Is sherry vinegar the same as red wine vinegar?

No. Sherry vinegar is made from sherry, the wine of southern Spain, while red wine vinegar is made from ordinary red wine, so they differ in origin, production and flavor.

Sherry vinegar, or vinagre de Jerez, can only be produced in the “sherry triangle” between Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa María in the province of Cádiz. It has its own protected designation of origin under Spanish and EU law, overseen by a Consejo Regulador. Most of it comes from wines made with the Palomino grape, and it is usually aged in oak barrels using the same solera system as sherry. The rules set minimum aging in wood of 6 months for Vinagre de Jerez, 2 years for Reserva and 10 years for Gran Reserva, with at least 7 degrees of acidity. Versions made from Pedro Ximénez wine taste noticeably sweeter. Because of that aging, sherry vinegar tends to taste deeper and more complex than standard wine vinegar, which is why cooks often prize it for vinaigrettes, soups and sauces.

Source: Wikipedia, “Sherry vinegar”

Image: Sherry vinegar from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, by Badagnani, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.



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