A LOCAL bar in Penarth is celebrating International Sherry Week with its own Welsh Sherry festival.

Bar 44 will be hosting ‘The Welsh Sherry Festival’ in both its Penarth and Cowbridge bars to coincide with International Sherry Week, which takes place from June 2 - 8.

Co-founder of Bar 44, Owen Morgan, has been selected as one of only two UK brand ambassadors for International Sherry Week. This is an extremely prestigious role to be given alongside world renowned chef José Pizarro.

Owen Morgan, co-founder of Bar 44, said: "We’re delighted to host ‘the Welsh sherry festival'. As a qualified Sherry Educator, I’m extremely passionate about sherry and I’m looking forward to sharing my love of these wines and the history and culture behind them.

"Sherry is a type of wine which can actually be paired with any type of food, because there are so many different styles. Sherry is a speciality at both our Penarth and Cowbridge bars and it is one of the key ingredients running through the bars’ cocktail menus.

"By having International Sherry Week, it should hopefully help change people’s opinions that sherry is only a drink for a more elderly market. I urge people to come to the bar during the week to learn how versatile sherry really is."

Throughout the week, Bar 44 will be hosting a series of events and will be serving a special daily tapas menu, with every dish being individually paired with a sherry. Sherry flights will be available all week to introduce people to the various types of sherry on offer.

Each evening guests will also receive a complimentary slice of Jamón Ibérico and Arbequina olives with every glass of sherry ordered at the bar. Furthermore, Owen will be hosting bookable ‘Sherry Sessions’ throughout the week for customers looking to expand their knowledge.

Finally, the ‘Great Welsh Sherry Tasting’ will be taking place on June 7 in Cowbridge, and June in Penarth, between 1pm and 7pm each day. Bar 44 will be hosting an open house to welcome sherry lovers, inquisitive minds, sceptics, newcomers to come and sample sherry.

International Sherry Week has been created following the success of World Sherry Day 2013 which was celebrated in 30 countries.

Now an independent group of Certified Sherry Educators around the World will be leading the 2014 campaign, which has been designed in consultation with the regulatory council of Sherry Wines to support the promotion of Sherry worldwide.

In September 2013, Owen Morgan, co-founder of Bar 44, became the only person in Wales, and part of a small group of individuals in the UK, to receive the Official Certified Sherry Educators qualification.

Bar 44 is also the only bar in Wales to have been selected to stock a small batch of Tio Pepe Fino En Rama 2014, of which is bottled with virtually no filtering or clarification, giving a true raw expression of how a fino would be straight from the barrel. is bottled with virtually no filtering or clarification, giving a true raw expression of how a fino would be straight from the barrel. Only 60 barrels have been released worldwide.

En Rama sherry is bottled with virtually no filter or clarification, giving a true raw expression of how a Fino would straight from the bottle.

Bar 44 in Cowbridge was established in 2002 due to the Morgan brothers (Tom and Owen) love for fresh Spanish food, having holidayed there as a family. The success of the Cowbridge restaurant led the brothers to open their second restaurant in Penarth in 2012. Most recently, the brothers launched a mobile tapas kitchen in order to target the growing street food culture.

The restaurants have also received UK-wide recognition from the Observer Food Monthly Awards 2013 and Bar 44 in Cowbridge has recently been included in The Sunday Times Food List Cheap Eats Guide, which profiles 130 restaurants in the UK that provide value for money food.

To find out more about ‘The Welsh Sherry Festival’ contact Bar 44 on 029 2070 5497 or 01446 776488.