Tag Archives: sherry

Seville | A Tapear

Not everyone’s a foodie, but pretty much all of us like to eat, and to enjoy ourselves in the right surroundings while we do it. Many of us also want to do our eating out the way locals do it, and to try some of those typical dishes that everybody knows about (or has at least heard of). So this is a kind of everyman’s guide to eating out in Seville, and getting a feel for what tapas is all about, not a gourmet guide to the best restaurants.

morales-beer-chicharrones Beer and chicharrones (pork scratchings)

First, just to clear the air, there are a few common myths that have to be dispelled. To begin with, tapas is not a kind of food, it’s a social custom. The answer to the question, “What Spanish foods have you tried?” is not “We’ve had some tapas”, it’s “We’ve had some calamares and tortilla de patatas.” Next, Spanish food is spicy. It’s not. You’re thinking of Mexico. The Spanish have put up a wall to keep spicy food out (who says travel writers don’t do satire?). Paella is the national dish. Actually, it’s a local speciality from Valencia, and a proper one isn’t made with seafood. Not that you can get a proper one in Seville. Lastly, the Spanish are always drinking sangría. In fact, for everyday purposes the Spanish prefer a tinto de verano – red wine with lemonade and ice, which is more refreshing and less intoxicating.

bodeguita-romero-pringa Pringá Montadito

So, to business. Given that tapas bars can be crowded and noisy, and that there are a lot of them, just deciding which one to go into can be bewildering and intimidating. Doing a bit of homework before you arrive will help. Look for those bars that crop up on lots of lists, not just one. Most important, though, don’t be intimidated. In some bars tapas are only available at the bar itself, and at tables or on the terrace you have to have larger plates, but there’s no general rule, so you have to check. If there are just two or three of you, sitting or standing at the bar puts you in the thick of things, but four or more it’s easier to talk if you’re sitting at a table. You can get media raciones (half-plates) para compartir (to share). Don’t overdo the ordering. One tapa per person per round is usually good. You can order more if you’re still hungry, stop if you’re full. If you’re not impressed with the first round, you can move on. In any case, moving on is essential to a proper tapeo (the Spanish equivalent of a pub crawl, but more civilised and with proper food.

las-teresas-solomillo-whisky Solomillo al whisky with Amontillado

And speaking of food, what should you be eating? Pork is king, and there are lots of fantastic pork dishes, from carrillada (braised cheeks) to solomillo al whisky (pork tenderloin), as well as blood pudding and tripes for the more adventurous. Cod and tuna are the most common fish, or boquerones al vinagre (marinated fresh anchovies) as a starter. Prawns, octopus and squid are also universally available. I’m often asked if the Spanish eat vegetables, and of course they do – spinach with chickpeas and marinated potatoes are essential. For me, though, the one thing you have to have is our unique Spanish jamón, washed down with some Fino or Manzanilla sherry. If you haven’t tried it yet I guarantee an epiphany.

las-teresas-jamon-caña-queso Jamón Iberico de Bellota, Caña de Lomo and Queso Manchego

We have lots of holiday apartments to rent as a base of operations, in all neighbourhoods of the historic centre.

Seville | Ham and Sherry, the Whys and Wheres

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Anybody taking a short holiday in a new place is faced with the problem of prioritising their time, making sure that they see the things that are genuine “unmissables”, and foregoing some of the less important, while still having the opportunity to relax a bit (it’s a holiday after all). A lot of this will revolve around the sights and monuments, but these days experiencing the best of local culture and customs is high on many people’s list of things to do. For these people I have one very important piece of advice. Do not, on any account, leave Seville without doing the ham and sherry thing.

