Sherry 101 at Mockingbird Hill-SOLD OUT!Sherry is enough of an unknown commodity in this country that Derek Brown, co-owner of a trim new bar specializing in the wine made primarily from the palomino grape, hosts weekly classes at Mockingbird Hill to introduce it to the curious, some of whom tell him their only exposure to the drink had been from Wikipedia. The major lessons Brown likes to impart in the Tuesday night tutorials are that sherry is from Spain; “it’s the greatest food wine in the world”; and “more pirates than grandmothers” drank true sherry.
Opening an ode to the wine is “definitely risky,” says Brown, who runs the Shaw addition with his wife, former Tabard Inn bar maven Chantal Tseng. “But I’m not interested in doing things I’m lukewarm about.” Further buoyed by what the cocktail movement is doing for their cause — you can hardly pivot on a bar stool without spotting a sherry-laced drink these days — husband and wife have put sherry on a pedestal by stocking 60-plus kinds. They embrace the light, straw-colored fino; the crisp, sea-breezy manzanilla; the nuttier, amber-hued amontillado; the dark and fragrant oloroso; and many styles more.