🍷 Fino

Fino is a type of sherry, the protected designation of origin «Jerez-Xérès-Sherry». The official specification counts it among the vinos generosos and defines it as a wine of exclusively biological ageing: it matures under flor from start to finish. Since the 2026 amendment a vino generoso may be sold in EU category 1 (wine), with no added alcohol, or in category 3 (liqueur wine), fortified with alcohol of wine origin. The grapes come from the delimited area in the province of Cádiz and Lebrija; the main variety is Palomino Fino.

The must is fermented fully dry. The wine ages in oak butts of no more than 1,000 litres, in the criaderas and solera system or as a single vintage, always under the veil of flor, a film of yeasts on the surface that keeps it from the air. Because the flor yeasts lower the alcohol over time, the liqueur-wine version may receive further additions of wine alcohol during ageing. Under the 2026 specification fino may be aged anywhere in the delimited area except Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where wines aged under flor belong to the manzanilla designation (existing Sanlúcar stocks may be used for fino until the end of 2030). Average ageing is at least two years; a fino aged for at least seven years on average, with slight signs of oxidation, may be called Fino Viejo.

By the specification fino has 14–17 % vol. alcohol and no more than 4 g/l of sugar. Its colour ranges from straw yellow to amber. The aroma must show at least two notes typical of biological ageing — green apple, nuts or yeast (fresh bread dough) — and may also show wine-seasoned oak; the taste is dry and may be slightly acidic and bitter.

How fino differs from amontillado and manzanilla. Fino is the reference style of biological ageing. Amontillado begins the same way but then continues without flor, oxidatively. Manzanilla is also aged entirely under flor, but in Sanlúcar de Barrameda and under its own designation, Manzanilla-Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Pale Dry and Pale Cream are sweetened wines made from biologically aged generosos, and the term «En rama» on a fino means no stabilisation other than filtration.

On the label. The word Fino guarantees a dry wine aged only under flor and checked by the control body of the designation. It is the lightest of the vinos generosos, but its 14–17 % vol. is more than most table wines. The WHO states that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.