OLOROSO SHERRIES
Sin,—With reference to your correspondent's com- ments on sherry in your issue of August 2, I would like to make the following observations.
Oloroso, in Spanish, means fragrant and sweet. The sherries in this category have less aroma but greater vinosity than the Finos and the Amontillados. In their natural state they are dry but they blend well with sweeter wines to produce the richer sherries which have been and are so popular in Great Britain and other markets with a colder climate than Spain.
Our board and staff are very familiar with Oloro- sos and other sherries in every stage of their de- velopment, but as wine merchants, like others in commerce, we have to cater for the public taste. I do not believe that, as suggested by Leslie Adrian, sherries which are so low in alcoholic strength and so unlike the Englishman's conception of an Oloroso in character can ever succeed. here. My company market a fine old Oloroso, called 'La Novia,' with a particularly dry finish for a wine of the sweeter type. In our experience, and Hedges and Butler have been wine merchants for nearly 300 years, such a wine meets the requirements far better than the style en- visaged by your correspondent.
As regards the statement referred to in our price list, this reads correctly as follows: 'Olorosos are full-flavoured wines ranging from Golden to the fine Creams. 'these wines are generally darker in colour and sweeter than the Finos.' This, incidentally, was inserted as a general guide for the benefit of the younger school of wine drinkers and it is certainly not a description with which any sherry shipper or wine merchant is likely to disagree.
PETER SELERIE Managing Director Hedges.and Butler Ltd., Hedges House; 153 Regent Street, WI
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