Shakespeare - a lover of 'sack'

The fact that the great English playwright was in love with sherry is evidenced by an inscription in a toilet in one of the bodegas of Jerez de la Frontera. On the wall next to the urinal are inscribed his words expressing his love for the fortified wine: ‘If I had a thousand sons, the first human principle I would teach them should be to forswear thin potations and to addict themselves to sack.’

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With these words of the character from Henry IV, Part 2, William Shakespeare described the English love for ‘sack’. A few centuries ago, the word ‘sack’ was often used as a synonym for sherry, Andalusian fortified wine.

It is reported that the word sack did not occur in the English language until 1530. According to major English dictionaries, the word sack comes from the French 'sec', meaning 'dry'. However, another version of the etymology of the word leads to Spain, as sack may derive from the Spanish word 'sacar', meaning 'to withdraw'. Withdrawal refers to the solera method of wine production, in which small amounts of younger wines stored in an upper tier of casks are systematically withdrawn to be blended with more mature wine in the casks below. Incidentally, in the minutes of the Jerez City Council for 1435, the export of wine was called sacas.

It is also believed that sack became a popular name in England thanks to Francis Drake's Sacking of Cadiz. In 1587, the English privateer launched a series of attacks on the coast of Andalucía near Cadiz.

During the raid, Drake loaded the ships with 2,900 casks of sherry that were waiting to be loaded onto ships, and brought them safely to England. It is believed that it was this act that increased esteem and thirst for the drink, making it very popular with Englishmen. As Drake had sacked Cadiz, the name sack became fixed for fortified wine from Jerez for some time until it gave way to 'sherry'. It is less known that there were sacks with different origins of fortified wines from both mainland Spain and the Canary Islands. There was even a Malaga sack, which was used for wines from Malaga previously sold as 'garnacha'. Most sweet wines aged in wooden barrels for a limited time were called sacks in some period.

In modern parlance, 'sack' sometimes refers to cheaper versions of medium sherry Oloroso. 'Sack' can be seen in the name of some Williams & Humbert brand sherries. For example, their 'Dry Sack' is a sweet oloroso wine made from two grape varieties, Palomino Fino and Pedro Ximenez, and aged for six years under the criadera and solera system, as well as with oxidative aging.

Back to Shakespeare.... It is believed that his introduction to Andalusian fortified wine took place in London, where the young playwright had moved from his rural Stratford. Arriving in the capital, Shakespeare must have been quickly "familiarised" with the bustling taverns filled with 'sherris sack'. They say that in finding the sack, Shakespeare found his inspiration. His new muse was mentioned in some of his works.

It seems that the playwright transferred his feelings for sherry to his fictional character, Sir John Falstaff, who appeared in several plays as a lover of the drink. In The Tempest, Stephano, Caliban and Trinculo get drunk on sack, a barrel of which had helped Stephano escape from the shipwreck (‘I escaped upon a keg of sack, which the sailors heaved o'erboard...’). Additionally, Shakespeare’s minor character, a drunken tinker named Christopher Sly, declares in The Taming of the Shrew that he ‘ne’er drunk sack in his life’.