Wine:

Back in the 1960s one of the biggest-selling Sherry brands was called Dry Fly; it had more cachet than Harvey’s Bristol Cream but was far from dry. It was a medium-dry Amontillado, a style that is not to be sneezed at. (I was amazed to see that you can still get it in England).

It used be said that Irish and British wine consumers like to see ‘dry’ on the label and sweetness in the contents, hence the brand name. When Croft Original was launched decades ago, it was a wood-aged Sherry with the brown shade removed by charcoal filtration so it looked like the more sophisticated — as a lot of people felt — dry fino, like Tio Pepe. In other words, you could appear to be drinking dry sherry while enjoying that familiar, comforting sweetness.

Croft Original was a roaring success but it probably put Sherry, as serious wine, back 30 years; it’s only now that it has been rediscovered by wine enthusiasts and is having its resurrection.

I had two online tastings last week, one hosted by Dunnes Stores and the German Kendermann wine company, and one by SuperValu with two of their Italian suppliers. Kevin O’Callaghan of SuperValu says that Italy is a growth area for them and that people are trading up.

Kendermann’s Weinhaus Wines are interesting and worth watching out for but I was struck by the sweetness of the Pfalz Riesling; now that Kabinetts are getting rarer and rarer, this was a reminder of how a Riesling that stops just short of dessert wine status, can be rather lovely -— if you choose the food carefully. If in doubt, have some Cashel Blue. The Castellani company have been adjusting the sweetness levels in some of their wines — mostly by modest enough amounts — so that the wines taste dry but a bit rounder. Their Baffo Chianti, with its funky retro image, is designed to appeal to younger, less traditional consumers and I have to say it appeals to me despite having about twice the usual level of residual sugar albeit hidden by classic juicy acidity.

Years ago Randall Grahm, of California’s Bonny Doon vineyards, referred to the Coca-Colanisation of wine and last week I was told that the US version of Gallo’s Apothic red has 28g/litre of residual sugar.

And if you thought that this explains how Apothic is rather cloying, I should add that the version sold in Europe has a mere 17g per litre!