Lustau Sherries at Taste of Gold‏, London

I have always been a fan of sherries - out of fashion and under-appreciated, they are both an underdog and a bargain; they are also rather nice, too.

So, with too many great wines to try in the time available, I headed to the sherry corner of the IWC Taste of Gold event and began with Lustau.

We started with a Fino La Ina - crisp and well-made, it was full of yeasty, brioche flavour and, unsurprisingly, had garnered the Fino Trophy.

Next came a Manzanilla Papirusa which, with hinsight I should have tried first; Manzanilla normally has a stronger, saltier tang than Fino, but this one was a light and delicate version and sadly did not benefit from being sampled after the full-flavoured Fino previously.

However, it does have the Manzanilla Trophy. Next came a Dry Old Oloroso - made by Lustau but sold as M&S own-label.

It has the somewhat lumpily-titled Great Value Fortified Under £15 Trophy, but at this point I bumped into fellow Cambridge wine blogger Vinoremus and my notes for this one say merely "subtle and restrained".

Next was an Oloroso Emperatriz Eugenia which was very dry, nutty with aromatic notes from the oak.

Finally, a real crowd-pleaser; branded as Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Oloroso 12 Year Old, this was a lovely mixture of nutty figs and mellow sweetness.

Recommended wine

For value and intensity of flavour, I recommend both the La Ina Fino and the Sainbury's Oloroso (£7.99, 50cl).

Links

IWC Taste of Gold - http://goldmedal.internationalwinechallenge.com/

Lustau - http://www.emilio-lustau.com/

Sainsbury's - http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/index.jsp