🍷 Pale Cream

Pale 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 and defines it as a wine obtained from biologically aged vinos generosos — wines matured under flor — with a sugar content of at least 50 and less than 115 g/l. It belongs to EU category 3 (liqueur wine). The grapes come from the delimited area in the province of Cádiz and Lebrija.

The base is a dry wine aged under flor in oak butts of no more than 1,000 litres. One of the sweet components that the specification allows for vinos generosos de licor is added to it: raisin must with neutral wine alcohol, rectified concentrated grape must or a vino dulce natural. This blending is called «cabeceo». The finished wine must have an average maturation of two years in oak casks.

By the specification Pale Cream has 14–22 % vol. alcohol and from 50 to under 115 g/l of sugar. Its colour ranges from straw yellow to golden; the aroma shows nuts and/or yeast (fresh bread dough); the taste is sweet.

Pale Cream is the pale, sweet counterpart of fino. It differs from the ordinary Cream (115–140 g/l), which has no requirement of biological ageing and ranges from chestnut to dark mahogany. Pale Dry is also made from biologically aged generosos but is only slightly sweet (4–50 g/l), while Medium (4–115 g/l) may be based on any vinos generosos.

Why it matters to you. Although Pale Cream looks as light as a fino, it contains 50–115 g/l of sugar and 14–22 % vol. alcohol: the colour does not tell you how sweet or strong the wine is, the label does. The WHO states that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.