Two stunning and staggeringly serious sherries

Matthew Jukes tastes two sherries that he finds himself craving with unnerving regularity.

886_MW_P42_Wine

NV Barbadillo,La Cilla Pedro Ximnez, Jerez, SpainAbout £24.49, RobertsAndSpeight.co.uk; DorsetWine.co.uk, DavyWine.co.uk; Cambridge Wine Merchants, 01223-568989; Rodney Densem, 01952-291129; Dartmouth Wine Co, 01803-833579; Thos Peatling, 01284-755948.

The first is La Cilla one of the finest-balanced pedro ximnez sherries in the world. This intensely sweet style of sherry is a wondrous elixir, which is made from sun-dried grapes and then aged in American oak barrels for five years before release.

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Strangely, there are precious few pedro ximnez sherries that I don't like! Perhaps it's my sweet tooth, or perhaps it's just that bodegas that make this style do their best to please consumers.

La Cilla differs from the cheapies by combining stunning caramel notes with incredible freshness and acidity on the finish. It is at once intensely sweet and then ridiculously tangy. It is also epic value, given that this is a 75cl bottle price.

My second tip is NV Barbadillo, Pastora Manzanilla En Rama (about £9.99, half bottles, RobertsAndSpeight.co.uk; HarrogateFineWineCompany.com, DorsetWine.co.uk, TaurusWines.co.uk, TheSolentcellar.co.uk, MumblesFineWines.co.uk. Magnums, £38.75, CambridgeWine.com; £35, HarrogateFineWineCompany.com). This is one of the great En Rama manzanillas, which uses an extended ageing period of eight years to build insane complexity. You need a half bottle in your fridge door at all times. Imagine my surprise when I found out that a few merchants stock magnums, too!

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

Matthew Jukes
Wine columnist

Matthew Jukes has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006.

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

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.