Cambridge Sherry Club

Spring is in the air - time to uncork some old sherry! Thanks to Lucio for the pic :)

A couple of excellent sherries in Waltham last week! Great place, great hosts!

Winter draws on, 105 days till Christmas.

Productive trip to Bunnahabhain distillery - many fine Oloroso casks - you can literally smell the Olo in here.

Things to avoid:

Fantastic evening of sherry tasting at Amphora last night, what a lovely friendly crowd! And Cong Bo was a superb host. 6 wonderful sherries and a Palomino wine, all beautifully paired; the Palo Cortado was paired with asparagus of course, but … air-fried! Totally delicious. Congrats and thanks Cong for a brilliant evening.

Attention all sherry drinkers! Amphora, the wine shop and wine bar, will be hosting a sherry tasting on the 8th March, hosted by the very excellent Cong Cong Bo. We will be there to help out. £40 per person, and there will be 5 or 6 different high-quality sherries to sample, plus associated nibbles. Wednesday, 8th March, 8:00pm - be there!

Wed 8th Mar. Sherries – Amphora Cambridge Sherry is amazing. First of all, there are so many styles: salty Fino, bright Manzanilla, elegant Palo Cortado, tasty Amontillado, nutty Oloroso, and decadent Pedro Ximenez (cream sherry is usually young Oloroso bastardised with some PX). Secondly, the processes that go into making Sherry are comple...

We had some lovely wines at Amphora the other evening. The owner is extremely friendly and knowledgeable and is a bona fide wine and sherry expert! On Devonshire Road, near the Mill Road end. Heartilly recommended!

The very scenic Padstow Harbour Hotel with a lovely, refreshing medium Amontillado as their complimentary welcome for our Sherry Club guests last night - many thanks for your thoughtfulness!

Three fabulous Amontillados with various plates of delicacies at the Tabanco - 2 from the bottle and an absolutely delicious tipple from the barrel. We don’t think we’ve tasted a better sherry in all our years at the club. Bravo to Tabanco, its wonderful staff and its lovely host. Totally superb!

Mazanilla at Mercado Central

Bit of Manzanilla from the branch.

Surely it’s cheating to use a delicious Pedro Ximenez to seduce everyone on Masterchef!

Palo Cortado with mushrooms yes, but asparagus even better. Either blanched, or roasted in the oven with a honey glaze. Yum.

https://www.theguardian.com/my-sherry-amour/2022/mar/08/from-sushi-to-chocolate-souffle-six-perfect-food-pairings-for-sherry

From sushi to chocolate souffle: six perfect food pairings for sherry A gift for adventurous eaters, sherry can elevate a delicious meal to another level

Dear friends! The Sherry Academy is offering two extremely good free online courses - a basic course (you won't be needing that), and an advanced course. I do urge you to pop on over and take a look, they're really thorough and well presented

https://www.sherryacademy.org/en/compound-course

Sherry Academy - Aula del Jerez Jerez Sherry Academy

This is getting serious. Interesting stat at the bottom though :)

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/dec/10/port-and-sherry-importers-aghast-as-tax-shake-up-will-add-over-1-to-bottle-price

PSA: Please everyone, check your refrigerator temperatures today.

Important update about the Mercado Sherry Event; they have changed the date to the 25th November and reduced the price to £60! Let Pete Caldwell or John Day know if you'd like to come along!

Mercado Central (Green Street) is running a sherry night on Thursday 18 November. £70 for food and sherry. The price reflects the quality of the sherries, so I'm told! Anyone interested in joining us, please drop me an email! Pete Caldwell

Right people, it’s 6pm on Friday - herrings and Manzanilla time!

Fantastic evening of dinner and sherry at Mercado Central in Cambridge last week; they put on a selection of Fino, Manzanilla, Palo Cortado and Oloroso, and a load of complementary tapas; 3 cheers for Mark and his team! Plus they will be participating at this year’s International Sherry Week - more details to follow!

Slightly unorthodox glass for a fino - but it’s very cold and VERY delicious. They also have an extremely nice medium oloroso, which would be fantastic with a bit of blue cheese. Yum.

Edit - 6 quid for a double. Might have to kick off our next reunion here!

A reminder, Sherry Week is 8-14 November this year. Please PM us for details of any events you are interested in supporting, and if you wish to buy a mask, here is the link:

https://www.sherry.wine/node/add/sherry-week

Some of our younger members will remember these prices

Great info here:

https://cambridgewineblogger.blogspot.com/2020/12/zoom-sherry-and-madeira-tasting.html?fbclid=IwAR1e5ZnbG_WdWwgVAA-qR3zXY66sLq_QYDgfhMhSXS6OrcSF9aC4Hbzj0mc&m=1

Zoom Sherry and Madeira Tasting A tasting of two sherries and a Madeira from Cambridge Wine Merchants - with some Fitzbillies mince pies As lockdown continues, so do o...

Here's the eagerly awaited Waitrose Food and Drink Report for 2019-20: "Sherry is seeing a steep incline in popularity. Interestingly, people seem to be rediscovering the classic or traditional styles of Manzanilla, Amontillado and Oloroso - where previously it was all about sweet cream sherries."

https://waitrose.pressarea.com/pressrelease/details/78/0/11763

Waitrose & Partners Food and Drink Report 2019-20 The latest trends are revealed in the Waitrose & Partners Food and Drink Report.

As I think we all knew would happen, UK sherry sales have overtaken those of Spain, and this Chrismas’s sherry sales are the highest ever. This is what we’ve been predicting all along, right?!

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/business/2020/dec/17/sherry-sellers-uk-sales-lockdown-covid-cocktails-retailers

Sherry sellers toast surge in UK sales during lockdown Retailers predict festive boost as Covid closures fuel rise in homemade cocktails

Great selection of sherry vinegars at the Cambridge market - this 20-year aged being the best! Perfect for livening up a stew or salad.

Friday quiz time! Can you pair these 5 combinations?

Back In Fashion.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/spain-seeks-to-reinvent-grandma-s-favourite-sherry-kfxn3783f?fbclid=IwAR2MOXYS4pzNkGp9lsJCtPXwK43qVSjyK785iQWYdg0y48Kwgc5-0T-eWXE

Spain seeks to reinvent grandma’s favourite tipple In the rolling hills of Spain’s sherry region, Paco Blanco, 56, pulls back some vine leaves to reveal a bunch of grapes powdered with bloom. “It’s going to be a very strong harvest,” he says, beaming