Beginner’s guide to versatile sherry

from oysters, shellfish and other seafood, including fried calamari and smoked salmon; to nuts, olives, salty cheeses and cured meats; all the way to more substantial white meats and heartier dishes. Keep in mind that this is the wine that goes with the food style believed to have originated in this part of Spain in the 1800s: tapas.

So sherry is versatile. It is also difficult to make. The painstaking process involves a gradual aging and blending process that sees the wine traveling through a traditionally stacked configuration of oak barrels (called a solera) throughout its development. When the wine reaches the bottom row of barrels, it’s ready for bottling. The rows of barrels, from top to bottom, are constantly being replenished with new wine, and the process continues. It is a beautiful tradition that produces a unique product worthy of your attention, despite what you may have heard.

Remember to serve these wines well-chilled, and don’t ball-and-chain them into one of those tiny glasses that you can barely hover a single nostril over. Serve them in proper white-wine glasses (smaller Bordeaux-style glasses with straight sides). Sherry is not standard table wine, but it can still offer aromas you can enjoy, and obviously it goes well with food, despite its reputation among some people who possibly haven’t had enough proper exposure to it.

When people tell me they don’t like Champagne, I usually tell them that they probably haven’t had the right Champagne. The same holds true for sherry. Get started with the super-dry stuff — fino and manzanilla — and work your way all the way up to Pedro Ximenez (aka “PX”) at the other end of the spectrum. Somewhere on that continuum, you will probably become a sherry believer.

If for some reason you still don’t like sherry after you try a variety of them, you will know why, firsthand, instead of relying on all of the (perhaps unreliable, perhaps unsubstantiated) opinions of others who have crossed your path through the years. Try sherry the way it was intended — as a palate awakener or an accompaniment to foods from the beginning of a meal all the way to the end (in the case of dessert styles) — and I think you will make pleasant discoveries along the way.

One more thing: Go easy on your pours. At 15 to 22 percent alcohol, sherry can sneak up on you and give you that special feeling sooner than you expected if you are not careful.

Below are notes from a recent tasting of fino and manzanilla sherry. Unless otherwise noted, bottle sizes are 750 milliliters.

This fresh wine is nutty, floral, yeasty and crisp, and would be nice as an aperitif or with salty snacks.

Yeasty with minerality and wood notes, this one has a lingering almond finish. Floral and nutty, this wine has a touch of bitterness in its slowly developing finish.

Brown pine needles and dried brush mix with ripe almonds in this mouth-filling wine. Bodegas Los Infantes de Orleans Borbon Manzanilla Sherry. Citrus, salinity, orange zest, yeast and nuttiness are all present in this beauty.

This wine is full of salinity, minerality, incense, citrus, hay and nuts.

Toasted nuts, almond paste and minerality all mingle with a briny character in this one.

This wine is floral and fresh, with bright citrus and a cleansing crispness.

ABEL URIBE/CHICAGO TRIBUNE; LISA SCHUMACHER/FOOD STYLING Crisp, dry sherry matches well with oysters and other seafood, as well as nuts, olives, salty cheeses and meats.