-
Can Sherry Wine be Preserved?
Hi,I’ve seen some reports of adding sherry (for example, Oloroso, Pedro Ximénez, and Amontillado) to improve the quality of rums. There is, for example, this video: where the author uses “Amontillado” at a rate of 5% to improve the quality of a rum he made. The video is in spanish, but the summary is that he recommends adding between 3-5% sherry wine to rum. And according to him the quality of the rum is highly improved.This got me thinking…. if I open a bottle of sherry to test this process of adding 5% to a rum, would there be a way to preserve the rest (or some) of the sherry to be used at a later time (possibly months later)? Specifically, I wondered, what would happen if I add a high-proof rum to raise the ABV of the sherry wine to 40%. Would that preserve the flavor characteristics of the sherry? Do you guys know? Thanks!
-
6 Replies
-
Sherry is a fortified wine. So are Port, Madeira, Vermouth and Marsalla. A fortified wine by definition means: that distilled spirit is added back to the wine – fortifying it (making it stronger). Most wines (simple wines – not fortified) have a poor shelf life (10 yrs or so), but there are exceptions. There are no hard and fast rules as to how much newmake spirit is added back to your fortified wine; it is all done by taste preference. And yes, doing this improves the shelf life of the wine in question. In fact, old fortified wines are some of the most prestigious liquids ever bottled. https://luxexpose.com/barbadillo-versos-1891/Omnia mea mecum porto
-
I keep my fortified wines in the fridge once opened. To enjoy as they are, I generally want to consume them within 6 months. Madeira being the exception to that rule.Most of the fortified wines I buy are for the purpose of maturing/conditioning oak for use with the spirits I distill. After a period of oxidative aging, I move the oak and wine to the fridge until its ready for use. Sometimes years later. Personally, I can’t stand dosing of wine with spirit. It never marries properly and just comes off as a spirit that is wearing an overcoat of wine. Wood that has been conditioned in the wine and then had the wine discarded, is vastly superior IMHO.
-
I don’t think it really goes off after opening it . We don’t drink a lot of it , but the bottle we opened 5or 6 years ago still seems to taste as I remember it .My recommended goto .wiki/index.ph … ion_Theory
-
What do you mean by “after a period of oxidative aging”? A
-
If you simply soak oak in sherry and then immediately move it into the refrigerator, you won’t get the same interactions that happen in a barrel. By allowing for evaporation and drawing in and out of the wood, you get to expel some less desirable compounds from the oak and less of that fresh wine overcoat in your finished spirits.This needs to be carefully monitored as a fortified wine can easily drop below a safe ABV and the bugs start to sour the wood.After conditioning, I’ll then discard the spent wine and either use the oak immediately, or transfer it to the fridge with fresh wine where it will happily keep for a number of years in an airtight container.
-
Wow! This is too awesome! Thanks for sharing that.
Log in to reply.
English 
Spanish 
German 
French 
Russian