Sherry is to be the main protagonist from 12 to 20 June in Ontario and Quebec (Canada) when a series of events under the title “Sherry, a noble wine from Spain” is to be held in these Canadian provinces. The promotion is being organised by the Spanish Commercial Office in Toronto, with collaboration from Fedejerez and the Regulating Council of the Denominations of Origin Jerez y Manzanilla-Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

The events will include 14 tasting sessions with commentaries by Jorge Pascual, President of the Regulating Council of this Denomination of Origin. Seven sherries will be presented alongside a wide range of tapas to prove sherry’s great suitability as a partner for food.

The sessions will be attended by about 700 people – students from the main cookery schools and sommeliers from the province of Ontario, wine professionals (Horeca channel), consultants from the stores of the alcoholic beverages monopoly, the specialist press and the general public. In addition, on 15 and 20 June, two large tasting sessions are to be held with the same format in the cities of Toronto and Quebec for wine professionals and the general public, and are each expected to receive about 300 visitors.

The aim of these initiatives is to acquaint the Canadian public with this unique drink, which is still hardly known in Canada outside a small group of connoisseurs, and to distinguish Spanish sherry from the many so-called “sherries” that are made in Canada and other countries but that are of inferior quality.

Now that an agreement has recently been signed between Canada and the European Union on the protection of Denominations of Origin, the time is ripe for making sherry known as a top-quality Spanish product because the name of sherry will soon be reserved exclusively to labels from this Denomination of Origin.