Okay. Hands up. I’ll admit it’s probably Sherry O’Clock more often in my house than in your average household.

But this special time of day took on a whole new meaning last Thursday night, when I took Sherry O’Clock beyond the confines of my four walls, and out to the good folk at fantastic London night market, The StockMKT in Bermondsey.

Sherry O’Clock was a little personal endeavour of mine, not only to spread the Sherry love but to take wine tasting to a new level too.

As you see, there were no fancy props, no flash powerpoints, no microphones. All I had (and all I wanted) was a stall, a few seats, some Sherry, wine glasses and a bit of ice.

Every half an hour, a new batch of curious people joined me in my makeshift Sherry lounge, some clutching a falafel wrap, some feeling thirsty, some who had never tried a Sherry before in their lives. All innocently entrusting me with their palates, all volunteering to be Sherry-ised.

And so, armed with three gorgeous Sherry styles – a Fino, an Amontillado and a Palo Cortado, I chatted about Sherry – where it came from, why it tasted the way it did, and then honed in on the fact that it is… a. delicious, b. versatile with food, c. misunderstood by so many people and d. often AMAzing value for money.

Of course none of this could have been achieved without Gonzalez Byass UK, who were brilliantly supportive and provided me with three of their fantastic Sherries to show to the crowds…and they were:

Tio Pepe (£9.99, widely available): A Fino that’s one of the most delicious wine brands around

Viña AB (£10.99+, Adnams, Cambridge Wines, General Wine Co, Hanslope, www.thedrinkshop.com): An Amontillado that’s super fresh with flavours of nuts and honey.

Leonor (£10.99, Adnams, Cambridge Wines, The Oxford Wine Company and Tanners): A beautifully supple and moreish Palo Cortado that’s crammed with flavours of nuts, caramel and marmalade… but is still technically dry.

Each tasting finished on this yummy Palo Cortado, so I encouraged all of London’s lovely new Sherry ambassadors to save a little in their glass at the end and take it over to the Ibérico Jamón stall, explaining that food and wine matching doesn’t get much sexier than this.

It was such a fabulous night, hopefully there’ll be plenty more Sherry O’Clocks in the future, both at my house and elsewhere around London!

And finally, a very, very special thanks go out to Louise Bartholdi of Gonzalez Byass UK as well as Rachael Everitt and Amy Wilson of Phipps PR (who do the PR for Tio Pepe) for all their help on the night – ladies, you were nothing short of legends!

J