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Word on the Vine: Palomino
An age-old process turns this underwhelming Spanish grape into diverse, excellent sherries
THE GRAPE
High in sugar and low in acidity, the light-skinned palomino grape makes white wine of little character. The exception: around the city of Jerez de la Frontera, south-west Spain, it is used to make sherry, arguably the world’s greatest fortified wine – and one of the best- value, given the lengthy and labour-intensive production process.
THE TASTE
The base wine is fortified with neutral grape spirit once fermented, and classified into dry fino and manzanilla sherry; darker, nuttier amontillado and oloroso; and palo cortado – midway between amontillado and oloroso. Each sherry house keeps a consistent flavour profile by using the solera system, where old wine is removed from the casks and replaced with younger wines.
THE MATCHES
Fino and manzanilla are famously paired with tapas, but also consider hot-smoked salmon, a crab and coriander omelette or a plate of sushi and sashimi. Amontillado and oloroso are a classic match for Christmas pud, but are both just as good with a rich beef casserole or gamey pâté.
THE VINES
The Jerez-Xérès-Sherry Denominación de Origen Protegida, within Spain’s ‘sherry triangle’, is one of the hottest wine regions in the world, its chalky soil retaining just enough moisture from winter rainfall to sustain the vines in summer. The grapes are picked by hand to prevent damage to the thin skins.
THE BOTTLES
Four very different sherries that showcase the palomino grape
This article was taken from the June 2025 issue of Food and Travel. To subscribe today, click here.
SAINSBURY’S TASTE THE DIFFERENCE DRY FINO SHERRY, JEREZ, SPAIN
Fino is the Spanish word for ‘delicate’ and the refined style’s bracingly tingly taste comes from the film of yeast called flor, which grows on the wine’s surface in the cask. Made by top producer Lustau, this is best served very chilled.
Available at:50cl, £9.75, sainsburys.co.u
OLOROSO FULL DRY SHERRY, BARBADILLO, JEREZ, SPAIN
Deeply flavoured with caramel and nuts, yet bone-dry, this bottle from Barbadillo, a sherry bodega founded in 1821, is one to serve to anyone who thinks all brown sherry is sweet,
Available at:£15.50, davywine.co.uk
VINA AB 12 YEAR OLD AMONTILLADO, GONZÁLEZ BYASS, JEREZ, SPAIN
Family-owned González Byass is the most famous of all the bodegas (it makes Tio Pepe, the world’s bestselling fino). It also makes this amontillado, aged for four years under flor before a further eight years of oxidative ageing. Salty and nutty, with a complex finish.
Available at:£19, majestic.co.uk
LA BOTA 121 PALO CORTADO, EQUIPO NAVAZOS, JEREZ, SPAIN
Palo cortado sherries combine the freshness of amontillado with the richness of oloroso; here, chalky minerality cuts through toffee and hazelnut in a wine sourced from very old vines in a single vineyard near Sanlúcar de Barrameda. With an ABV of 18%, this should be drunk with food – preferably, Thai or Vietnamese.
Available at:£55, thewinesociety.com