May 3, 2018

El Maestro Sierra: Pedro Ximenez

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Rhenish (a wine that comes for the Rhine region of Germany).  The blog was prompted by my reading of the Outlander series of books.  Today’s blog is proudly brought to you by my reading of the second book in that series – Dragonfly in Amber.

I love to read.  I read a variety of styles and topics (but I gravitate toward history, paranormal fantasy, and business books).  These books weren’t on my radar at all until two of my friends prodded me into picking them up.  So far (and I just finished book three, Voyager, last night), they’ve been a fun adventure.

This blog is about Sherry because through Dragonfly in Amber, Jaimie is running his cousin’s wine business in Paris.  Sherry, Port, and a number of other wines are brought up in the novel.  So, I thought, I’ve never had Sherry before, let’s give it a whirl for the blog.  (Side note – I LOVE Port.  I’m sure I’ll blog about it later.)

A fortuitous visit to my favorite local wine shop, Talk of the Table, happened when they hosted a Sherry tasting.  An hour later and I can confidently say that Sherry can be clear and quite herbaceous in flavor (yuck), dark and heavily sweet, or any number of options in between.  It’s a fortified wine I might indulge in on special occasions, but I think finishing a bottle alone is out of the question.

This bottle weighed in on the heavier, sweeter side.  Imagine drinking liquid raisins and you’ve got an idea of what this one tasted like.  I really enjoyed it.  But don’t take my word for it – see if you can find a Sherry tasting of your own.  The flavors and weight vary for all types of taste buds.

Of the three books I’ve read, this one is my least favorite.  I suspect due to the first five chapters, which in my opinion, should have been chapters 47-52.  If you’ve read the books, I’ll leave that to you.  I know the author, so well thought out and researched, did it this way for a reason.  For me, it ruined the 42 chapters in between as the middle of the book because it became filler to get to where I already knew we were going to be.

What I did like about the novel was the reality of struggles in a relationship.  Everything isn’t wine Sherry and roses.  Sometimes there are thorns, villains, wars, and loss.  I’ll blog next month on Voyager and a drink that accompanies it.  Perhaps port, maybe whiskey.  Another adventure of a book.

For today, I will leave you with my favorite line from this book, the line that kept me reading and promised more pages to turn.    “The last thing he meant to do.  I think…I think he failed.”