Why does Pedro Ximénez sherry taste like that?

Characteristically very low tannin, medium-minus acidity, full body and lusciously sweet. Commonly associated with raisin, fig, molasses, coffee.

Not claiming: That every wine from this variety shows these characteristics. This is the range across the category, and site and winemaking move wines within and beyond it.

Warmer growing seasons are associated with faster sugar accumulation and lower retained acidity, so fruit reaches a given potential alcohol earlier in the season.

Varies: Above the vine’s photosynthetic optimum the relationship reverses: extreme heat stalls ripening, inhibits anthocyanin synthesis and can raise sugar only through berry dehydration.

Not claiming: That warm regions necessarily make high-alcohol wine. Potential alcohol at any moment is a choice point; the producer decides when to pick.

Proximity to a large body of water moderates temperature extremes, which is associated with a longer, more even ripening period and a lower risk of both spring frost and extreme summer heat.

Varies: Maritime influence also raises humidity, which raises fungal disease pressure. It is not uniformly an advantage.

Not claiming: That a maritime climate is cool. Maritime describes variability, not temperature.

A Mediterranean pattern of wet winters and dry summers is associated with reliable ripening and with mild late-season water stress, which restricts berry size and raises the ratio of skin to juice.

Varies: Where the dry season is severe or lengthening, the same pattern produces damaging rather than beneficial stress, and irrigation becomes necessary rather than optional.

Not claiming: That water stress is beneficial as such. Mild stress helps; severe stress halts ripening.

Drying harvested grapes removes water, concentrating sugar, acid and phenolics. Higher starting sugar yields higher alcohol, and fermentation may stop before the sugar is used up.

Not claiming: That all appassimento wines are sweet. Amarone is fermented dry or nearly so; Recioto is not.

Adding spirit raises alcohol above the level yeast can tolerate. Added during fermentation it halts the process, leaving unfermented grape sugar in the wine — which is why Port is sweet. Added after fermentation has finished, the wine remains as dry as it already was, which is the Sherry case.

Varies: Timing is the whole variable. The same operation on the same wine a week apart produces a sweet fortified wine or a dry one.

Not claiming: That fortification produces sweetness. It produces sweetness only when it interrupts a fermentation that still has sugar to work on.

Fractional blending across tiers of barrels, so no wine is of a single vintage.

Not claiming: That every producer of this style uses this method, or that using it is required.

Effectively indefinite. Sugar concentrations above 400 g/l and long solera ageing make it one of the most stable wines made; an opened bottle keeps for months.

Not claiming: That a wine of this style will develop these characters. Ageing potential varies by producer, vintage and storage, and most wine is better young.