Pedro Ximénez

Pedro Ximénez makes the darkest and sweetest wine in Spain. The grape is grown chiefly in Montilla-Moriles in Andalusia, inland from Jerez, where the summer is hotter and the wine reaches high alcohol without fortification. The story that a soldier named Peter Siemens brought it from the Rhine is not supported by any evidence, and the variety appears to be Spanish.

The method is what matters. Bunches are laid on mats in the open sun for about a week and turned by hand until they shrivel to raisins. The must that comes out of the press afterwards is so concentrated that fermentation stalls almost at once, and the result is a wine of enormous sugar, aged in a solera until it comes out black, viscous and glossy.

The taste is fig, date, molasses, coffee and burnt sugar, and a small glass is a substantial thing. It is also used in Jerez as a sweetening component in cream sherry and in blended oloroso, which is why it is licensed for import into that region. Australia and Argentina grow small amounts, and Chile uses it for pisco.