This is a fantastic project by Williams & Humbert featuring six añadas wines from the 2003, 2009 and 2012 vintages – finos and olorosos for 2009 and 2012 but for 2003 an oloroso and an amontillado. I was able to get my hands on one of a small number of cases through Coalla Gourmet and also managed to pick a few stragglers off in the wild. Williams have a history of championing vintage wines - they have released a number of “historic vintages” down the years (I have a 2000 release of the 1982 in the cellar) and were also responsible for the brilliant 2006 Vintage Fino.
As I have written and ranted at length on the blog (Vintage chic | undertheflor.com) and on here I am a strong believer that the sherry region is missing a trick by not allowing for more production of vintage wines. Granted, not all will be superior to the solera wines, but they will almost certainly be different, some will be exceptional and many will be that little bit finer. Just as important, they will have that magical quality of scarcity.
So I have made a point of trying these as often as I can and was looking forward to the opportunity to get the six out together. It turned out to be a great night actually - I am lucky enough to have a really good group of wine drinking buddies and on the night we were joined by a special guest in Victor de la Serna. A short report is here: Las Añadas de Williams & Humbert in Taberna Verdejo | undertheflor.com
Most importantly, it was indeed fascinating to taste the wines - and the 2006 - together - my notes of the actual tasting are here - Las Añadas de Williams & Humbert | undertheflor.com If there was one criticism of the experience it would be that as a demonstration of vintages three pairs of similar wines may have been preferable to the “mixed box” approach. Since here we had finos with three, six, and 12 years under flor, and olorosos with equally varied ages, it was as much a demonstration of the effects of those ageing processes as it was of the qualities of the vintages.
Nevertheless, a brilliant learning experience - and my kind of learning as well.
If you are interested, my TNs of the wines I have managed to pic up individually are as follows:
The 2009 Oloroso - Oloroso en rama 2009, saca de febrero 2016, Williams Colección Añadas | undertheflor.com
The 2009 Fino - Fino en rama 2009, saca de febrero 2016, Williams Coleccion Añadas | undertheflor.com
and again - Fino de añada 2009, Williams Colección Añadas | undertheflor.com
and again - Fino de añada 2009, Williams Colección Añadas | undertheflor.com
The 2009 Fino and Oloroso - The Williams 2009s | undertheflor.com
The 2003 Amontillado - Amontillado 2003, Williams Coleccion Añadas | undertheflor.com
And before that, the majestic 2006 vintage fino - Williams and Humbert 2006 Vintage Fino en rama | undertheflor.com
and again - Williams and Humbert 2006 Vintage fino en rama | undertheflor.com