As many of you already know I have lived in Sevilla since September 1993, after having spent just over a year in Salamanca. I’m not an “expat”, I’m a happy and proud immigrant and Sevilla is my home. When I started my “accidental food blog” Sevilla Tapas back in 2007 I had no idea that, because of the deeper friendships I formed with bar owners and staff, along with needing a change in my life (cancer changes everything!), a couple of years later all of that would organically morph into me offering food and wine tours (and eventually becoming the Queen of Tapas 😉).
Did I know what I was doing? Hell no. The only other people giving food tours in Sevilla back in 2009 were Roger and Sam, who I got to know. So I went with my gut (no pun intended) and organised my tours based on the same way I took out friends who came to visit and we would go out on a tapeo (visiting various tapas bars). We’d start off at one spot, have a couple of bites and a drink and move on. The logistics of this, easily moving from bar to bar, means that a typical tapeo here is small, 2-4 friends, max 6. So that’s what I did (and still do). I organised my tapeos so they were comfortably timed and included a nice assortment of traditional Spanish dishes and wines, including sherry.
Back then I was still quite a sherry novice and, while I knew that a nicely chilled fino or manzanilla was a perfect match with jamón, cheeses and other lovely salty things, I was a bit hazy on the (many many many) other sherry styles. Okay, I was also familiar with oloroso, but in those days people at bars would order an oloroso and the barman would ask “seco o dulce?” (dry or sweet?) which confused me. I thought oloroso was a dry wine. Turns out I was right but I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.
Fast forward to May 2013 when the very first World Sherry Day happened, the precursor to International Sherry Week, created by Chelsea Anthon, which began the following year and now takes place annually the first week of November. This year we will be celebrating its 12th edition all over the globe.
I had been to many organised tastings over the years but my true initiation into the mysteries of sherry took place on that day in May 2013. And I had had big plans for World Sherry Day! I was going to meet up with friends in Jerez and, you know, do sherry stuff. But then plans went adrift when I realised that I’d missed my train and that, being a Sunday, the next one would get me to Jerez too late in the day.
So damn. There I was thinking I’d be at home feeling all envious reading all those Tweets from Jerez (this was before Instagram was a thing) and then I thought… hey, why don’t I create my own World Sherry Day event here? And so off I went with friend/colleague/flatmate Peter to discover more about the world of sherry in Sevilla. Which I decided to do as a tapeo, going to three bars. Because hey, that’s what I do!
First stop was at Flores Jamones y Vinos for - what else? - jamón y vino. Well, and cheese. In fact we tried two different jamones and two types of cheese (from Zamora and Cádiz) with La Ina fino from Bodegas Lustau. Then we had a caña de lomo paired with fino from Bodegas Fernando de Castillo. It’s funny to type these names now because back then they were just names and now they are well-known wines and bodegas to me and the people there have become friends.
By then I’d pretty much exhausted my sherry pairing knowledge and so it was time to move on. Hoping to find some interesting pairings with traditional tapas we headed to one of my favourite bars in the centre, family-run Bar Las Teresas. There we were in luck because it was just after the lunch rush and Rafael, who is usually busy manning the jamón cutting station, was available to chat and give us some suggestions. I told Rafa we were going to order a few tapas and he could recommend sherries to have with them.
After trying a couple of what were perhaps “safe” choices Rafael asked if I’d ever tried Palo Cortado from Bodegas Tradición. I had to ‘fess up that I’d only had palo cortado at a sherry tasting (which doesn’t count - more on that later) and so he poured me a glass. And BAM – I was transported to another world. Not only was it an amazingly elegant and complex wine, I honestly had no idea before that moment that sherry could be THAT. By now Rafa was getting into educating me and suggested I try Botaina Amontillado, a gorgeous limited edition wine from Bodegas Lustau and, because this was early days for me I was just going wow-wow-wow. I had no other words. But I was hooked.
Next up – dessert! We went to Vineria San Telmo (with fab confections by Gollerías) and it turned out to be the perfect ending to a rather wonderful afternoon. First Vanna poured us a cream Sauci from Huelva before we realised that this was a sweet generoso not a sherry (oops! more on this later too) so we also had a Nectar PX from Bodegas González-Byass. With a slice of light fluffy cheese cake and another of chocolate ambrosia with butter cream. Oh yes.
Thus ended my impromptu World Sherry Day outing and from that day on I became obsessed with not only learning more about sherry wines but also about how I could then share that knowledge on my tours. Almost overnight I created my new Sherry & Tapas Tour but there was only one thing missing… me knowing more about sherry!
So that summer I got to work and visited 15 bodegas in what was then known as the Sherry Triangle - Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María and Sanlúcar de Barrameda (it has since been expanded). I got in touch with bodegas by email or on Twitter, telling them I was eager to learn more about sherry because I wanted to start offering a specific Sherry & Tapas Tour in Sevilla.
And you know what? I could not believe how lovely and generous and open everyone was (well, other than one bodega that told me I wasn’t “professional” enough to visit them). But everyone else was fabulous. I was offered private tours by bodega owners and once when I sent a DM to a bodega on Twitter telling them I’d like to visit someone wrote back saying… “didn’t I meet you in a bar in Sevilla?” Turned out this was Federico Sanchez-Pece, global ambassador for Lustau, and yes he had met me in the bar that Juanlu Fernández was running before he opened his now Michelin starred Cañabota. Small world. Lustau ended up being my first sherry bodega visit.
