If there were a really refreshing wine to serve with shellfish, smoked fish, parma ham, chorizo, olives, salad, manchego, parmesan and almost anything else you might find at a good deli counter, surely people would be queuing up for it? All the more so if it weren’t expensive. So, where are the queues for dry sherry?

There are some converts who know how good fino and manzanilla (the pale dry styles) are with food, as well as before it, but most wine drinkers don’t give them houseroom. This is partly because sherry, per se, has an image problem, but more because people don’t think of fino and manzanilla as wines in the same way as pinot grigio, sauvignon or chardonnay. Fair enough, they are different.

But not that different. Fino and manzanilla are bone dry, with a savoury, far less fruity flavour than, say, chardonnay, and they are stronger, although, at 15% abv, not much stronger.

Try the three below, serving them well chilled in ordinary wine glasses. If you want a familiar name, Tio Pepe is always reliable (£8.79-£8.99, widely available), as is the newer Harveys Fino (£8.19, Morrisons).

Cellar Notes

La Gitana Manzanilla, £7.29-£7.49 Delicately salty, dry apple flavours. Cheap at the price (Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s)

Valdespino Deliciosa Manzanilla, £12 Aptly named. Fresh, nutty, savoury (Planet of the Grapes, 020 7405 4912)

Lustau Puerto Fino, £11.75 Smoky, tangy and nicely rounded (Philglas & Swiggot, 020 7924 4494)

Wine bluff

“The name sherry comes from Jerez, in Spain, its main town of origin"

Anorak fact Manzanilla actually comes from a small seaside town nearby called Sanlucar de Barrameda

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