solera

[ soh-lair-uh; Spanish saw-le-rah ]

noun

(especially in Spain) a series of casks, graded according to age, in which sherries and brandies are stored while maturing.
a classification for the sherries or brandies having the greatest maturity in a solera.

Origin of solera

<Spanish: literally, supporting beam, base (for uprights) <Vulgar Latin *solāria, equivalent to Latin sol(um) base, ground (>Spanish suelo) + -āria-ary; Cf. vino de solera mature wine (presumably from the bottom range of casks) used to fortify younger wine

Words Nearby solera

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use solera in a sentence

He had received for his companion the advocate solera, and afterwards the priest, Dr. Fortini.
My Ten Years' Imprisonment | Silvio Pellico
Meantime, even before the liberation of solera and Fortini, Maroncelli was ill with a bad tumour upon his knee.
My Ten Years' Imprisonment | Silvio Pellico
A door was opened; and we knew it to be that of the advocate solera.
My Ten Years' Imprisonment | Silvio Pellico

British Dictionary definitions for solera

solera

/ (səˈlɛərə) /

noun

- a system for aging sherry and other fortified wines, in which younger wines in upper rows of casks are used to top up casks of older wines stored below in order to produce a consistently aged blend
- a blend of sherry produced by this system

Origin of solera

Spanish, literally: bottom

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Browse