🍷 Cream Sherry

Cream is a type of sherry, the protected designation of origin «Jerez-Xérès-Sherry». The official specification counts it among the vinos generosos de licor (generous liqueur wines): wines made from dry vinos generosos, or from wine under flor able to become one, to which raisin must with neutral wine alcohol, rectified concentrated grape must or a vino dulce natural is added. It belongs to EU category 3 (liqueur wine). The grapes come from the delimited area in the province of Cádiz and Lebrija.

The base wines are made by fermenting the must fully dry and ageing it, under flor or in contact with air, in oak butts of no more than 1,000 litres. Blending them with the sweet components is called «cabeceo». The finished wine must have an average maturation of two years in oak casks. For vinos generosos de licor the specification also allows complementary products such as concentrated grape must and «vino de color», wine mixed with arrope, a must concentrated over direct heat.

By the specification Cream has 15–22 % vol. alcohol and 115–140 g/l of sugar. Its colour ranges from chestnut to dark mahogany; the aroma shows nuts with caramel and/or raisin notes; the taste is sweet but balanced.

How it differs from other sweet sherries. Cream sits at the sweet end of the vinos generosos de licor. Pale Cream is also sweet (50–115 g/l) but must be based on biologically aged generosos and is straw yellow to golden; Medium has 4–115 g/l, Pale Dry 4–50 g/l. Pedro Ximénez is not a blend at all but a naturally sweet wine from sun-dried grapes with at least 212 g/l.

What the label says. The word Cream on a sherry label tells you that the wine is sweet, with 115–140 g/l of sugar, and at the same time 15–22 % vol. strong; in a small glass both the sugar and the alcohol add up. The WHO states that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.