What is the meaning of "Sack" in "Dry Sack" sherry?

zbeckabee

It is believed that the origin of the term sack is from the Spanish word sacar, meaning "to draw out", which led to sacas being used to mean exports of wine, which in term gave the English word sack. Another theory is that the term derived from the Japanese drink sake, being introduced by Spanish and Portuguese traders. The word sack does not appear in any document before 1530. Sack is an antiquated wine term referring to white fortified wine imported from mainland Spain or the Canary Islands. There were sack of different origins such as: Canary sack from the Canary Islands, Malaga sack from Málaga, Palm sack from Palma de Mallorca, and Sherris sack from Jerez de la Frontera The term Sherris sack later gave way to Sherry as the English term for fortified wine from Jerez. Since Sherry is practically the only of these wines still widely exported and consumed, "sack" (by itself, without qualifier) is commonly but not quite correctly quoted as an old synonym for Sherry. Today, sack is sometimes seen included in the name of some sherries, perhaps most commonly on dry sherries as "dry sack". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_(wine)#Origin_of_the_term Sep 16 09, 7:22 AM