During that whirlwind summer possibly the most important thing I learned was that the sherry community is indeed a small world, and it’s also a unique one, including some of the most wonderfully generous people I have ever had the good fortune to meet. And of course there are the wines…
So after that summer of intense research I felt confident enough to start offering my Sherry & Tapas Tours here in Sevilla, which took in three bars, going from starters to mains to dessert, and every single bite perfectly paired with a different sherry wine. What can I say? People loved it and it was then that I heard about the Sherry Educator Course that was offered by El Consejo Regulador de Vinos de Jerez y Manzanilla de Sanlúcar. AKA The Sherry Council.
Sherry Educator Course! Hell yeah, I wanted in. I mean, I’d been working so hard to build my knowledge, to learn about not only the wines, but also the origins, the history, the ageing process, the different styles… all of that. So I really wanted the chance to have an accredited acknowledgement that I could, let’s face it, swan around with. Well no not really, okay just sort of really, because I also thought and hoped it would mean I’d become an accepted part of that world I’d fallen in love with.
But that was not so easy… it’s a rather exclusive course offered twice a year (one Spanish, one International) to 25 professionals in the wine world and I was… just me. Did that stop me? Nope. I became a bit of a squeaky wheel, always asking anyone I knew in Sherry World if there was any chance, how could I get in, etc etc. I think in the end they just gave up because they knew I wasn’t going to and so I was eventually accepted for the October 2015 course. I was thrilled.
Here is a video of the 2018 session, attended by my friend Ruben Luyten who writes a more detailed description of the course on his website Sherry Notes.
The Sherry Educator Course is an intensive three days spent totally absorbed in all things sherry. There are classes, bodega visits, various tastings, getting out into the vineyards, touching the soil… and there are also lovely events planned so we could enjoy sherry as it is meant to be enjoyed - with fabulous food in great company. But it’s clear this isn’t a course for beginners. Along with being “taught” you are being reminded about what you should already know. And although I felt a bit intimidated at first to be included in such an illustrious wine company I also knew I had done my homework. There would be a written exam and a blind tasting. Was I nervous? You bet.
Luckily I had the best teachers anyone could wish for. In 2015 Bertrán Domecq and César Saldaña were my sherry profs and omg what a team. Then president Bertrán was all patrician elegance, spoke English with a British accent and could silence a buzzy room simply by walking in and beginning to speak in a low voice… suddenly everyone was all ears and you could hear a pin drop. In contrast, then VP (now president) César Saldaña was a powerhouse, with his American English, his drive and knowledge, humour and passion. They contrasted and complemented each other perfectly.
I loved them both. Still do. I mean I really did fall in love with both of them at the time because they were not only our teachers but they were both so accessible and there for us, whenever we had a question or a concern about anything. They wanted us to succeed and we all felt like a team. Happily I not only passed the written exam but also the blind tasting - here are six sherries, what are they? - and I got all six - yay! Yes, I was a nervous wreck but it was truly one of the best experiences of my life.
Ten years on… I am still learning about sherry wines. It’s the kind of education that is never-ending and that is also what makes it so fascinating and rewarding. Especially since the expansion of the sherry ageing region, taking it from a triangle to incorporating 7 other towns in the Cádiz province, more than doubling the area as well as opening up a new era… there are so many exciting things happening now in Sherry Country.
And so that’s how it all came about. How I became a Certified Sherry Educator. I hadn’t been looking for a life-changing experience that afternoon but suddenly there it was and I went for it.
These days I offer both Sherry & Tapas Tours and Sherry & Tapas Tastings in Sevilla and that’s also been so amazing because no experience is the same. Sometimes I get well-seasoned wine professionals who think they know sherry but want to learn more and so that’s a fun challenge, to show them a bit more. But my absolute favourites are the “sherry virgins” who know next to nothing and I get to take them through their first sherry experience from start to finish.
I don’t expect people to love everything right off the bat. Sherry can be a “difficult sell”. You have to ease into it. So I take my time. And while I’m happy enough when someone comes away saying they liked this one better than the other, when I hear someone exclaim that THIS one was their favourite and tell me why… score!
When I said earlier that trying sherry during a tasting “didn’t count” I just meant that when trying sherry, especially for the first time, I think it’s important to have it with food. Not only because it is one of the world’s most incredible gastronomic wines but I feel this is how you get to relate to sherry, and it creates a memory. Most people will never forget that first bite of jamón with a sip of manzanilla or that artichoke paired with amontillado. So that’s what I try to create for people and it is always so satisfying to see them respond to that.
So if you don’t know a lot about sherry wines, or even if you do - and if you want to know more - then stay connected with us. The Consejo Regulador offers lots of free online courses and fun webinars in both Spanish and English. There is always so much to learn. I have written a couple of sherry-related pieces here to help get you started: Sherry 101 and Sherry & Tapas.
Meanwhile keep an eye out for International Sherry Week, which happens the first week of November, for sherry events happening in your area. It truly is a global event. And if you are lucky enough to visit Andalucía, make time for a few bodega visits in Sherry Country. There’s nothing like it. ¡Salud!
An interesting and inspirational read.
I love hearing your sherry education story! I couldn’t see a video, but I saw space where it might go. I’ll check to see if I can view it on my laptop