I HAVE just returned from a very wet and windy trip to southern Spain. The weather was so unexpectedly grey that we found ourselves indoors more than we intended. There was an up-side, we used the time to visit some wonderfully aromatic sherry bodegas, if I closed my eyes I felt as if I were sinking into a trifle.

With unpredictable colder weather and Christmas almost upon us, it is time to talk about fortified wines.