BritishSpanish Society members and friends gathered at the British Council’s Madrid Palacete on Thursday, 9th March, to honour some of the links that most closely and deliciously bind the United Kingdom and Spain. It was a significant day as we managed to combine three of the most impressive wineries in Jerez, and more significantly, ones with the greatest ties to Britain, to reveal some of the most guarded secrets of their historic trade.

The evening kicked off when Brian Douglas, BSS Trustee, introduced the proceedings before handing over to journalist and wine writer Harold Heckle. He shared a historical overview of how sherry – as the Brits amongst us call it – evolved and seduced Britain. Its fame spread to every household, and we recalled images of our favourite grandmother sipping her Bristol Cream from a miniature copita. The scene was set, and we proceeded to hear anecdotes about some of the region’s more spectacular wines, leading to the most pleasant aspect of the evening – the tasting! Starting with Almudena López from González Byass, we rediscovered the ethereal, classical Tío Pepe fino. Edward Butler, from Williams & Humbert, followed with a recent addition to their range, the organic Fino Ecológico en Rama, vintage 2015, followed by the gorgeous Amontillado VORS Jalifa. Each producer presented two wines as we ventured from drier to sweeter, from younger to exceptionally old. Iván Llanza shared with us some of Osborne‘s rarest wines, including the extremely rare and oh-so-yummy Oloroso Solera India that began life in 1921. This was followed by the sweetest wine of the evening, the fabulous Oloroso VORS Matusalem from González Byass and ending, curiously, with a dryer, but magically complex, Palo Cortado VORS, the Capuchino from Osborne. It began its life in 1790!

Following the tasting, Iván introduced the beautiful, recently printed book, “Duff Gordon y la Fundación de Osborne” that delves, including rare and colourful images, into the history of sherry. The tome currently awaits translation into English. Wethen proceeded to sample some scrumptious BritishSpanish food in the entrance hall of our host’s magnificent building: Cumberland sausages, handmade pork pies, sausage rolls, tortilla and jamón ibérico. The producers had kindly provided other sherries (including a sparkling aperitif) enabling the mirth to continue for some time after!

Many thanks to our sponsors, González Byass, Osborne and Williams & Humbert, for their support, the wonderful presentation of some of their finest wines and, of course, to our hosts the British Council, represented on this occasion by Andy Mackay the Head of the British Council in Europe and his wife Margaret. Finally, thanks to our resident expert, Harold Heckle and our helpers for the evening, Executive Council member James Scanlan, Ste ve Brown, helper Monika Egues, and Nadine Douglas, who as usual ensured order where chaos tried to overrule proceedings.