Sherry
A fortified wine from Jerez in southern Spain, ranging from bone dry to intensely sweet. The dry styles are aged under a layer of yeast that keeps oxygen out; the sweet styles are made from grapes dried in the sun.
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Quick Facts
Usage
Used as a modifier in stirred and spirit-forward drinks, where a dry sherry adds salinity and length without adding much strength. Pedro Ximenez is used in small amounts for sweetness and body.
Fino sherry lasts days once opened, not months. It is wine, and the palest styles are the most perishable bottles on the shelf.
Sherry is also the most misunderstood thing in most drinks cabinets, usually because the bottle in there has been open since Christmas.
What sherry is
Sherry is wine from a defined region around Jerez in Andalusia, fortified with grape spirit after fermentation. It runs from completely dry to thick and sweet, and the range between those two ends is wider than any other wine category.
It is blended through a solera, a system of stacked barrels where older wine is topped up with younger. Nothing is a single vintage. Consistency is the point.
Flor, and why it matters
The dry styles are aged under flor, a living layer of yeast that forms on the wine’s surface and seals it from the air. That is what makes fino taste of almond, bread and salt rather than of oxidation.
Where the flor dies or is never encouraged, the wine oxidises instead and turns nutty and darker. That single difference explains most of the sherry shelf.
The three worth knowing
Fino. Pale, bone dry, saline. Aged entirely under flor. Serve it cold, treat it like white wine, and drink it within a few days of opening.
Amontillado. Starts under flor, then continues once the flor has gone. Two lives, hence the character: dry, but nutty rather than saline.
Pedro Ximenez. Made from grapes dried in the sun until they are nearly raisins. Almost black, syrupy, very sweet. Often poured over ice cream rather than drunk on its own.
Keeping it
Fino is the fragile one. Refrigerate it and finish it inside a week; it is closer to white wine than to spirit.
The oxidative styles are more forgiving, because oxidation has already done its work. Amontillado holds for weeks, and Pedro Ximenez for longer still.
Top Tips
- Refrigerate fino and finish it within a week. It is white wine in all but name.
- Buy half bottles of the dry styles. A full bottle will oxidise before you get through it.
Common Questions
Does sherry go off?
Yes, and quickly for the dry styles. Fino should be refrigerated and finished within a week. Sweet and oxidative styles keep for considerably longer.
What is flor?
A layer of yeast that grows on the surface of the wine and protects it from oxygen. It is what gives fino its salty, almond character.
Is sherry sweet?
It ranges from bone dry to very sweet. Fino is dry; Pedro Ximenez is nearly syrup. Assuming sherry means sweet is the most common misunderstanding.
What is a solera?
A system of stacked barrels where older wine is continually topped up with younger. It means sherry is a blend across years rather than a single vintage.
Guide by Jerry Can Spirits