The poet laureate, Simon Armitage, has travelled to Jerez in southern Spain to choose and sign a sherry barrel, bequeathed to him by the Consejo Regulador de los Vinos de Jerez y Manzanilla – and in doing so established a link with his home village of Marsden in West Yorkshire.

Traditionally, the poet laureate was rewarded with a small stipend and a butt of sherry (known as a ‘sack’) by the monarch of the day. In 1984, to mark nearly 600 years of the trade in sherry between the UK and Spain, the historic tradition was revived with the gift of a butt of sherry to poet laureate Ted Hughes, who signed the barrel during his visit to Jerez and created his own label.

Each butt (or barrel) contains the equivalent of around 720 bottles of sherry. Since Hughes, succeeding laureates Andrew Motion and Carol Ann Duffy have followed the tradition.

“I’m honoured to accept the kind offer of the sherry in keeping with the long tradition of the office of the poet laureate,” Armitage said. “Like laureates before me, I hope to put the bottles to good use as gifts or to raise money in the name of poetry, but look forward to enjoying the odd tipple myself. For the label, I’m hoping to include an image of a cuckoo, the symbolic bird of the village of Marsden where I grew up and where so many of my poems are rooted.” 

A cuckoo festival is staged each year in Marsden to mark the arrival of spring. Armitage’s wife Sue has drawn a Marsden cuckoo that is being developed into the label design. A poem by Armitage will appear on the back of the bottle.

The poet laureate receives 72 bottles of sherry a year over their decade-long tenure as poet laureate. Many of the poets use it to raise money for poetry foundations and charities connected to poetry.

PHOTOGRAPHS: THE DRINKS BUSINESS