NV Harvey's - Bristol Cream Sherry HALF BOTTLE (375ml)

Harvey's traces its beginnings to 1796, when William Perry and Thomas Urch founded a wine trading business in Bristol, England, importing sherry, Madeira, and Port from Spain. Perry's nephew John Harvey joined as an apprentice and eventually took the company over with his brothers, and by the 1860s his sons John II and Edward had refined the house's popular sweetened Oloroso, known locally as Bristol Milk, into a richer new blend. As the story goes, a visiting aristocratic guest tasted the new wine and declared that if the original was milk, this must be cream, giving the blend its name when it was trademarked in 1882. It quickly earned a Royal Warrant and grew into one of the best-selling sherries in the world.

Bristol Cream is produced today in Jerez de la Frontera, drawing on wines from more than thirty individual soleras that include Fino, Amontillado, Oloroso, and Pedro Ximénez. The base is primarily Palomino grapes with a portion of Pedro Ximénez, aged in American oak through the traditional criaderas and solera system before the finished blend is fortified with young Jerez brandy to reach its characteristic strength.

The wine pours a deep amber with chestnut tones, offering aromas of caramel, toasted almonds, and dried fig. On the palate it is full and mellow, layered with toffee, golden raisin, and a touch of orange peel, finishing long and velvety. It pairs well with roasted chestnuts, aged cheddar, or a slice of spiced fruit cake.