Sherry Week, the largest global celebration of fortified wines from Southern Spain, recently won Best Social Media Campaign of the Year, in the Drinks Business Awards 2020.
Every year, Sherry Week brings together the worldwide Sherry community; its message is more important than ever this year, even if conveyed virtually, rather than in person. In these unprecedented times, since many aficionados cannot visit bars or restaurants, Sherry Week will deliver the passion and knowledge of industry professionals to people’s homes, with online events from tastings to cooking classes, available to everyone through the web and/or on Social Media. So stay at home, and link up - and drink up - with the global Sherry community!
Hundreds of events are being planned by Sherry Wine producers, and bars and restaurants, including online and on-site Sherry tastings, pairing and cocktail menus, home-delivery pairing dinners, and online wine store promotional offers. Sherry lovers worldwide will be treated to a series of virtual events, featuring renowned figures from the restaurant industry: masterclasses, interviews, cooking classes and podcasts. Countries already confirmed to host events include Belgium,
Brazil, China, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US.
In addition, the Sherry Wines Regulatory Board will present a diverse selection of Zoom webinars and Instagram Live broadcasts in English and Spanish. Anyone can join and interact with these by posting comments and asking questions (pre-registration is required for the Zoom webinars). These webinars will also be available to watch live (without interaction) on the Sherry Wines Facebook page, and subsequently on the YouTube channel.
Event:Sherry o’clock
Date & time:Monday 2 - Friday 6 November, 19h CET/20h GMT/13h EST
Channel:Instagram Live
Can’t head to your local bar for a glass of Sherry? Every weekday join the live chat at the online Sherry Bar in Jerez, where different guests - Sherry producers, restaurant and bar owners, and mixologists - each day will talk about a particular style of Sherry: Manzanilla Monday (Spanish), Amontillado Tuesday (English) , Palo Cortado Wednesday (Spanish), Cream Thursday (English) and Fino Friday (English).
Event: Virtual book launch: Beltrán Domecq Sherry Uncovered, 2nd edition
Date & time:Monday 2 November 19.30h GMT/ 20.30h CET / 14.30h EST
Channel: Zoom (also Facebook live, and YouTube)
Conducted by Sarah Jane Evans MW, a world-renowned expert on Sherry, this virtual book launch will examine the origins of Sherry Uncovered (2020), a fully revised edition of the acclaimed book authored by Beltrán Domecq, the recent past-president of the Consejo Regulador Jerez y Manazanilla.
Guests will also be able to enjoy a special reading, by the author himself, of one of his favourite passages. The session will conclude with guests invited to ask their own questions about the book, Beltrán’s unique life in Sherry, as well as Sherry in general. There will also be five signed copies available to win of this updated edition of Sherry Uncovered for those taking part.
This event is best enjoyed with a glass of Sherry in hand. (pre-registration required)
Event:Ferran Centelles: Tasting of Amontillado Sherries
Date:Monday 2 November 18h CET
Channel: Zoom (also Facebook live, and YouTube)
A collaborator of Jancis Robinson and Drink Director of ElBullí Foundation, sommelier Ferran Centelles will taste four Amontillado/Fino-Amontillado Sherries. The goal is to dive into the profile of this fabulous style of wine and analyze the factors that make it such a diverse category. Integration, persistence, pungency, both biological and oxidative character, will be the pillars on which the tasting will be built. The event is partnered with Spanish online retailer Vilaviniteca so that participants can purchase the wines prior to the tasting. This webinar will be in Spanish on Zoom (pre-registration required).
Event:World Online Sherry Pairing Dinner
Date:Wednesday 4 November – see below for times
Channel:Zoom (also Facebook live, and YouTube afterwards)
This event will take place in four countries over 24 hours: China (19h/13h CET), the UK (21h/22h CET), Spain (21h CET) and the USA (18h/24h CET).
The 24-hour online pairing dinner will feature restaurants in four countries; these will offer a Sherry-pairing meal either on-site or at home, depending on local restrictions. Each restaurant will broadcast its dinner live via a Zoom webinar, so that anyone anywhere can enjoy the experience virtually, asking questions, making comments, and seeing how well regional gastronomy around the world pairs with these astonishingly and uniquely versatile wines.
In Shanghai this will be a ten-course Sherry pairing dinner at Royal China Club restaurant; in London, Camino restaurant will deliver a home-chef kit with a pack of Sherry wines; in Spain, local foods from Cadiz plus Sherry wines will be tasted; and in the US, a three-course meal and Sherry wines will be presented virtually from Estadio restaurant in Washington DC, available for pre-order beforehand. Due to demand, more restaurants are likely to be added to the party.
Links to pre-register your participation:
● China Royal China Club Restaurant
Event:Old stuff v New stuff Sherry Tasting
Date & time:Tuesday 3 November, 19.30h CET / 18.30 GMT / 13.30h EST
Channel: Facebook live, and YouTube
Previously known as the annual #TwitterTasting, this year the tasting is being raised a notch and going live on Zoom: three extremely rare old bottle-aged Sherries, carefully sourced for the occasion, will be compared with three recently bottled wines.
Ruben Luyten of Sherry Notes will host the event as always, joined this year by Cesar Saldaña, Sarah Jane Evans and Ferran Centelles. Also taking part will be six bloggers, who have each received a tasting kit of these very special wines. This tasting is unprecedented, and is highly audacious due to the unknown nature of the older Sherries: no one will know how the wines have aged in their bottles until they are tasted on the night. Watching the tasting live will add an extra level of excitement, as each participant tastes, and reacts to, the three different pairs of wines.
Event:Sommelier’s guide to Sherry with Josep Roca & Cesar Saldaña, with the collaboration of Bodeboca
Date:Thursday 5 November, 11h CET
Channel:Zoom (also Facebook live, and YouTube)
The co-owner and sommelier of the Celler de Can Roca, twice voted the World’s Best Restaurant, Josep Roca, along with César Saldaña, president of the Sherry Wines Regulatory Board, will present a Guide to Sherry webinar for sommeliers, in Spanish on Zoom (pre-registration required).
#MySherryAmigo: a toast to the people behind our favourite restaurants & bars
With the hospitality industry going through challenging times, during Sherry Week we will encourage Sherry lovers to honour the professionals who have shared their knowledge and passion, or introduced newcomers to Sherry. Post about your favourite wine shop, bar or restaurant and raise a glass in their honour. Then tag 3 others to the same.
