Last week saw the launch of Ten Star Tapas, the first major consumer campaign by the Sherry Institute. Eight top chefs, with 10 Michelin stars between them, have been persuaded by the Sherry Institute to create tapas recipes for eight styles of sherry, ranging from tangy fino to the sticky, raisined Pedro Ximénez - aka PX. The recipes are now available on the campaign's very own website, tenstartapas.com. And it's an impressive line-up: Gordon Ramsay, Angela Hartnett, Michael Caines, Marcus Wareing, Shane Osborn, Atul Kochhar, Richard Corrigan and Ian Pengelly of E&O.
Pretty high-profile stuff - but then the Sherry Institute has got lots to shout about. Sales have been growing over the last two years, after a rocky ride in the 1990s, and sherry is finally getting some of the recognition it deserves. I'm not talking about cream sherry here, which still makes up two-thirds of the UK market, but the other styles - fino, particularly.
Great food wines
Fino, and its lesser-known (in this country anyway) sidekick, manzanilla, make great food wines. Go to Jerez and you'll see locals drink fino throughout a meal. And no, the alcohol content isn't too high. Even though it's a fortified wine, fino and manzanilla come in at 15.5% alcohol - little more than a Californian Cabernet.
And this is exactly the message the institute wants to get across: sherry should be considered as a wine, to be drunk with food, and not just as a vicar's tipple. "We do keep on hammering this point," says Cesar Saldana, the director of the Sherry Institute in Jerez.
Successfully, it seems, too. The institute's latest idea is to promote the whole food and sherry thing in Japan and the USA. "It's about promoting the European way of drinking wine," explains Saldana. In Japan, for example, they've hooked up with the Association of Chinese Cuisine (many of the top restaurants in Tokyo are Chinese). "We've found that dry amontillado goes extremely well with Chinese dishes."
The whole gamut
A growing number of UK chefs are already aware of sherry's potential. Take Heston Blumenthal, for example. He's got one of the finest sherry lists in the country at his two-Michelin-starred restaurant, the Fat Duck, in Bray, Berkshire - and he regularly pairs (and cooks) food with sherry. Not just fino and manzanilla either, but the whole gamut of styles.
So, finally, it looks like sherry has moved away from its traditional Christmas slot. "The potential is enormous now," says Saldana. Quite.
Shorts
Beer and ploughman's
Want to know which brew won Ultimate Ploughman's Lunch Beer? Let's hear it for Hampshire brewer George Gale & Co's rather appropriately named GB beer. This was the verdict from a panel of judges at the eighth annual Beauty of Hops awards, sponsored by the National Hop Association of England and Horticulture Research International, held in London last month.
The 4% abv beer, made using Fuggles and Challenger hops, had a "spritzy citrus zest" declared a panel member, while the brewery's Crowning Glory (using Goldings, Fuggles and Challenger) came in second place. A Young's beer took the Ultimate Beer for an After Dinner Cheese award - a novel, but intriguing concept. Old Nick, with a 7.2% abv, is made with Fuggles and Goldings, and was pronounced by judges as having "long-lasting hop bitterness with a startlingly bright rosewood and ruby colour".
Madeira is cool
Experts at the hip bar magazine, Class, have found a new spin for old-timer Madeira. "Top-quality Madeira makes the best dry martinis in the world," declares writer Bernard Barbuk in the latest issue. Henriques & Henriques thought of this some time ago and launched its super-dry Monte Seco as a rival to vermouth back in 1938, but Barbuk declares that "you can make great-tasting drinks with sweet Madeiras too," and suggests trying raisiny Malvasia in a Rolls-Royce Martini. Now there's a thought.
Cuba cocktail challenge
The Ipanema bar in Birmingham is the location for the first round of regional heats for rum giant Havana Club's Cuban Challenge 2003 cocktail competition. On 14 July bartenders from the city and surrounding area will compete for a place in the UK semi-final, which takes place in London on 1 December, by creating an original drink made with Havana Club three-year-old. Six UK finalists will then be chosen to compete in the international final to be held in Havana, Cuba, in February. The next round of regional heats takes place in the North-west on 28 July. For further information contact Jo or Charlotte at Richmond Towers on 020 7388 7421.