The best sherries to try this autumn

Relaxing in the autumn months with a glass of sherry and bowl of “briny olives” can only be described as a “deeply satisfying pleasure”, said Victoria Moore in The Telegraph. The timeless experience “remains relatively inexpensive”, even when you choose a more premium bottle.

Sherry – a wine fortified with grape spirit – originates from the province of Jerez in southwest Spain. The vast majority of sherries are made from the white palomino grape variety.

The fortified wine is made using the “solera system” of maturation which involves gradually adding younger sherries to older ones, creating a “blend from different years”, said John Clarke in The Independent. This method offers a “wide and exciting range of tastes and flavours”, and is a lower-cost way of experiencing “centuries of traditional winemaking”: it is “history in a glass, if you like”.

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“Long seen as old-fashioned, sherry is undergoing a quiet revolution,” said Sophie Arundel in The Drinks Business. For years the fortified wine had a reputation for being “sticky, sweet, and destined only for certain aunts at Christmas”. In reality, though, it can range from dry to intensely sweet, and everything in between.

Undaunted by the “baggage” of sherry’s past, producers are turning to younger drinkers, encouraged by signs that millennials are embracing natural and orange wines, which have comparable “nutty, oxidative qualities”, said The Buyer.

“In my book, the idea of a modest sherry before Sunday lunch is maybe not such a bad one,” said Fiona Beckett in The Guardian. Though sherry thrives in the Spanish summer sun, some of the nuttier, darker styles work “brilliantly” at this time of year.

Most sherries are best served chilled alongside olives and chorizo, to bring out the salty flavours, said The Telegraph. Drier versions like manzanilla and the more traditional fino pair well with salted almonds, tomato bread and manchego cheese. The darker, “more intense and nutty” oloroso works better with “heavier” food like oxtail stew to complement the richer flavour.

If you’re looking for something “dry” and “strongly flavoured” at the lower end of the price scale, which is “not for the faint-hearted”, Morrisons’ “superb” The Best Palo Cortado NV (£7.50) fits the bill. Or for something “easier to drink”, try Gonzalez Byass Tio Pepe Fino Sherry NV (£13.50). “Apple-fresh with notes of sourdough and salt”, it is perfect served straight from the fridge with tapas nibbles.