Sherry (pronounced sher-ee)
(1) A fortified, amber-colored wine, originally from the Jerez region of southern Spain or any of various similar wines made elsewhere; usually drunk as an apéritif. Technically, a white wine.
(2) A female given name, a form of Charlotte.
1590-1600:
A (mistaken singular) back formation from the earlier sherris (1530s), from the Spanish (vino de) Xeres ((wine
from) Xeres). Xeres is now modern-day Jerez (Roman (urbs) Caesaris) in Spain, near the port of Cadiz, where the wine was made. The Official name is Jerez-Xérès-Sherry, one
of Spain's wine regions, a Denominación de Origen Protegida (DOP). The word sherry is an anglicisation of Xérès (Jerez) and the drink was previously
known as sack, from the Spanish saca
(extraction) from the solera. In EU law, sherry has protected designation
of origin status, and under Spanish law, to be so labelled, the product must be
produced in the Sherry Triangle, an area in the province of Cádiz between Jerez
de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and El Puerto de Santa María. In 1933 the Jerez denominación de origen was
the first Spanish denominación officially thus recognized, named D.O.
Jerez-Xeres-Sherry and sharing the same governing council as D.O. Manzanilla
Sanlúcar de Barrameda.
The
name "sherry" continues to be used by US producers where, to conform
to domestic legislation, it must be labeled with a region of origin such as Oregon Sherry but can’t be sold in the
EU because of their protected status laws.
Both Canadian and Australian winemakers now use the term Apera instead of Sherry, although
customers seem still to favor the original.
The Sherry Party
For the upper-middle-class and beyond, sherry parties were a fixture of late-Victorian and Edwardian social life but the dislocations of the First World War seemed to render them extinct. It turned out however to be a postponement and sherry parties were revived, the height of their popularity being enjoyed during the 1930s until the Second World War succeeded where the first had failed.
For the women who tended to be hostess and organizer, there were advantages compared with the tamer tea party. Sherry glasses took less space than cups of tea, with all the associated paraphernalia of spoons, milk and sugar and, it being almost impossible to eat and drink while balancing a cup and saucer and conveying cake to the mouth, the tea party demanded tables and chairs. The sherry glass and finger-food was easier for while one must sit for tea, one can stand for sherry so twice the number of guests could be asked. Sherry parties indeed needed to be tightly packed affairs, the mix of social intimacy and alcohol encouraging mingling. They also brought more men, tea holding little attraction for many. The traditional timing between six and eight suited the male lifestyle of the time and they were doubtless more attracted to women drinking sherry than women drinking tea.
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