Really interesting, thank you. Willy Perez is allways great. Anyhow, just to avoid misunderstandings, sherry is not sweetened with sugar and for the time been the still wines from the sherry region can not be legally considered sherry.
If im right, the sweeter sherries are made basically by cutting short the fermentation of the mosto (grape juice) to retain its sugar content by upping the alcohol content beyond 15° (fortification) through introducing distilled alcohol from grapes into the mosto. The dry sherry category doesn't do the pre-mature stopping of the fermentation of the "mosto" and let it go through either just biological aging (where a layer of yeasts turns sugar into alcohol naturally in the barrel) and/or oxidative aging (where the content is exposed to oxygen within the barrel and the decomposition of the dead yeast enriches the texture and depth of the sherry). And theres a category where they mix dry sherry and a small percentage of pedro ximenez(PX) or moscatel. They are called Pale Cream (Fino+ PX), Medium (Amontillado+PX) and Cream (Oloroso+PX). However, in spanish vermouths, it is common practice to add caramel or sugar to the mix. Some Andalucian Vermouth makers just add PX instead of sugar since its very sweet and speaks to their identity. But of course they are Vermouths, not Sherry. Super delicious tbh. Not an expert here. Still learning about this amazing category. Hope this helps:) A Hug from Madrid
Really interesting, thank you. Willy Perez is allways great. Anyhow, just to avoid misunderstandings, sherry is not sweetened with sugar and for the time been the still wines from the sherry region can not be legally considered sherry.
If im right, the sweeter sherries are made basically by cutting short the fermentation of the mosto (grape juice) to retain its sugar content by upping the alcohol content beyond 15° (fortification) through introducing distilled alcohol from grapes into the mosto.
The dry sherry category doesn't do the pre-mature stopping of the fermentation of the "mosto" and let it go through either just biological aging (where a layer of yeasts turns sugar into alcohol naturally in the barrel) and/or oxidative aging (where the content is exposed to oxygen within the barrel and the decomposition of the dead yeast enriches the texture and depth of the sherry).
And theres a category where they mix dry sherry and a small percentage of pedro ximenez(PX) or moscatel. They are called Pale Cream (Fino+ PX), Medium (Amontillado+PX) and Cream (Oloroso+PX).
However, in spanish vermouths, it is common practice to add caramel or sugar to the mix. Some Andalucian Vermouth makers just add PX instead of sugar since its very sweet and speaks to their identity. But of course they are Vermouths, not Sherry. Super delicious tbh.
Not an expert here. Still learning about this amazing category. Hope this helps:)
A Hug from Madrid