12 best sherries that aren’t just for Christmas, tried and taste tested

This is a sherry with a secret hidden in its name. Encontrado means ‘found’ and this mahogany-hued oloroso comes from five 600l casks or butts only recently discovered in Sánchez Romate’s 235-year-old cellar in Jerez. Aged but elegant, it’s full of caramel-laden, slightly toasted notes with hints of herbs and salt and a lengthy and pleasing finish. It would complement a rich, meaty casserole or be perfect paired with a full and creamy cheese. The period label is a bonus, too.

Produced in partnership with sherry master José Estévez, this is a fino sherry that’s everything you expect it to be – dry and crisp with bite-into-an-apple flavour and a nutty opulence. A former silver medal winner in the International Wine Challenge, it’s a perfect fit for a variety of tapas dishes – from patatas bravas to calamares fritos – or it can be enjoyed as a simple but welcome aperitif. Perhaps the best thing about it, though, is the price. All that history, heritage and taste for less than £10. That has to be a bargain, in anyone’s book.

Welcome to the sherry that doesn’t look like a sherry at all but more like a fine bottle of white wine. Which is what Danish winemaker Peter Sisseck, who firmly believes fino sherry is Spain’s greatest white wine, wants you to think. Hence the burgundy-shaped bottle and no mention of sherry on the purposely minimal label. Open a bottle and you’ll find a beautifully dry and elegant sherry from the coastal Balbaína estate that abounds with crisp apple notes along with a nutty palate and hints of salt and herbs. An excellent aperitif but, much more than that, it’s a wine that can match almost anything on the dinner table, from chicken fricassée to cod meunière.

A single sniff should convince you. This is one of those sherries, with its rich mahogany hue and intense hazelnut and caramel aromas that smells and looks as good as it tastes. Made from the traditional palomino grapes then aged for 12 years in the solera system, it has all the concentrated and complex notes you’d expect from a first-class sherry, without losing its freshness and lightness.  A product of the famed Gonzáles Byass bodega, it’s proof life’s luxuries can come in small packages. Enjoy it simply as an aperitif with salted almonds or as a more than suitable partner for some of Spain’s famous mature cheeses.

Now with a much-anticipated yearly release, this is a fino sherry from one of the world’s great sherry houses that almost shouts its quality from the rooftops. Bottled direct from the barrel with no fining or filtration in the spring, when the flor yeast it at its thickest, the 15th iteration highlights the intense and enticing orchard aromas of green apples and cut grass with notes of almonds and fresh pastries. Not one to be kept long, you can enjoy this chilled with salted almonds or Spanish cheese.

The Barbadillo company dates back to 1821 and this winery is one of the oldest family businesses in Spain. This full-bodied amontillado is ‘en rama’, coming straight from the cask, unfined and with minimal filtration. So, there’s nothing between you and the authentic taste of a genuine amontillado. Robust but complex brazil nut and dried fruit flavours are accompanied by intense and impressive citrus notes. Perfect as an aperitif, it is also the ideal partner for a variety of tapas dishes.

Manzanillas are sherries produced solely in the port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, near the estuary of the Guadalquivir river, where the microclimate helps to produce a wine that’s as light, fragrant and as distinguished as fino. The pasada style takes the manzanilla production a step further, with the wine being aged for longer, which leads to the flor weakening slightly, thus allowing a small amount of oxidation while it matures in American oak casks. The final result is a stunning, ultra-flavoursome yet elegant wine with potent notes of apple, citrus peel and salted almonds.

With a name and label as colourful as any spaghetti western, you’d expect something special, and you won’t be disappointed. This sherry is aged for eight years under a natural layer of flor, and is then aged for a further eight years under the solera system. Finally,  a proportion of the sweet pedro ximénez sherry is blended in before bottling. The end product is a rich, medium-dry amontillado that oozes quality, with intense notes of caramel, roasted hazelnuts and raisins, and a long finish. The label is based on the painting Venta del Gato (The Cat’s Inn), depicting a 19th-century contrabandista (smuggler).

When is a sherry not a sherry? When it’s a fino-style wine produced using the sherry method outside the designated Denominación de Origen of Jerez area. From a vineyard near Cordoba in southern Spain (one of the first in Spain to be certified organic, in fact), this pálido (pale) and dry sherry-like wine is not fortified but has a natural alcohol level of 15 per cent and is aged under flor using the traditional solera system. Bottled straight from the cask, it’s crisp and nutty with hints of yeast and hay and a notable salinity. Enjoy it with traditional tapas, such as calamari, stuffed peppers or serrano ham.

Palo cortado is the least well known and, in some ways, the most mysterious of all the different styles of sherry. Perhaps that’s because it originally arrived on the scene by accident. It was a sherry that had gone wrong, a wine where the flor had suddenly and inexplicably disappeared. What was left was a sherry that was an intriguing cross between an oloroso and an amontillado. This example, produced from amontillado, has an arresting nuttiness tempered with citrus notes and hints of spice and vanilla. Beautifully balanced, it’s the perfect accompaniment to a red meat dish or a classic aperitif.

Hailing from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, this is an outstanding manzanilla – the name derives from the Spanish for chamomile tea, which is said to share the same bouquet. The grapes come from vineyards in the  Balbaína Alta area, where the sea, high humidity and keen westerly winds, result in a sophisticated and very drinkable sherry that offers orchard and nut notes, along with a nautical tinge. Enjoy it by itself or with seafood.

PX (pedro ximeniz) grapes are the sweetest used in sherry making. Sun-dried to ensure maximum sweetness, they produce an almost treacle-like, dark dessert sherry that’s imbued with huge raisin, dried fruit and caramel flavours. For this wine, the winemaker Pepe Rodriguez de Vera has sourced it from barrels in the neighbouring Montilla-Moriles region of Andalusia, which means it can’t technically be called a sherry, as it’s outside the designated sherry area, even though it’s made in exactly the same way. None of that takes away from the enjoyment and satisfaction this wonderfully sweet wine offers. Serve it chilled with a rich chocolate dessert.