Sherry is the perfect drink to have before dinner, said David Wondrich in Saveur, “or after it, or really anytime at all.” Many drinkers have come to regard this fortified wine made in or near the Spanish city of Jerez as somewhat “arcane”—nice to know about, but not really worth ordering.
Sherry’s complex classification system may be “partly to blame.” All sherries start out as fortified white wine aged in oak. Then they’re divided into three categories: pale, dry sherries called flor, which include finos, manzanillas, and amontillados; darker, richer olorosos; and very sweet dessert sherries called PX—for Pedro Ximenez, the grape variety used in them.
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