We stole the wine from the Spanish, then decided we rather liked it.

31 Oct

I remember being obsessed with the Adventures from History series that Ladybird produced in the 70s and 80s. I’m sure now they are considered jingoistic relics, but as a child they ignited my love of history and country.

What on earth does this have to do with sherry, you ask?

The famous Golden Hind boat docked in the UK — *The Golden Hind Ship, sailed by Sir Francis Drake*

Well, as well as being an avid reader, I regularly used to go to South Devon in the caravan with my grandparents. My Grandpa, being an ex-Merchant Navy man, always loved the coast, and a highlight of our trip was when my brother and I got to climb aboard the Golden Hind in Brixham.

Yes, but sherry, Rob?

Portrait of Sir Francis Drake — *Sir Francis Drake*

I’m getting to it. The Golden Hind was the ship in which Sir Francis Drake famously circumnavigated the globe, and Drake was exactly the sort of historical character those Ladybird books loved: sailor, adventurer, privateer and all-round thorn in the side of the Spanish Empire.

By the 1580s England and Spain were edging towards open war. Philip II of Spain was assembling a huge invasion fleet, while Elizabeth I was quite happy for men such as Drake to make life as difficult as possible for him.

In April 1587, Drake sailed into Cádiz harbour with an English fleet and launched a devastating surprise attack. Spanish ships were burned, captured or destroyed, stores intended for the developing Armada were ruined and thousands of barrel staves were destroyed. The damage helped delay Philip’s invasion plans until the following year.

Drake gleefully described what he had done as “singeing the King of Spain’s beard.”

And here, finally, comes the sherry.

Amongst the loot captured at Cádiz were around 2,900 pipes or casks of wine from the Jerez region. Drake carried his prize back to England, where suddenly a very large quantity of excellent Spanish wine found itself in the hands of a nation which was officially at war with the people who had made it.

The English already knew the wine. It was generally called “sack”, with wine from Jerez known as Sherris sack. The name “Sherris” ultimately came from Jerez itself and gradually evolved into our modern word sherry. Exactly where the word “sack” came from is less certain; historians have suggested both the French sec, meaning dry, and the Spanish sacar, meaning to draw or take out wine for export. What it definitely does not mean is that it was called sack because Drake had “sacked” Cádiz – tempting though that story is.

The great battle that lead us to stealing so much Sherry from Spain — *Image sourced from Wikipedia*

Drake’s enormous haul helped turn an existing English taste into something much more fashionable, particularly amongst the Elizabethan court and wealthy drinkers. The official Sherry Wines history even records Elizabeth I recommending the wine to the Earl of Essex.

Within a few years Shakespeare was putting sack into the mouth of his greatest drinker, SirJohn Falstaff. In Henry IV Part II, Falstaff launches into a glorious defence of “good sherris-sack”, crediting it with warming the blood, sharpening the brain and generally improving mankind.

So one of the great quirks of Anglo-Spanish history is that, while Drake was busy trying to wreck Spain’s invasion fleet, he was inadvertently helping create one of England’s longest-lasting drinking habits.

We stole the wine from the Spanish.

Then decided we rather liked it.

Rob.

Discover Sherry in our Restaurants

If you fancy giving Sherry a taste, without having to invade Spain or time travel, then you can checkout our Sherry specials:

🍷 Nine different choices of Sherry flights ranging from £8.50 - £27.90 and includes a variety of Sherry styles and flavours. If you’re completely new to Sherry, maybe give one of our new Sherry cocktails a try instead!

Fancy pairing some sherry with some of our November food specials?

🐄Buñuelo de Carrillera de Ternera Beef cheek fritter with mushroom served on a rich, smokey idiazabal cheese rice

🍄‍🟫Buñuelo de Champiñones Mushroom Fritter served on a rich mushroom & idiazabel cheese rice

Throughout the month, our restaurants will be serving our Sherry wine menu featuring a selection of wines that you wouldn't normally find available by the glass.

Come and give them a try while they're on the menu. Available throughout November.

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