This weekend the Consejo Regulador’s Sherry Academy was holding one of its wonderful “sherry 101” tastings in Jerez, this time featuring the Premium range by Harveys, so off I went for a quick Jerez Getaway, which included lunch at the marvelous Mantúa, but more on that later.
Poor Harveys Bristol Cream has suffered from a bad rep over the years, largely due to grannies pouring a glass of it at Christmas and then leaving it in the cupboard until the next Christmas. And frankly, any wine would be undrinkable kept in those conditions. In fact, the cream style of sherry was invented by Harveys and, unlike most creams which are a blend of oloroso (75%) and PX (25%), Bristol Cream adds fino and amontillado to the recipe, making it a more complex wine than the others. Recently the iconic blue label has had a makeover. The new bottle features a thermochromic ink logo, which changes colour as it hits the perfect serving temperature. When the sherry is cold and ready to be poured, the Harveys logo on the label will turn blue.
All the wines were excellent, with possibly the amontillado being my favourite… tough call. And as always, the presentation was interesting and informative. The monthly tastings, excellent value at 12€, start up again in October.
Harveys was founded in Bristol in 1796 by merchant William Perry. During the 19th century, Harveys became one of the largest importers of sherry from the Bay of Cadiz to the port of Bristol. Harveys Bristol Cream, created in 1882 by John Harvey II and his brother Edward, is the result of a meticulous selection of over 30 blends of Fino, Oloroso, Amontillado and Pedro Ximenez grape. It is aged in American oak casks using the traditional system of soleras and criaderas and is a global icon of sherry.
22 Friday Feb 2019
Posted in sevilla, sherry, silly, spain, tapas bars
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06 Wednesday Feb 2019
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I am often asked about the difference between sherry and port on my tapas tours and I’ve always had to confess that I really don’t know much about port, other than it is also a fortified wine. So when I was invited to a Sherry vs Port tasting it seemed like an ideal opportunity to learn something about port!
The event took place at the splendid Portuguese Consulate, and the wines were from Bodegas Sandeman, which produces both sherry and port wines. It was an interesting event, finishing with port and sherry cocktails. And now I want to go to Oporto! 🙂
04 Monday Feb 2019
Posted in food & drink, friends, sevilla, sherry, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours
Twitter strikes again. Someone I’ve known on Twitter/Instagram for ages – Michael @renoirguides – got in touch to see if I had a tour going on Monday that his friend could join. Which I didn’t (there’s a two-person minimum), but when I found out the friend lives in Gibraltar I said I’d be happy to meet him for a drink and give him some tapas tips. What started as a quick sherry and tapita turned into an impromptu tapas tour, with Frank and I hitting four of my favourite traditional bars, including a stop at my “happy place” – Rafael’s jamón cutting station at Las Teresas. Nice day. 🙂
casa azahar 