In his recent article in The New York Times, "In Spain, Sherry Producers Learn to Think Small" Eric Asimov is somewhat misleading about jerez--one of my favorite styles of wine--but he also gives lots of information about where the world of sherry may be heading.
In the beginning of the article, when Asimov writes "in a business largely built on selling vast quantities of inexpensive mediocre wine" he should make it clear that he is referring to the sweetened sherries bottled almost exclusively for the export market--NOT the sherries that Spaniards drink, almost all of which are dry and, as Asimov himself admits, "can be good."
Can be?
The wine writer Oz Clarke has included one of these sherries, La Gitana manzanilla, in his "World Class Wines That Don't Cost the Earth" list for years. Andrés, my father-in-law, knew his sherry, and loved La Ina.
If you've ever tried a La Gitana manzanilla, you will know it is a truly fantasic wine, especially for the price: even here in the U.S. it costs less than $20 a bottle--when you can find it.
But Asimov's article is still worth reading. It explains how the sherry industry has begun producing smaller batches of even higher quality sherry for the new sherry-aficionados. It has a pretty good slideshow too.
How good are these boutique sherries? How much will they cost?
Asimov promises to tell us more in an upcoming article.
In the meantime, you may want to check out La Tienda's selection of sherries, and also my other posts on jerez or sherry.

