Here's everything worth knowing about sherry wine and how to pick it, what it is, how to store it, and what to use instead, plus 25 recipes to cook tonight.

What is sherry wine?

Sherry is a fortified wine from the Jerez region of southern Spain, made from white grapes (mostly Palomino) and strengthened with grape spirit after fermentation. That extra alcohol, plus aging under a film of yeast called flor or out in the open, gives sherry its signature nutty, savory character.

It runs a wide range from bone dry to dessert sweet, which is exactly why cooks reach for it. A dry sherry adds a roasted, slightly briny depth to a sauce; a sweeter one brings caramel and dried fruit to a glaze or a cake.

The style on the label tells you what you are getting, and it matters more than the price.

Cooking With Sherry

Dry sherry is the kitchen all-rounder. A splash deglazes a pan and gives a savory backbone to cream sauces and soups, which is how Sherry Turkey Tetrazzini and Mushroom Cashew Bisque get their depth. Sauteed Mushrooms in Garlic-Sherry Sauce builds the whole dish around that note.

It has a special affinity for mushrooms and shellfish. Crab Stew and Seafood Quiche lean on it for the sea, while a finishing spoonful sharpens the savory edge of French Onion Soup - Low Fat right before serving.

In Chinese cooking, dry sherry is the standard Western stand-in for Shaoxing rice wine, seasoning the wok in dishes like Chinese Vegetable Stir-Fry and General Tso's Chicken Iii.

Sweet sherry has its own jobs. It glazes ham and flavors dried-fruit cakes such as Sherry Cake and Wine Cake, where its raisiny sweetness is the whole point.

Add dry sherry early so it cooks down and loses the raw edge, but stir a final splash in off the heat when you want its aroma to come through in the finished dish.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Sherry flatters earthy, savory things: mushrooms, onions, garlic, cream, and aged cheese, plus shellfish and cured ham. Its sweeter styles turn toward caramel and raisins in baking.

The biggest mistake is buying "cooking sherry" from the grocery shelf. It is full of salt and often sweeteners, which throws off the seasoning of your dish and tastes harsh. Use a real bottle of dry sherry you would actually drink, and salt the dish yourself.

The other slip is using a sweet sherry where the recipe means a dry one. A cream sherry in a savory pan sauce makes it cloying, so match the style to the job and taste before you commit.

Substitutes

For a dry sherry in savory cooking, dry white wine or dry vermouth is the closest everyday swap, though both miss sherry's nutty depth. Shaoxing wine works the other direction in Chinese dishes, and a dry Madeira or Marsala gives you a similar fortified, oxidized note.

For sweet sherry, a sweet Madeira or tawny port stands in well, both bringing the same caramel and dried-fruit register.

If you need an alcohol-free option, use a splash of white grape juice with a few drops of vinegar for dry recipes, or unsweetened apple juice for sweet ones. You lose the fortified depth, but you keep the fruit and acidity.

Buying and Storing Sherry

Buy by style. For everyday savory cooking, a bottle of dry fino or amontillado is the most useful, and a manzanilla gives the same dry, saline lift. Keep a sweeter cream or oloroso on hand only if you bake or glaze with it often.

Skip the "cooking sherry" entirely. A modest bottle of real dry sherry costs little more and makes everything you put it in taste better.

Unlike a regular wine, an opened bottle of sherry does not keep forever, because it is partly oxidized already and the delicate dry styles fade fast. Once opened, store fino and manzanilla in the fridge and use them within a week or two.

Richer amontillado and oloroso styles hold for a month or more. An unopened bottle keeps for years in a cool, dark spot, stored upright so the wine does not sit against the cork, and recorked tightly between uses.

Quick facts

In Chinese

雪利酒

British (UK) term

Sherry wine

en français

xérès

en español

vino de Jerez

Recipes using sherry wine

There are 25 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 25 recipes