- Story by Jane Zatylny Photographs by Lia Crowe

Story courtesy of , a Black Press Media publication
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Until recently, I thought I knew everything I needed to know about sherry. I knew my mother occasionally poured herself a small glass to help her sleep. I knew it added richness and depth to my French onion soup recipe. But most of all, I knew I could never enjoy drinking it because it just was too sweet.

I was wrong.

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鈥淢ost people tell me that same story,鈥� says Emily Henderson, partner and general manager of Victoria鈥檚 Bodega Tapas and Wine Bar.

As she sets out several small glasses of sherry and little dishes of almonds, olives, blue cheese and sliced ham, she explains why this fortified wine is so misunderstood: 鈥淧eople just don鈥檛 really give sherry a chance. Typically, their only experience with it is their granny鈥檚 sherry, which may have been super sweet, or maybe they tried a sherry that had gone bad.鈥�

Emily didn鈥檛 know much about sherry herself when Bodega first opened in 2014.

鈥淚t was having a bit of a renaissance, so we thought it would be fun to highlight it on our menu,鈥� she says. Now a serious enthusiast, Emily sees sherry as a remarkable, regionally specific drink. 鈥淚t鈥檚 had a bad rap for a long time, but it鈥檚 so nuanced and it鈥檚 just meticulously made,鈥� she says.

Emily has also converted members of her staff, like bartender Chili Berisoff.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know anything about sherry until I met Emily,鈥� says Chili. 鈥淪herry has unlocked a whole new world for me. It鈥檚 trained my palate and made food so much more pleasurable.鈥�

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Sherry has been produced in southern Spain鈥檚 鈥淪herry Triangle鈥� since about 700 AD. The main production towns of Jerez, Sanl煤car de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa Mar铆a offer chalky soil and a unique microclimate that is ideal for aging, storing and blending the fortified wine. Naturally occurring yeasts, known as flor, are an essential component of the sherry-making process and impart sherry with its trademark nutty flavour.

There are six different types of sherry 鈥� fino, manzanilla, amontillado, oloroso, cream and Pedro Xim茅nez. Most of the paler, drier varieties are made from Palomino grapes, while the sweeter, richer sherries are made from Pedro Xim茅nez and Muscat grapes.

To separate the wheat from the chaff, Emily provides pairing guidelines to her staff to help patrons choose a sherry.

鈥淲e tell them, 鈥業f it grows, pair with a fino. If it swims, pair with a manzanilla. If it flies, chose an amontillado. If it runs, try an oloroso or a palo cortado. And if it鈥檚 blue cheese or dessert, try a Pedro Xim茅nez.鈥欌��

But there aren鈥檛 really any hard and fast rules for pairings, she says.

鈥淎 lot of it is individual taste. A fino can be equally great with seafood or a salad.鈥�

I鈥檓 intrigued as I slowly lift a pale-coloured sherry called Hidalgo Fino Clasica to my lips. I savour its dry, tart-apple notes then pop a plump Cerignola olive into my mouth. The pairing is incredible: the briny, refreshing sherry perfectly complements the buttery flavour of the mild, meaty olive. I know one thing for certain: This isn鈥檛 your grandmother鈥檚 sherry.

Nor are the dozen or so other sherries Bodega offers by the glass on its drinks menu.

鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing how much they vary from one another,鈥� Emily says. 鈥淪ome are salty and very dry, while others are so sweet you can pour them over ice cream.鈥�

Bodega serves sherry flights of three one-ounce pours so beginners and connoisseurs can compare a range of sherry styles.

鈥淭he more you learn about sherry, the more you appreciate it,鈥� Emily says.

Both fino and manzanilla sherries are biologically aged in barrels covered by a layer of the flor yeast. Manzanilla sherry, a fino that鈥檚 sent to age on the coast, has a distinctive briny note.

鈥淚f skinny dipping had a flavour, this would be it,鈥� says Emily.

Amontillado is aged under the flor, then exposed to the air, giving it a darker quality and a more complex flavour. Oloroso, palo cortado and Pedro Xim茅nez sherries are called oxidative sherries, meaning that they are all exposed to oxygen. Oloroso sherries are exposed for a longer period of time than other sherries, giving them their dark, rich flavour and higher alcohol content. Palo cortado is a rare sherry that鈥檚 blended in a similar way to amontillado and oloroso sherries, while dark mahogany or black sweet sherries are made by fermenting either Moscatel or Pedro Xim茅nez grapes.

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Next up for me though is Lustau Los Arcos, a dry amontillado. This type of sherry is aged entirely under its yeast flor; all of its nutty, yeasty flavour comes from this biological aging process. Smooth, light, soft in tone, Los Arcos鈥檚 aftertaste imparts a faint hazelnut flavour that seems to go on for days. It is perfection paired with a single slice of the house Schinkenspeck ham.

Then it鈥檚 onto Nutty Solera, a medium sherry that tastes a bit like burnt sugar and offers a smooth finish.

鈥淲e playfully call this one the 鈥榞ateway鈥� sherry, because it tastes like maple syrup on pancakes,鈥� says Emily. 鈥淚t鈥檚 great paired with our confit almonds, and also with chorizo.鈥�

My next sample is the Hildago Triana PX. Pedro Xim茅nez (or 鈥淧X鈥�) grapes are sun-dried before fermentation, which gives these sherries their sweetness. PX wines are also blended with other sherries to create medium and cream sherries. I try this elixir with a few crumbs of blue cheese for a delicious riot of salty, sour and sweet flavours. Then Chili appears and offers me a single stewed fig. Its signature sweetness pairs beautifully with the palo cortado鈥檚 toffee, prune, raisin, black tea and pistachio flavour notes.

The last taste of the day is the crema de la crema, a 30-year-old palo cortado called Apostoles. Like all sherries, Apostoles is produced in a cascading 鈥渟olera鈥� system of maturation barrels that blend young wine with old. The young wine feeds the flor, and in this case, each wine that is added to the barrels is at least 30 years old.

鈥淭his sherry is like an exclamation point after a meal,鈥� says Emily. 鈥淚t can also be enjoyed all by itself.鈥�

And this is how I experience this precious final glass of sherry. Dry, but smooth as silk, Apostoles offers complex notes of almond, maple, apricot and citrus.

Despite its renaissance in recent years, this distinguished, historic wine remains an enigma, something Emily and her staff are working hard to change. My experience at Bodega has certainly altered my perception of sherry, so much so that I now find myself dreaming about exploring sherry in its birthplace. As 19th-century Spanish novelist Pedro Antonio de Alarc贸n y Ariza once said: 鈥淭he destiny of a thousand generations is concentrated in each drop. If the cares of the world overwhelm you, only taste it, pilgrim, and you will swear that heaven is on earth.鈥�

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