Sack (wine)
Sack is an antiquated wine term referring to white fortified wine imported from mainland Spain or the Canary Islands. There was 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 one 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.
Most sack was probably sweet, and matured in wooden barrels for a limited time. In modern terms, typical sack may have resembled cheaper versions of medium Oloroso sherry.
Today, sack is sometimes seen included in the name of some sherries, perhaps most commonly on dry sherries as "dry sack".
Origin of the term
The Collins English Dictionary, the Chambers Dictionary, and the Oxford English Dictionary all derive the word "sack" from the French sec, "dry". However, the OED cannot explain the change in the vowel, and it has been suggested by others that the term is actually from the Spanish word sacar, meaning "to draw out", which led to sacas. The word "sack" is not attested before 1530.
