One of the big lightbulb moments for me with sherry was realising that it was not one wine, it was many. A sweet cream sherry could not be more different to a bone-dry fino, which in turn is very different to an oloroso. It can function as a table wine, drunk from a proper wine glass as you would a white Burgundy, but it can also be sipped slowly after a meal like a cognac or single malt.
Lightbulb moment - realising that sherry is not just one type of wine
When in Jerez recently, quite a few people said that we British had been getting sherry wrong for the past hundred years or so by treating it only as an aperitif, sweet if you're old-fashioned or bone dry if you fancy yourself as a bit sophisticated. I wanted to reply: why can't it be both, a great aperitif but also something you drink throughout the meal? It's the consummate all-rounder. The Freddie Flintoff of wines.
Sheer versatility
Ravinder Bhogal at her restaurant Jikoni in Marylebone
When you start thinking about sherry and food, your first thought will probably be olives, almonds and other salty tidbits. I remember visiting Granada in my twenties and being delighted that every time I ordered a glass of fino, they brought me something to eat. Vera Anderson from Buchanans cheesemonger in London had a similar experience in Malaga, drinking "an ice-cold, generously poured fino that was plonked down on the bar alongside a tapa of boquerones."
She continued: "I think, like many British people, sherry was always a sweet, after-dinner drink to me. To be drinking sherry in a chaotic, busy bar on a sweltering hot day just threw me. I won't lie, it took time. It was an adjustment, but once it clicked, I've never looked back."
Taking artichoke pairing in its stride
Drinking sherry in the south of Spain with anchovies makes perfect sense but what really opened my eyes to its sheer versatility was a supper club I attended last year with Ravinder Bhogal at her restaurant Jikoni in Marylebone. Her food isn't strictly Indian but it is highly spiced with things like cumin, coriander and chilli. Food-matching 101 would tell you that you need a bit of sweetness, an off-dry Riesling perhaps, but fino worked beautifully. Even better was a richer dry sherry, an amontillado, served with deep-fried artichoke, traditionally a vegetable that destroys wine, but the sherry took it in its stride.
Sherry creates its own rules – MasterChef Champion of Champions Ping Coombes
MasterChef Champion of Champions Ping Coombes put on a sherry supper club last year to show how well it went with her Malaysian-inspired cookery. She explained that sherry has magical properties that you don’t find in other wines: "With sherry it adapts to certain flavours. It's just so complex and clever. With wine you sometimes clash but you don't get that with sherry."
Coombes was completely ignorant on the subject until she had a crash course with Owen Morgan from Bar 44 in Bristol who opened her eyes to the versatility of Spain’s greatest wine.
Coombes is particularly keen on oloroso, an oxidised dry style, with gamey meat. "Oloroso calms it down and cuts through it, it deepens the flavour, but doesn't make it heavier,” she said. The other trick it has is the ability to deal with the sweetness you find in a lot of Asian cookery. "Oloroso makes you think that it's sweet, when it isn't. It tricks you into thinking that it could not be dry." I remember this from Bhogal's supper club, where she served an oloroso with pressed shoulder of lamb with North African spices. The sherry functioned almost like a gravy, deepening and complementing the flavour of the meat. Restaurateur José Pizarro is also a big fan of rich meat with oloroso, especially that Andalusian speciality, oxtail.
Buchanans' new wine club is hosting a special sherry pairing on November 4 to coincide with Sherry Week
As Coombes pointed out, sherry has an uncanny ability to adapt itself to food. The clearest example of this is serving a rich dry amontillado with a cheese like Comté or Ossau-Iraty. They spark off each other as Vera Anderson explained: "The savoury and nutty flavours in both the cheese and wine pair beautifully, while serving the sherry lightly chilled helps cut through the richness of the cheese."
Younger people are more open-minded with sherry because they are more used to savoury flavours in drinks – Jose Pizarro
Sometimes the biggest hurdle is to get people to taste sherry with an open mind. Pizarro said that fellow chef James Martin refused to try sherry until he eventually gave in – and, predictably, loved it. Pizarro continued: "If someone wants to try sherry for the first time, serve a simple, very cold fino with a plate of jamón ibérico and they will be very happy indeed."
Andrew Trueman, the manager at Majestic Wine in Kendal, said it’s a question of getting to know the customer. “Having seen what wines they have bought or asked them about which wines they prefer, I pour them a small glass and put it in their hand, whilst explaining why they will enjoy it,” he said. He must be doing something right, as his branch sells more sherry than almost any other in the Majestic estate.
"For me, the best way to sell sherry is to stop treating it as an old-fashioned niche category and start treating it simply as what it is: a great, fine wine that is incredibly good with food and has a history of being born in vineyards," said Henry Lloyd from Fortnum & Mason. When talking to customers, "firstly, I ask people what they think sherry is, then I try to shatter that image,” he continued.
For first-timers serve a simple, very cold fino with a plate of jamón ibérico
Pizarro thought that younger people, with their eclectic tastes, tend to be more open than older people who have preconceived ideas about what sherry is and isn't. Customers who enjoy kombucha or natural wine won't find tasting a fino for the first time much of a surprise. They’re already used to savoury rather than fruity flavours in drinks.
Cocktail serves
If I had my own wine bar, I’d offer at least two sherries by the glass. It's robust, a fino will easily last three or four days open in the fridge, while the oxidised styles, amontillado and oloroso, won't deteriorate for weeks (though they wouldn't last that long in my bar). If you're offering cheese and charcuterie plates and you're not offering sherry, then you are missing a trick. It's a good way to get people to trade up from a basic wine like a Sauvignon Blanc or a Picpoul. According to Pizarro "the value for money in a fino is the best thing ever." Lloyd added that it's essential to use a proper wine glass like a Zalto rather than a copita.
Cream sherry with ice and a slice of orange makes an instant cocktail
Though in the recent heatwave you can understand why they serve sherry in such small glasses in the south of Spain – just make sure you have a bottle in an ice bucket close by for refills. For me, the great thing about sherry is you don't have to be too precious about serving it. One of the best drinks I had recently in Jerez was an instant cocktail made by serving cream sherry with ice and a slice of orange. Or mix a fino with tonic and serve with ice, mint and grapefruit, and you have a Solera Spritz. Swap the tonic for lemonade to make a Rebujito.
Rebujito – fino with lemonade served with ice, mint and grapefruit,
Sherry is actually a very low-fuss wine. You don’t even need a corkscrew. Don’t get too hung up on perfect pairings. Get out a bottle of fino, chill it, and serve it with whatever you want. It goes with almost everything. As Ping Coombes said: “there are almost no rules like with ordinary wine – it creates its own rules.” If you are wondering what to serve at the table, sherry is the answer. And you know that for sure.
Sherry Week 2026 - November 2nd-8th
Following the outstanding success of Sherry Week 2025 which saw 4,209 registered events across 27 countries, registration is now open for taking part in Sherry Week 2026.
Registration is now open – and it’s free!
Whether you're a Michelin-starred restaurant or a neighbourhood wine shop, a local bar or educator, you can register your tastings, pop-ups and masterclasses free of charge and get much more information by clicking here.
