Morrisons The Best Oloroso review

This means that an oloroso does all its ageing with oxygen contact. Someone once explained this to me as follows: a fino is like an apple with cling film on, it keeps its colour and freshness, whereas an oloroso is like an uncovered apple, it oxidises and turns brown. Almost all olorosos will be aged in a solera, where old wines are blended with younger ones, though you do sometimes see vintage-dated ones. As the brandy is added post-fermentation, olorosos are naturally dry, though they were traditionally sweetened for the British market.

This example is in the classic unsweetened style. It’s made by Lustau, one of the grand old names of sherry, which produces a lot of supermarket wines as well as stuff under their own label. If it says Lustau on the back of a bottle, you’re pretty much guaranteed a good wine. The company supplies Morrison’s with its ‘The Best’ range, which is good across the board, this one being the pick of the bunch. In fact, it is a surprise to find such an uncompromising sherry in a supermarket, especially at such a low price. It’s really pungent, heavy with a taste of muscovado sugar and brazil nuts, and very hard to refuse a second glass of.

Recommended serving

Dry olorosos love hard cheeses like a mature manchego. It’s also great with rich meat dishes like game pies and makes a lovely sipper on its own either chilled as an aperitif as they do in Spain or after a meal.

Available from Morrisons (£5.50)

Best sherry recipes

Roast pear & sherry ice cream
Sherry negroni
Sherry cobbler
Sherry, almond & orange pandoro
Torrijas with sherry

This review was last updated in November 2020. If you have any questions, suggestions for future reviews or spot anything that has changed in price or availability please get in touch at [email protected].