Wine of the Week: Alexander Jules Manzanilla ‘17/71’ Sherry

This could be the sherry to turn even the most dubious wine drinker into a sherry fancier. Alexander Jules proprietor Alex Russan fell in love with sherry in his college days when that was about all he could afford. It quickly turned into an obsession — and just recently into a business bottling and selling sherries hand-picked from certain casks belonging to the soleras of historic sherry houses in southern Spain.

Pour a little of this manzanilla into a white wine glass. Immediately there’s the complicated scent of flowers, hazelnuts and something of the sea. Dry and with a quiet intensity and complexity, the sherry lingers on the finish, a touch saline, a touch mysterious.