I purchased this a year ago, for about $125 per .375. Jon Bonne selected this Palo Cortado as one of his top ten wines of 2013. To prepare for this 70+ year Sherry, I embarked on a Sherry tasting odyssey over the last 10 months, including attending many tasting options at SherryFest - SF. After all of this, I felt ready to take on this highly-praised wine.
Orange-amber in color, this boasts aromas of nuts, butterscotch, citrus, and varnish; all profoundly deep. On the palate, this is bone dry, highly extracted, and tremendously complex. Wonderful acidity balances it all, and it finishes quite long. It reminded me of an old Sercial Madeira rather than an old Sherry, but your mileage may vary.
Barry, thanks for your note. What got me curious was your sherry tasting journey. I personally can’t understand the dry sherries for the life of me. Did you already like the stuff to begin with when you started? What got you hooked? I haven’t had much sherry but I have an open mind, and would definitely be willing to try some again.
Join about 99% of the rest of the world.
It took me until about 6 years ago (I’m 38 now and have been drinking for 20 years) when one of my good friends was an importer for classical wines and we would open up the full range with steaks, roasts, veggie dishes and such, it really changed my mind about what sherry is.
To be honest it really takes an immersion in sherry to really align your palate with the flavor profiles that they have to offer.
The other night we dined at a Spanish restaurant with an extensive list of sherries and initially our server was confused as what sherry I wanted because it had been so long since he had sold one, as soon as we got it straightened out he was so excited that someone was actually drinking it with every dish and not just as a desert wine or aperitif.
I’m not a big
Lustau fan but I love Valdespino and their pricing is great on half bottles, try their manzanilla ‘en rama’ before cracking some rougeard and enjoy.
My palate was already attuned to an oxidative style through my Madeira experiences. With Sherry, especially the dry ones, patience may be needed, as some may be borderline austere and chiseled with notes of saline. What got me hooked were the dry Sherries of Valdespino and Equipo Navarazos. The sweet Sherries can be good, and old, but I’ll always gravitate more to the dry ones.
I love Madeira, but definitely tend to go for the boal and malmseys. I find even verdelho and sercial a bit too much, and those still have plenty of rs. I think I’ll have to work my way in from that angle…
I also find that the top dry VOS and VORS sherries need a LOT of air to bring out their best. For example, a recent bottle of Bodegas Tradicion VORS Amontillado was so saline it was almost “crunchy.” It showed blood orange and roasted almond notes, but I could tell it was holding a lot back. I filled a 375mL and left it in the fridge, drinking the remainder of what was in the 750mL over the next week or so. It kept getting better and better each time I poured a glass.
I went back to the 375mL two weeks after initially opening the bottle and it was even better - in fact, it continued to improve for two more weeks after that by which time it was polished off.
In another instance, there’s a restaurant here in Toronto that has a great list of sherries and pours Bodegas Tradicion VORS Amontillado, Palo Cortado, and Oloroso BTG. At a wine dinner with the guys, a couple of us wanted glasses of the Palo, but no one else was interested. When the wine was brought to the table, we got the other guys to nose the wine and they were beguiled by its aromas. Next thing you know, the rest of the table got glasses as well.
We polished off the bottle they had open. When asked, the waiter told us that the bottle had been open for 5-6 weeks, hence why it was so expansive in its aromas and flavours. As a contrast, he brought us samples of a fresh bottle they opened at it was like night and day. Restrained, crunchy, very good but not amazing. Even the colour was significantly lighter.
Anyway, I’ve been periodically pouring sherries for guys in my group and they’re usually very enamoured by them. It’s not likely they’ll buy any, but that means more for me.
Really looking forward to the El Maestro Sierra VORS Oloroso Extra Viejo 1/7 I picked up recently. Average age of the solera is 80 years! Sorry for the thread drift, but has anyone tasted this bottle?