Organic Pedro Ximenez Sherry

What is Pedro Ximenez Sherry?

A sherry wine is a fortified wine made in Spain, where as in Portugal a fortified wine is called a Port wine. In Australia, we used to use these names, but now we use terms like fortified red wine, fortified white wine, apera, topaque and varietal names like pedro ximenez.

Pedro ximenez sherry is made from a white Spanish sherry grape variety called pedro ximenez. Sometimes the Spanish sherry is called pedro ximenes or just PX or Pedro X. It has been grown in Spain and made into sherry wine for centuries.

Pedro Ximenez in Western Australia

The first plants that came to Western Australia were taken by British settlers as cuttings from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa in the early 1830's. The vines are vigourous on the rich alluvial soils of the Swan Valley with its Mediterranean climate. The vines produce large bunches of white grapes suitable for making a range of sherry wine styles from dry white wine, dry organic sherry and the sweetest dessert wines.

Other names for Pedro Ximenez Sherry

Some synonyms include Pedro Jimenez wine, Pedro Ximenes, Jerez, and in Australia it is often refered to as Pedro or PX. The variety Pedro Gimenez, which is used widely in Argentina for cheap everyday white wines, is unrelated despite the similar name. The other sherry variety from Jerez, the traditional home of Sherry, is Palomino which is much more common there than Pedro Ximenez. Pedro X is used to add sweetness to blends with Palomino and also on its own to make dark sweet viscous wines, both in Jerez and other regions in Southern Spain.

In Chile Pedro Ximenez is the variety most often used to make Pisco, tho local version of brandy. Like Palomino, Pedro Ximenez wine can also be used to make dry white wine without much character.

In Australia Pedro X is used to make both fortified and table wines. In the 1950s McWilliams Pedro was one of the first botrytised wines produced in Australia. It is also used to make rich sweet fortified wines but historically Pedro Ximenez's most common role has been bulking up mass produced cheap white wines. How much is in your chardonnay?
To maximize the grape sugar levels the PX vines have to be meticulously maintained through the growing season. To make the rich and luscious liqueur PX sherry wine that is renown worldwide the sugar level has to be extra-ordinary high. This is achieved by letting the organic sherry grapes ripen and shrivel as raisins on the vine in the warm autumn sunshine.

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Sherry can come in different forms from dry to sweet wines. Pedro Ximemez sherry is the ducks nuts as far as the sweetest style of white wine sherrys available. Some sherrys are dry like the flor fino style.

Tasting notes:

The colour of the pedro ximemez wine is a burnished golden colour with full flavours of honey, butterscotch and raisin pudding. This pedro ximenez port has a complex, lingering sweetness that is beautifully acid balanced. Enjoy with cheeses, dried fruits or with a dessert of your choice, we prefer pancakes and healthy ice-cream. All are available from our organic wine shop.

Harris Organic Wines was established in the Swan Valley of Perth in 1998. We specialise in certified organic fortified sweet wines made from organic pedro ximenez grapes. We have a range of organic sherry wines from pedro ximenez sherry to liqueur muscadelle tokay, classic liqueur muscat and liqueur shiraz and vintage port made from shiraz. More information can be found at our blog page about Pedro ximenez.

You can visit the Harris Organic cellar door and buy pedro ximenez wine sherry or shop online at our online wine shop. We are located in Baskerville on the corner of Memorial Avenue and the Great Northern Highway in the Swan Valley. The Swan Valley is located 30km north east of Perth city centre, Western Australia.