Fino ("refined" in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

) is the driest and palest of the traditional varieties of

sherry Sherry ( es, jerez ) is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. Sherry is produced in a variety of styles made primarily from the Palomino grape, ranging from light versi ...

and

Montilla-Moriles Montilla-Moriles is a Spanish Denominación de Origen Protegida (DOP) for wines located in the southern part of the province of Córdoba (Andalusia, Spain). It is bounded by the river Genil to the east, by the river Guadajoz to the west, by th ...

fortified wine. They are consumed comparatively young and, unlike the sweeter varieties, should be consumed soon after the bottle is opened as exposure to air can cause them to lose their flavour within hours.

Flor

The defining component of Fino sherries is the strain of

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constit ...

known as flor that floats in a layer on top of sherry in the

wine barrel Oak is used in winemaking to vary the color, flavor, tannin profile and texture of wine. It can be introduced in the form of a barrel during the fermentation or aging periods, or as free-floating chips or staves added to wine fermented in a ves ...

. Until the mid-19th century most sherry winemakers did not understand what this yellowish foam that randomly appeared in some of their barrels was. They would mark these barrels as "sick" and relegate them to their lowest bottlings of wine. It turned out that this strain of ''

Saccharomyces ''Saccharomyces'' is a genus of fungi that includes many species of yeasts. ''Saccharomyces'' is from Greek σάκχαρον (sugar) and μύκης (fungus) and means ''sugar fungus''. Many members of this genus are considered very important in f ...

'' yeast thrived in air, and the more "head room" there was in the barrel the more likely it was to develop. Over time winemakers noticed that these wines were lighter and fresher than their other sherries, with the flor acting as a protective blanket over the wine that shielded it from excessive

oxidation Redox (reduction–oxidation, , ) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is the gain of electrons or a ...

Varieties

* Jerez Fino, made from grapes grown in the vineyards around

Jerez Jerez de la Frontera (), or simply Jerez (), is a Spanish city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, located midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cádiz Mountains. , the c ...

and aged in the

wine cellar A wine cellar is a storage room for wine in bottles or barrels, or more rarely in carboys, amphorae, or plastic containers. In an ''active'' wine cellar, important factors such as temperature and humidity are maintained by a climate control system ...

s there, where the climate is hotter than those near the coast. The hotter summers cause Jerez Fino to develop a thinner layer of flor and thus a stronger flavour due to more exposure to the air. * Puerto Fino, made around El Puerto de Santa María. The cooler climate near the sea results in a thicker layer of flor and a more acidic and delicate flavour than Jerez Fino. * Manzanilla, made around

Sanlúcar de Barrameda Sanlúcar de Barrameda (), or simply Sanlúcar, is a city in the northwest of Cádiz province, part of the autonomous community of Andalucía in southern Spain. Sanlúcar is located on the left bank at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River opposit ...

, where the climate is cooler than El Puerto de Santa María. Similar to the Puerto Fino, Manzanilla has a fresher and more delicate flavour than Jerez Fino. Fino may also be produced in DO

. There the Fino along with the other sweet and fortified wines is made from the

Pedro Ximénez Pedro Ximénez (also known as PX and many other variations) is the name of a white Spanish wine grape variety grown in several Spanish wine regions but most notably in the '' denominación de origen'' (DO) of Montilla-Moriles. Here it is used to ...

grape as opposed to the Palomino grape used in Jerez. Sweetened Fino is called Pale Cream Sherry. On 12 April 2012, the rules applicable to the sweet and fortified Denominations of Origen

and Jerez-Xérès-

Sherry Sherry ( es, jerez ) is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. Sherry is produced in a variety of styles made primarily from the Palomino grape, ranging from light versi ...

were changed.Boletín Oficial de la Junta de Andalucía (BOJA) Página núm. 52 BOJA núm. 71 Sevilla, 12 de abril 2012
''The Andalusia Government Official Bulletin'' Number 71, Page 5. The classification by sweetness is:

Production

In production of finos, winemakers normally will only use the ''free run'' juice; the juice that is produced by crushing the grapes under their own weight before they are sent to a

wine press A winepress is a device used to extract juice from crushed grapes during wine making. There are a number of different styles of presses that are used by wine makers but their overall functionality is the same. Each style of press exerts contro ...

. The juice that comes after pressing is typically more coarse and produces heavier

bodied ''Bodied'' is a 2017 American battle rap comedy-drama film directed by Joseph Kahn. It was written by Alex Larsen and produced by Eminem, his manager Paul Rosenberg, and Adi Shankar. The film first premiered at the 2017 Toronto International ...

wines. That juice is typically used to make

oloroso Oloroso ("scented" in Spanish) is a variety of fortified wine (sherry) made in Jerez and Montilla-Moriles and produced by oxidative aging. It is normally darker than Amontillado. Oloroso is usually dark and nutty. Unlike the fino and Amontillad ...

sherry.MacNeil, K. (2001)). ''The Wine Bible''. Workman Publishing. . pp. 443–444. The barrels for sherries made using the fino method are only partially filled to allow the action of the flor yeast to give it the distinctive fresh taste of dry sherries. If the flor is allowed to die and the wine undergoes oxidative aging, the wine darkens and the flavour becomes stronger, resulting in an

amontillado Amontillado () is a variety of sherry wine characterised by being darker than fino but lighter than oloroso. It is named after the Montilla region of Spain, where the style originated in the 18th century, although the name "Amontillado" is somet ...

sherry. In the final classification of a fino, it is judged on such qualities as cleanness, paleness, dryness, and aroma. According to the overseer's judgment, the initial stroke mark on the cask may then be embellished with one or more 'palm leaves'--curved marks that branch off the side of the initial mark. Wines receiving these marks are designated accordingly "una palma", "dos palmas", "tres palmas", with each additional palm leaf indicating a higher standard of quality.

Storing

Fino is the most delicate form of sherry and should be drunk within a year of bottling, although some argue that fino should not be older than six months. Once opened it will immediately begin to deteriorate and should be drunk in one sitting for the best results. If necessary it can be stored, corked and refrigerated, for up to one week after opening. Since sherry is not vintage dated, it can be hard to tell when the Fino was bottled. While the bottling date is printed on the label, it is in an encoded form. On the back label will be a small dot matrix number that starts with the letter L. After the L will be either a four or five digit number. For the four digit number, such as 7005, the first number is the year, and the last three numbers are a number between 1 and 365 that indicates the day of the year. So this bottle was bottled on 5 January 2007. The five digit code is similar, such as 00507, where the Julian date precedes the year. This was also 5 January 2007.

Serving

As with other particularly dry sherries, it is best served chilled at 7–10 °C before a meal, and in Spain is almost always drunk with

tapas A tapa () is an appetizer or snack in Spanish cuisine. Tapas can be combined to make a full meal, and can be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or hot (such as ''chopitos'', which are battered, fried baby squid, or patatas bravas). In so ...

of some form, such as olives, almonds, or seafood.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Article on dating Fino sherry bottles
Sherry