£11.95 (37.5cl), Lea & Sandeman; £12.49 (37.5cl), Martinez Wines
Outstanding Manzanilla, aptly named and great value for such quality. It's slightly darker, fuller bodied and more intensely saline – altogether more complex – than the average Manzanilla or Fino, because it's en rama, meaning bottled from the cask without the usual filtration. I don't want to reduce it to a list of aromas and flavours, but I found fresh hops, smoke/gunflint, green apple, salted almonds, Marmite on toast and, although dry and tangy, a flatteringly silky texture. It was matured in cask for more than 5 years under flor, the yeast that gives Manzanilla and Fino their defining flavour and freshness, before being bottled in spring this year. It's also a rarity in being a sherry from a single vineyard (pago), Miraflores in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Serve it chilled either as an aperitif or with olives, seafood, grilled or fried fish, sushi, salads or air dried hams.
Valdespino Manzanilla Deliciosa En Rama, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Jerez, Spain
£11.95 (37.5cl) or £10.95 in any mix of 12 bottles, Lea & Sandeman