Osborne Sherry Cream Santa Maria

Osborne Sherry Cream is a generous, full-sweet, mature old Cream Sherry

The world-famous wine owes its name to the Andalusian city of Jerez, which eventually became "Sherry" in English. The grapes grow on white chalk soils, called "Albarizas", in a triangle between the cities of Jerez de la Frontera, Puerto de Santa Maria and Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

After pressing and fermentation in modern stainless steel tanks and the addition of wine alcohol up to an alcohol content of approx. 15% vol, the traditional aging of the wines begins in approx. 600-liter wooden barrels, the "butts". These are only two-thirds full and a protective yeast layer, called "flor", quickly forms on the wine, which protects the young wine from oxidation and is decisive for the formation of the Sherry-typical aromas.

During storage according to the so-called "Solera system", the barrels are continuously topped up with wine from younger vintages after about a third has been removed from below the protective yeast layer. In this way, the best wines pass through many rows of barrels for several years. At the same time, a consistently uniform end product is created from the constant blending of old and younger wine.

A portion of the young wines is prevented from further fermentation at an early stage by the addition of wine alcohol. This results in sweet wines for the production of sweet Sherry variants, such as this full-sweet, mature, mahogany-colored "Cream Sherry", which is characterized by a high proportion of Pedro-Ximenez grapes and goes wonderfully soft and harmonious over the tongue after long aging in Sherry butts.