There are lots of reasons for this. First of all, of course, is that it’s a pleasurable culinary experience, regardless of the social and cultural stuff that comes with it, but I’m going to take that as read and concentrate on the other aspects, the ones that make it an essential part of coming to Spain.

jamon sherry jamón Ibérico with Amontillado

So let’s begin. With more than 3,000 tapas bars to choose from in Seville, and ham and sherry available in almost all of them, where should you go for the most authentically Sevillano experience? Personally, my top choices are the more traditional bars, places with hams hanging from the ceilings, Semana Santa and Spring Fair posters on the walls, and all the other paraphernalia that give a bar a special atmosphere. Favourites include Bar Las Teresas in the Santa Cruz, Casa Morales in the Arenal neighbourhood, and Taberna Manolo Cateca in the city centre.

Why sherry, and what exactly should you be ordering? As an aperitif to accompany ham and other starters you should be choosing a dry white sherry. Fino, Manzanilla or Amontillado are all suitable companions to your plate of jamón. But what’s so special about sherry? Sherry is possibly the world’s most misunderstood wine. Many people outside Spain still think of it as a dark, sweet wine (and there are sherries like that), but dry pale sherries are a totally different thing. The grapes are grown, and the wine aged, in southwest Spain, making it a genuine local product that has developed over the centuries into a perfect pairing for the food, and it should be sipped while you eat (it changes the flavour of both wine and food), not drunk beforehand.

jamones at Las Teresas

It’s traditionally taken with cured meat and cheese, first and foremost with the famous Jamón Iberico Bellota. This is made only from the Spanish black-footed (Ibérico) pig, which is unique to Spain and Portugal (no pig-smuggling allowed!), raised free-range on a predominantly acorn (bellota) diet, salt cured and then aged in the air in special warehouses that maintain “cellar” temperatures for a minimum of two years. Also have caña de lomo, prepared the same way, but from the back of the pig, chorizo (sausage seasoned with garlic and paprika), and an aged cheese such as a Payoyo, all very typical of southern Spain.

sherry tour (1) cured sheep cheese, caña de lomo & jamón Ibérico with Manzanilla

There are few things that can compare to ham and sherry, consumed in its natural home in an old tavern in Spanish Spain. So book your apartment and get out here and enjoy it.

And there’s lots of other good stuff too, from the sunshine to magnificent palaces….

Seville | A Day Trip to Sanlucar de Barrameda

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Sanlúcar de Barrameda is the small seaside town at the mouth of the River Guadalquivir – directly across from the Doñana National Park (you can cross on a small ferry) – just over an hour’s drive or bus ride from Seville. This makes it ideal for day trips or long weekends away from Seville, especially in summer, when the sea breezes keep it cooler than its bigger neighbour.

sanlucar (1) Plaza Cabildo

It’s history goes back at least to Moorish times, the Barrameda part of the name deriving from the Arabic for “water well of the plateau”, but it fell to the Christians in 1264. Its heyday was during the great age of exploration in the 16th century, and both Columbus and Magellan set sail from here. In the mid 17th century it went into decline, although its fortunes were somewhat revived by its role in sherry production.

sanlucar (3) Bodegas Barbadillo

Nowadays Sanlúcar is best known for prawns and manzanilla sherry, and it was these, among other things, that brought us there, but more of that later. We arrived mid-morning at the little bus station in the modern seaside resort part of town. From here many people will head straight for the beach, but we had a different objective. The beach could wait. First stop was actually a late breakfast, a simple but tasty Serrano on toast and coffee at any of the bars in the Plaza Cabildo, the pretty little central square in the Barrio Bajo, the lower town. Sitting in the morning sunshine in one of these quintessential Spanish squares, with its little fountain, statue of famous local person, and a couple of palm trees, with a coffee or a beer ready to hand, is one of life’s great simple pleasures. Another is visiting local food markets, and this was our next stop. The Sanlucar market is just off the central square, immediately beneath the steep hill up to the Barrio Alto, the upper town. As well as the main hall, stalls and small shops spill out into the adjoining streets, and the whole area has a pleasantly busy vibe. Highlights were the street seller selling live camarones, the little shrimps used in the tortillitas, and a brace of model clowns outside one of the small shops.

sanlucar (4) the famous Sanlucar prawns

From the market a short walk takes you up to the Barrio Alto and, for us, the main purpose of our trip – manzanilla sherry. More specifically a visit to one of Sanlúcar’s famous sherry bodegas. Bodegas Barbadillo has a number of locations around the city, but the visitor centre and museum is next door to the impressive 15th century Santiago Castle overlooking the lower town. Although it wasn’t my first visit to a bodega, the experience is always enjoyable. The atmosphere inside these high ceilinged rooms with their ranks of sherry casks is always special, and there’s always something new to learn about the arts of sherry making. And sherry drinking too, as the tour finishes with a tasting of some of the bodega’s sherries and young wines.

