Fino facts for kids
Fino is a special type of dry and pale wine from Spain. It's a kind of sherry or Montilla-Moriles wine. Fino means "refined" in Spanish. This wine is best enjoyed soon after you open the bottle. If it stays open for too long, it can lose its fresh taste.
What is Flor?
Imagine a thin, white blanket of yeast floating on top of the wine inside the barrel. This special yeast is called flor. It's a type of yeast that helps make Fino unique.
For a long time, winemakers didn't understand this foam. They thought these barrels were "sick"! But they later learned that flor actually helps the wine. This yeast loves air and grows well when there's space in the barrel. Flor acts like a protective shield over the wine. It stops too much air from reaching the wine, which keeps it light and fresh.
Types of Fino Wine
There are different kinds of Fino, depending on where they are made in Spain.
- Jerez Fino is made from grapes grown in vineyards near Jerez. The weather here is hotter. This causes the flor layer to be thinner, giving Jerez Fino a stronger taste because more air touches the wine.
- Puerto Fino is made near the sea in El Puerto de Santa María. The cooler climate by the sea helps a thicker layer of flor grow. This makes Puerto Fino taste more delicate and a bit tangy.
- Manzanilla is made in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where the climate is even cooler than El Puerto de Santa María. Like Puerto Fino, Manzanilla has a very fresh and delicate taste.
Fino can also be made in a place called DO Montilla-Moriles. In this area, Fino is made from a grape called Pedro Ximénez. In Jerez, it's usually made from the Palomino grape.
A sweeter version of Fino is called Pale Cream Sherry.
How Fino is Made
When making Fino, winemakers often use only the "free run" juice. This is the juice that comes from grapes just by their own weight, before they are pressed. Juice that comes from pressing the grapes is usually used for other wines, like oloroso sherry.
The barrels for Fino are only partly filled. This leaves space for the flor yeast to grow and give the wine its special fresh taste. If the flor dies and the wine gets too much air, it changes. The wine gets darker and its taste becomes stronger. This can lead to a different type of sherry called amontillado.
When Fino is ready, experts check its quality. They look at how clean, pale, dry, and good it smells. The best wines might get special marks on their barrels, like "palm leaves." More palm leaves mean a higher quality wine.
Storing Fino
Fino is best enjoyed fresh. After opening, you can store it in the fridge with a cork for up to one week.
It can be tricky to know when a bottle of Fino was made because it doesn't have a simple date. However, there's a code on the back label. It's a small number starting with the letter L. For example, if you see "L7005," the "7" means the year 2007. The "005" means the 5th day of that year. So, this bottle was made on January 5, 2007. If the code has five digits, like "00507," the first three numbers are the day, and the last two are the year. This also means January 5, 2007.
See also
In Spanish: Fino para niños
