I once met a man at a drinks reception who had an unfathomable fascination with train tracks. Yes, the tracks and not the trains that run on them. It was not a conversation that went terribly well and yet when I walked by later on a kindly sort had managed to unlock the dialogue and discover that Mr Train Track was actually quite interesting, having travelled across the globe to look at all sorts of tracks, eating, drinking and sight-seeing as he went.

I finally understood how the poor chap felt this week when I returned home to a group of friends after a day of tasting aged Sherry. I was as excitable as a fully alert Red Setter and yet nobody wanted to know and, eventually, I got tired of trying and gave up. Shame on me!

Sherry has lost favour in recent times, quite possibly as people like me remember the smell of glasses of long-since opened Tio Pepe at our parents’, now unfashionably formal, dinner parties Ironic then that the wines I was tasting were a selection of aged Sherries that are newly entering the UK market following the decision of the regulatory council to introduce different categories for aged wines, called Vino de Jerez con Vejez Calificada .

Wines aged for more than 20 years are now to be sold as Vinum Optimum Signatum (Very Old Sherry), whilst those aged for more 30 years will be labelled as Vinum Optimum Rare Signatum (Very Old Rare Sherry).

Got all that? If so, the next thing you have to decide is which style of Sherry is for you.

An Amontillado wine is typically one of the more austere styles, being (primarily) dry and salty with quite citrus peel fruits. I am very fond of them but think they are best served cold when it is warm outside.

Particularly impressive was Williams & Humbert’s Jalifa Amontillado VORS 30-year-old available from Cambridge Wine Merchants (www.cambridgewine.com) for the bargain price of £12.99 for a 37.5cl bottle. I was particularly struck by the jaffa-cake flavour of this, the lovely weight and the distinct, salty finish.

Perhaps a little longer-lived on the palate with fresh, lively citrus fruits was Osborne’s 51-1a Amontillado VORS 30-year-old (£30 from The Wine Society www.thewinesociety.com). It is much the same price as the Jalifa, as you get a full bottle. Do not do what our parents used to do and keep it open for months and months on end . . . it will go as flat as a pancake. It should not be a challenge to finish it off in four to six weeks.

Oloroso Sherries are amongst my favourites; I adore their intense, nutty flavours and the rich, smooth textures they give on the palate.

Do take note that you can find dry and sweeter styles of Oloroso, so it pays to take note of the label.

Williams & Humbert’s Dry Sack Oloroso 15 years old (£12.99 for a 37.5cl bottle from www.cambridgewine.com) had a nicely textured palate of sweet fruit cake and dried fig flavours. Really delicious.

Frustratingly, the only supplier of Lustau’s single vintage 1990 Rich Oloroso that I can find is www.slurp.co.uk who ask you to buy a minimum of six bottles (£22.95 per bottle).

Still, it will keep and it was amongst my highest-scoring wines of the week with its opulent, beautifully-textured fruit; think roasted nuts and sweet, dried fruits.

Lastly — again from Lustau — was the 30-year-old Pedro Ximénez that was as luxurious a Sherry as I think you will find. It had a fabulously rich, sweet intensity of flavours and astonishing viscosity and yet had freshness too.

I rarely mention wines that do not yet have a UK stockist but I am told that Fields, Morris & Verdin (www.fmvwines.com) will be shipping it soon.

Time, I think to swap the new for the old and give Sherry a try.