Wine of the week: a real-life magic potion

published 30 August 2011

NV Solear Manzanilla, Barbadillo, Sanlcar de Barrameda, Spain (£5.19, half bottle, Waitrose).

Every wine lover out there needs to have a bottle of this outstanding manzanilla, chilled to perfection, in their fridge, at all times. This sherry is the most under-appreciated and under-rated in the world. With getting on for 200 years experience in making top-flight sherry, Barbadillo fashions some mightily serious wines in its cathedral-like bodega. Solear is a very old brand and it's one of the most popular manzanillas in Spain these days, but it is not widely know over here. It is the longest aged of the famous names, going through more stages of the Solera system' than any other wine ten in total, which results in a wine that is six to seven years old on release. This gradual ageing/blending tradition results in a mesmerisingly mellow wine with unique, refreshing qualities.

Crack open this perfectly sized half bottle, pour a small glass and drink not only does Solear wash away the day, and troubles that have been fermenting in your brain, it also has the added benefit of cooling you down, too. It also seems to have the singular ability to soothe you into a trance-like state of soporific elation. It is, let's face it, a real life magic potion.

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Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (www.matthewjukes.com).

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’. He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner.

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy. His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.