Who wouldn’t feel favoured, at the end of a week’s labour, to receive as part-wages a pale wine that puts the mouth in mind of the sea … and not gladly be kissed by gentle William Shakespeare’s lips, the dark, raisiny taste of his song; bequeathed to his thousand daughters and sons, the stolen wines of the Spanish sun … or walk the cool bodegas’ aisles – where flor and oxygen grow talented in fragrances and flavours – to sniff, sip, spit, swallow, savour …

First published on Laureate’s Choice sherry label, 2009