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The holy relics of Barbadillo

Barbadillo Reliquia sherries - bottles and labels

Tam's taste buds tangle with an F-35 fighter-jet of a wine.

It's exactly 200 years since sherry producer Barbadillo was founded. Benigno Barbadillo, who'd made his fortune in real estate, pharmaceuticals and wine importation in Mexico, returned to Spain in 1821 with cousin Manuel López Barbadillo. He bought the 18th-century Bodega El Toro, a beautiful old (even then!) farmhouse in the heart of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. The cousins began to export sherry to the US and UK.

Today, Barbadillo is still family-owned and run. They are famous for a number of firsts. The first to export manzanilla, in casks, to...