Term for the typically yeasty, honey-spicy and slightly bittersweet aroma and flavour of the oxidatively matured varieties of sherry. It is formed by the flor (yeast layer) floating on the wine. In conventionally produced wine, a strongly pronounced sherry note due to undesirable oxidation is a wine defect, which is then referred to as an airy flavour (aldehyde note). It is not possible to draw an exact line between the sherry tone and the somewhat more pronounced Madeira tone. In any case, the highly reactive acetaldehyde is involved in all these processes. Related terms for sherry tone are firnig, oxidised, rahnig, rancio and rancid. See also a list of similar odour and taste notes under aged notes.
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Thorsten Rahn
Restaurantleiter, Sommelier, Weindozent und Autor; Dresden