Manzanilla is a variety of fino sherry made around the port of Sanlucar de Barrameda, Andalusia, Spain. This is the first book to cast the spotlight on what has been a much ignored sherry but which is now finding admirers all around the world. It is based on research in the archives of the, recently deceased, Duchess of Medina Sidonia and visits to the bodegas of all the leading producers. Tasting notes are also provided. Christopher Fielden started in the wine trade, in the late fifties, with the agency in the North of England for Gonzalez Byass sherries. He has been involved in the dinks trade for more than half a century and can claim to be the first to have imported wines from Albania and Uruguay into Britain and the first to have sold Irish whiskey in Tahiti, Paraguay and Sierra Leone. His travels have taken him to more than one hundred countries. On the British market, he launched such diverse wines as Jacob's Creek, Sutter Home, Marques de Caceres and Felton Road. He is passionately interested in trade education and is the longest-standing lecturer for the Wine & Spirit Education Trust.
He is currently the wine columnist for "The Church Times", had a column in "Decanter" for more than ten years, and has written for "The Wine Spectator", "Wine", "Wine & Spirit", "Good Housekeeping" etc., as well as journals in Holland, France and Austria. His previous books include "A Traveller's Wine Guide to France", "Is this the Wine you Ordered, Sir?", and "The Wines of Argentina, Chile and Latin America". He now spends his time as a rural clergy spouse, meddling in village affairs and playing the occasional game of cricket.