🍷 Amontillado

Amontillado is a dry sherry of the protected designation of origin Jerez-Xérès-Sherry whose ageing combines two stages: first biological ageing under a veil of flor, then oxidative ageing in contact with air. Made from Palomino, it has 16–22% vol. and at most 4 g/l of sugar, and ranges from pale gold to amber with nutty aromas. ³⁷

Two kinds of ageing in one wine. Under flor, a film of yeasts on the wine's surface, the wine is protected from air. Later the flor disappears and the wine ages exposed to oxygen. ³ The years under flor give a sharp, pungent note and a drier palate. The oxidative stage gradually darkens the wine, and as water slowly escapes through the cask walls it becomes more concentrated and complex. ⁷⁸ Some amontillados stay paler, with faint memories of yeast, while in others spice and wood dominate. ⁷

A vino generoso under EU law. The EU reserves the traditional name «vino generoso» for dry PDO liqueur wines developed wholly or partly under flor, made from Palomino and a few other white varieties and matured on average two years in oak. ⁶ A liqueur wine has 15–22% actual alcohol. ⁵ Since the 2026 amendment a vino generoso of Jerez may also be sold as category 1 wine, with no added alcohol. ³⁴ In the liqueur-wine version, alcohol of wine origin brings it to the strength its ageing needs, and traditional techniques such as sun-drying the grapes can replace fortification. ³

Albariza, levante and poniente. The grapes and the wine come from ten municipalities: Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Trebujena, Chipiona, Rota, Puerto Real, Chiclana de la Frontera, Lebrija and San José del Valle. ¹² The typical soil is albariza, a soft white marl with 25–40% calcium carbonate that holds moisture well. Rainfall is about 600 l/m² a year. The dry, hot levante wind blows from inland, and the humid poniente from the ocean, which keeps cellars cool and humid enough for biological ageing. ³

Palomino, fermented dry. Amontillado comes from the complete fermentation of Palomino must. ⁷ The specification also allows Pedro Ximénez, Moscatel de Alejandría, Beba, Perruno and Vigiriega for sherry wines. ³ According to the Consejo Regulador, sugar is usually below 1 g/l, total acidity 4–6 g/l and volatile acidity under 0.8 g/l. ⁷

Criaderas and solera. The wine ages in butts of no more than 1,000 litres for an average of at least two years. In the dynamic criaderas and solera system part of the wine is regularly drawn from each butt in a «saca» and replaced with younger wine in a «rocío». The final scale, from which the wine is bottled, is the solera. Alternatively, in the static añada system each vintage ages on its own. ³

What the label can tell you. Age statements of 12, 15, 20 (VOS) or 30 years (VORS) are allowed only when the age is certified. “En rama” means no stabilisation other than filtration, and “Single Cask” and “Single Vineyard” mean one butt or one vineyard. ³ A sweetened blend based on vinos generosos is not an amontillado but a Medium sherry, with 4–115 g/l of sugar, so a bottle marked Medium is a different wine. ³

Centuries of sherry. The specification traces the region's rules to the 16th-century ordinances of the Jerez vintners' guild and to Spain's first designation-of-origin regulation in January 1935. ³ In 1587 Francis Drake seized 3,000 kegs of sherry at Cádiz, which made it fashionable at the English court. In the 1840s sherry made up a fifth of the value of Spain's exports, and in 1894 phylloxera reached the region. ⁹

Why it matters to you. The word Amontillado on the label guarantees a dry wine with both stages of ageing. Serve it at 12–14 °C in a white wine glass with soups and consommés, white meat, tuna, wild mushrooms, asparagus, artichokes or semi-cured cheese; an opened bottle keeps for months. ⁷ At 16–22% vol. it is stronger than table wine, and the WHO states that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption. ¹⁰