With Christmas just out of the way and the mind fully on what champagne to serve for the all-important 'bells' (it's hogmanay as I write), it seems like an odd time to start talking to you about sherry and port.  But far from just Christmas time these are (fortified) wines that are much more versatile. A recent, well-timed, tasting was held by Oddbins in Glasgow to show off some of that versatility and obviously encourage the sale in time for Christmas. The fact that Christmas is now over shouldn't stop you from experimenting with these fantastic wines. In particular sherry is amazingly good value for such an unusual and complex wine. And the variety is such that it is guaranteed there will be a style to suit your palate.

Sherry comes in a couple of basic styles;

Fino or Manzanilla: both are very dry sherries, very pale in colour and reliant on a layer of yeast known as 'Flor' to keep them from oxidising. The difference between the two is not strictly where they come from, but where they have matured. A manzanilla is matured in the town of Sanlucar de Barrameda, which is located right on the seafront. The slightly lower temperature here as opposed to the more inland location of Jerez (which is where most of the Fino ages), ensures a year-round cover of flor yeast, imparting a particularly strong nutty, yeasty flavour.

The Manzanilla Extra Dry, produced by Barbadillo (£5.99) spent 5 years in Solera and has a very pronounced yeasty nose. There is a distinct salty, marmite like tang. The palate is bone dry with a walnutty finish. Very refreshing, this is great as an aperitif, with olives or the traditional Spanish tapas.

One of the best examples of Fino is the well-known Tio Pepe, produced by Gonzalez-Byass. A few pounds more expensive, this also has a lovely nutty complexity and great minerality.

Both the manzanilla and the fino need to be drunk as fresh as possible, straight from the fridge. Oxidation will soon tire it out, so finish the bottle, it doesn't keep.

The next wine I tasted was an Amontillado produced by Lustau. This is the name to watch for seriously good sherry. This particular example was the Lustau Amontillado del Puerto Obregon (£11.99) and is in fact a fino with the flor died off. This means that once the protective flor layer has died the wine oxidises and takes on this lovely amber hue with golden highlights. The nose starts to show oranges, nuts and dried fruits and the palate is impressively nutty with the same dried orange peel character. Very impressive.

For the serious sherry nuts there is the Lustau Single Cask Dry Oloroso 2000. Unusually vintage dated (most sherries mature in Solera), this is seriously complex, with a haunting nose of spicy fruitcake. Deep, woody, concentrated, orange peel and sweet fruit. On the palate this is completely dry, medium bodied with dried fruits and nuts. Impressively complex and balanced and worth the hefty price tag of around £40.

If you have a bit of a sweet tooth the Lustau San Emilio Pedro Ximenez may be to your taste. With around 400 grams of sugar per litre this is better described as syrup. It is incredibly concentrated and tires the palate out almost instantly. The flavour is of raisins, almonds and caramel; think a very sweet 'Stollen' cake. Locally this is used to pour over ice-cream as a desert.

A quick note on the solera system mentioned earlier. The solera system consists out of a number of layers of barrels and is used to blend and mature sherry at the same time. The finished product is in the lowest layer of barrels (known as the solera) and every year a maximum of a third is drawn off and bottled. The vats are then replenished from the layer above it and so forth until the top layer, which is replenished with young wine. Some soleras go back well into the 19th century.

On to the 'lagares' bit of this tasting, the Port;

First up was the Quinta do Noval Tawny Colheita 1974. (£34.99) This wine will have started its life as a red wine, but has now gone a lovely amber hue with orange highlights. It has a concentrated smoky, almost grainy nose. It comes across as quite alcoholic. On the palate there is the sweetness of soft candied orange fruit and dried raisins. This style of port will have had extensive ageing in wood for at least 7 years before bottling.

Next came two different vintages of Graham's Port, the 1980 was stunning. A mature, fairly concentrated nose of Christmas pudding and coffee, but also some sweet berry characters. The palate was concentrated, velvetty with sweet red fruit. Complex and impressive.

The 1991 was clearly lesser developed, had more obvious fruit and a little spice. The palate was sweet with jammy fruit and had velvetty smooth tannins.

With only £10 between them, I would opt for the more expensive 1980 at £65 just because it doesn't need a cellar and is perfect now.

The final port of the evening was the Quinta do Noval Vintage 2000 (£50). Very young and quite closed up. Deep black fruit with some spicy characters developing. Concentrated blackberry fruit on the palate with soft ripe tannins. This needs a lot of time.

Not in this tasting but making it onto my Christmas table was the Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas Vintage 1996. (£26) A Single Quinta vintage may be produced when an official vintage year has not been declared. As it is produced from some of the best sites this is a serious alternative to the far more expensive vintage ports. This one is powerful, nicely developing and could keep quite easily (as it really should) but didn't stand a chance in my house. Wonderfully complex already and my choice for value for money.

Finally, what about those lagares?

Lagares are best described as the shallow open topped tanks traditionally used in port for treading the grapes by human foot in order to extract maximum flavour and colour. If you think this doesn't happen anymore, think again. The top producers still believe it is the only way to make top quality port. Don't worry, the alcohol ensures any hint of bacteria is killed off well before it reaches your glass.

Oddbins Tasting May 2005

Oddbins Tasting Club

Oddbins Tasting Club - Billy & Bolly