10 wines that tell the Averys story

To commemorate our 225^th year, we take a look at 10 wines that have played a starring role in Averys history, starting with Averys Bristol Supreme Sweet Sherry.

1. Averys Bristol Supreme Sweet Sherry

Bristol was once the heart and soul of the English wine trade (we like to think it still is!). For centuries, it was a key shipping port bringing in casks of Port, Madeira, Bordeaux and most importantly of all, Sherry.

Huge quantities of Sherry arrived at the docks in Bristol which would be matured and bottled in the city’s Cellars, including our own Cellars on Park Street. Indeed, so important was Bristol to the Sherry trade that it developed its very own Sherry, a sweet style called Bristol Milk. As King Edward VII apparently once remarked, Bristol “must have damn fine cows.”

In 1893, the Commercial Directory of The Bristol Channel Ports commented that Averys

had “…a leading position in the wine and spirit trades of Bristol.”

In the late 19^th Century, Averys built its reputation on its range of excellent Ports and Sherries and along with rivals Harveys of Bristol (who of course, went on to create Harveys Bristol Cream) were one of the main producers of Bristol Milk. Why the name Bristol Milk? Magna Britannica explained it was “not only because it was as common here as milk, but because they esteem it as pleasant, wholesome and nourishing.”

Bristol Milk is no longer produced but we still sell Averys Bristol Supreme, a sweet Sherry first launched as a richer alternative to Bristol Milk. Today, it’s made by the family-owned Bodegas Barbadillo, one of the leading Sherry bodegas. Although sweet in style, it’s not at all heavy with gorgeous flavours of toffee fudge, almonds, hazelnuts and Christmas cake. A snip at just £10.99 per bottle.

Sherry may no longer be as popular as it once was but it’s at the heart of the Averys story and to us, it will always be one of the great wines of the world.

Comments

10 wines that tell the Averys story - Tyrrell’s Vat 47 Chardonnay,

6. Tyrrell’s Vat 47 Chardonnay Next up in our ‘10 wines that tell the Averys story’ is Tyrrell’s Vat 47 Chardonnay, the wine that put Australian Chardonnay on the world wine map. It’s hard to believe that fifty years ago, you couldn’t buy a bottle of Australian Chardonnay – even in Australia – it simply didn’t exist. The first commercially released Australian Chardonnay was Tyrrell’s Vat 47 1971. The story goes that Murray Tyrrell jumped the fence of the Penfolds HVD Pokolbin vineyard in the middle of the night to steal vine cuttings of Chardonnay (he’d already asked politely but as they’d refused, this was his only other option!) These cuttings reputedly went on to become the basis for Vat 47. Whether this is true or not is debatable but it certainly makes a good story! Since then, Tyrrell’s has become an Australian wine legend and that’s thanks in no small part to our very own John Avery. “The connection with the Avery family went back into the 1950s and John played...

10 wines that tell the Avery Story No 5.

5. Penfolds Grange The fifth of our ‘10 wines that tell the Averys story’ is Australia’s iconic Penfolds Grange, known as ‘Penfolds Grange Hermitage’ until the 1989 vintage. It was 1965 when a young John Avery arrived in Australia for the very first time. So rare was it for a wine merchant from the UK to visit Australia back then that he was greeted at the airport by journalists from the Sydney Morning Herald and Sydney Daily Telegraph keen to find out why he was visiting Australia and get his views on Australian wine. “ I’ve come to Australia to taste your wines as I haven’t had a good one yet.” His reply may have not been the most diplomatic but Aussie wine producers rushed to change his mind including Max Lake (Lake’s Folly), Brian McWilliam (McWilliams), Richard Hill-Smith (Yalumba) and Max Schubert (Penfolds). He toured Australia in a 1938 Rolls Royce and discovered that in fact, there were lots of exciting wines being made. So much so, that he wrote a...

Meet the winemaker – Laurent Saint Pasteur of Château Cissac

Meet the winemaker – Laurent Saint Pasteur of Château Cissac The Vialard family have owned Cissac since Louis Vialard inherited it in 1940 and today it’s run by 5 th generation Marie Vialard with the help of winemaker Laurent Saint Pasteur. Do you remember when and how you first began working with Averys? We don’t remember exactly but from the 70s without any doubt and almost certainly even before. Your wines have a very large and loyal following within Averys and the UK as a whole. What do you think has made them so successful? The fact that Mr Louis Vialard was the first producer selling directly his wines to wine merchants in the UK just after the 2 nd World War and organised many tastings and events across the country. We have then followed this work and are strongly committed to always increasing the quality of the wine. Also, the fact that the wine is only sold through traditional merchants and we always do our best to offer a fair and more or less steady price. W...

Search This Blog

Averys of Bristol