Why Los Angeles Is Experiencing a Sherry Boom

"When Heather Sperling set out to open her newest restaurant, a Spanish tapas bar in the heart of Los Angeles’ Silverlake neighborhood, she was eager to launch the beverage program: “I get to push my sherry agenda,” says Sperling, who also operates nearby seasonal California restaurant Botanica along with co-owner Emily Fiffer. Pierluc Dallaire, Siesta’s beverage director, “meticulously curates one of the largest sherry lists in Los Angeles, with 14 varieties on the current menu,” and notes how guests often misunderstand the category: “The customers here say, ‘Oh, we thought sherry was sweet. We thought it was a creamy thing,’” prompting a hands-on, educational approach. Sperling acknowledges a learning curve—“It’s like the thing that grandma sips at three in the afternoon, the ancient bottle in their cabinet,” and warns, “There’s definitely not a knowledge of the drier, aperitif -style sherry.” She and the team encourage tasting at the terracotta-tiled bar or at small tables, pouring “dry, crisp, nutty sherry expressions” and advising tasting progression: “You can start with a briny, bone-dry, crisp fino or manzanilla.” The write-up preserves the technical distinction: finos and manzanillas are the same type of sherry, with manzanilla coming exclusively from Sanlúcar de Barrameda in the Sherry Triangle and, because it’s crafted close to the ocean, “thought to contain more salinity.” Practical pairing guidance is explicit: “We're trying to teach them that you can start with that, with your jamón, your olives, your almonds, your salads, then as you move on to your heartier dishes, you can have amontillado,” and “You can have an oloroso with grilled lamb or sausage and lentils.” Sweet, dessert uses are preserved too: Pedro Ximenez is offered by the glass or “poured over olive oil ice cream as a sherry affogato dessert.” Sperling sums up the mission plainly: “We want to teach people that this is [an] amazing Spanish beverage that can go throughout your meal in the way that a wine pairing would.” Customer reactions confirm the payoff: when staff engage tables and offer tastings, diners respond, “Oh my God, I had no idea. I knew nothing about sherry. I thought it was something grandmothers drink in the afternoon.”" - Heather Platt