Winelingo
Sherry spans a huge range, but the through-line is intensity. Bone-dry Fino and Manzanilla are pale, bracing and savoury, tasting of green apple, almond, brine and a distinctive yeasty tang. The darker styles turn nutty, rich and caramelised, from dry Amontillado and Oloroso (walnut, toffee, dried fruit) to intensely sweet Pedro Ximénez (raisin, fig, molasses).
How Jerez wine tastes
Sherry is a fortified wine, meaning a little neutral grape spirit is added to raise its strength, and it comes in a remarkable spread of styles from bone-dry to treacle-sweet.
At the dry, pale end sit Fino and Manzanilla. These are aged under a natural layer of yeast called flor that grows on the wine’s surface, protecting it from air. The result is very pale, light and bracingly dry, with green apple, almond, a salty, briny tang and a savoury yeasty note. They taste closer to a crisp, savoury white than most people expect.
As sherries age with more exposure to air (oxidation), they darken and deepen. Amontillado starts under flor and then oxidises, giving a dry, amber wine with hazelnut and dried-apple notes. Oloroso is aged oxidatively from the start: dark, dry, full-bodied and nutty, with walnut, toffee and dried fig. Palo Cortado sits intriguingly between the two.
At the sweet end, Pedro Ximénez (PX) is almost black, thick and lusciously sweet, tasting of raisin, fig, date and molasses. Sweet blends are sold as Cream and Medium.
Signature styles & what to look for
The core dry styles, from lightest to richest, are Fino, Manzanilla, Amontillado, Palo Cortado and Oloroso. Pedro Ximénez and Moscatel are the naturally sweet ones, and Cream/Medium are sweetened blends.
Two distinctions are worth understanding. First, biological ageing (under flor, giving pale, tangy Fino/Manzanilla) versus oxidative ageing (exposed to air, giving nutty, dark Oloroso). Second, the solera system: barrels are stacked and fractionally blended so that a little of the oldest wine is always carried through, building consistency and complexity over many years.
For the oldest, most concentrated bottlings, look for the age seals VOS (roughly 20 years and over) and VORS (roughly 30 years and over). Manzanilla is simply a Fino-style sherry made in the seaside town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where the humid conditions give it an extra saline delicacy. En rama on a label means a Fino or Manzanilla bottled with minimal filtering, for a fuller, more textural style.
The grapes & the land
Jerez lies in sun-baked Andalusia, in Spain’s far south, in a fundamentally hot, dry climate with long arid summers. The prized soil is a brilliant-white, chalky type called albariza, valued because it soaks up the scarce winter rain and reflects the fierce sun, helping the vines through the drought.
The workhorse grape is Palomino, a fairly neutral white variety that is the canvas for almost all the dry styles, its character coming from ageing rather than the grape itself. Pedro Ximénez and Moscatel are dried in the sun after picking to concentrate their sugars for the sweet wines.
The other key ingredient is the local climate itself: humid Atlantic westerly winds keep the flor yeast alive in the barrels near the coast, which is what makes the delicate biological styles possible here in the first place.