After the tasting it was time for lunch. We started with a quick snack of the famous Sanlúcar speciality tortillitas de camarones (shrimp fritters) at the equally famous Casa Balbino on the main square before moving on to the Puerta de la Victoria just up the street.

sanlucar (2) sunset on the beach

No visit to a seaside town is complete without a trip to the beach, and in Sanlúcar to the Bajo de Guia (Pilot’s Wharf), where in days of old ships going up river would pick up a local pilot to guide them through the tricky channels to Seville. Every August the beach here plays host to what are claimed to be the oldest horse races in Spain. We missed those on this occasion, but still got to sip our sherry cocktails at Cafe Azul looking across the river and watching the fishing boats heading back to the unloading quay a little further up the river. Sanlúcar, and especially the bars along the Bajo, is famous for its prawns, so after cocktails we headed to Casa Bigote for a sample.

I could happily have spent the rest of the waning afternoon sitting around looking at the peaceful view, but it was time to head back to the bus, and home to Seville.

Jerez – Xèréz – Sherry (and Horses)

Seville | The Sherry Triangle

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Deep in the southwest of the magical kingdom of Spain lies a mysterious region known to its intrepid explorers as the Sherry Triangle. Unlike its Bermudan namesake, however, it is not most famous for things that disappear (though people venturing in have been known to never emerge again), but for what comes out of it.

Different layers of barrels are used for blending older and younger wines

Now, right now you may be thinking – Sherry? That’s that dark, overly sweet stuff that Grandma serves up on Christmas day, isn’t it? Well, yes… and then again, no. Sherry is actually any wine made in the Sherry region (officially the area regulated by the commission that oversees the production and quality control of wines labelled Jerez-Xeres-Sherry), a roughly triangular area between the towns of Jerez, Sanlúcar de Barrameda and Puerto de Santa Maria, that produces some of the world’s most complex and unique wines.

Wine has been produced here at least since Roman times, and has seen many ups and downs in its quality and popularity since then, but it’s currently having something of a renaissance, not only in Spain, but also in other European markets. The English, in particular, have had a long love affair with sherry that dates back to Elizabethan times, when it was known as sack (probably from the Spanish verb sacar, meaning “to take out”) and was referred to by Shakespeare in several of his plays.

Almost all sherries are made from the palomino variety of grape, which is particularly well suited to the triangle’s light chalky soil, the albariza, though sweet dessert sherries may be made wholly or partly from Pedro Ximenez or Muscatel. After fermentation, the wine is fortified, and then may be aged under a layer of yeasts, called flor (making fino or manzanilla sherries), or exposed to the air (oloroso sherry), or both (amontillado and palo cortado sherries), in a system of barrels known as a solera, in which wines of different ages are blended together.

Different types of sherry from dry (left) to sweet (right)

Most sherries are exceptionally dry, and are an excellent accompaniment to the famous Spanish hams and cheeses (and almost anything else!), and there is no gastronomic experience more quintessentially Spanish than sitting in a traditional style bar somewhere in southern Spain, eating jamon with a manzanillo or fino sherry. If you haven’t tried it yet, put it on your to-do list immediately.

If you’re already an aficionado, or just interested in wines, you might like to take a day trip to Jerez, and tour one of sherry bodegas, where you can learn more about how it’s made and some of the traditions that have grown up around it. You can find a list of bodegas that give tours through the Jerez Tourism board.

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