I went to a tasting of the J & F Lurton House 5-6 years ago and bought this wine on the strength of the tasting.
There was some technical reason why the wine had to be labelled NV, that I cannot remember. I think the harvest was about 2006 or 2007. There are no reviews of this wine on CT or elsewhere on the internet I could find. Unpromisingly, Lurton’s website says the wine is “overrippened Verdejo, vinified in small barrels” (already two strikes for the AFWE). The Lurton guy told a story I cannot fully remember about the derivation of the name, something about how it was such a big, ripe wine that they thought it was “the Mother of all …s” (a NSFW Google search). From Rueda, Castilla y Leon in Spain.
My two bottles have been horrendously ‘cellared’, just kicking around my kitchen at home (unrefrigerated) since purchase. So, not very promising … I prepared toast with the strongest roquefort cheese I could find …
NV J. & F. Lurton De Puta Madre
Colour deep gold, almost orange, but close to transparent at the bottom of the bottle. On bouquet, butterscotch, aromas of dry sherry, candied orange peel, tropical fruit, Turkish delight, burnt toffee and ethanol (clearly high alcohol, third strike!). Ultra-sweet entry, this is a sweet, but not a botrytis, wine (the internet indicated RS about 20 g/l, but it seemed a lot more). Incredibly unctuous, but silky texture. A huge, full bodied, juicy wine, in a soft, very oxidative style (no kidding!), sherry-like. On palate, flavours of Turkish delight, mandarin and grapefruit, toffee apple, cream and burnt toffee. Later it reminded me of cream filled brandy snaps. Very long finish. Inspired, I paired it with Haci Bakir Turkish delight and then some very ripe apricots, it went beautifully with each. More legs than a centipede, huge alcohol (15.5%), not advisable to drink this alone at one sitting. Like a weird cross between a Sauternes, a Hermitage Blanc and a dry Sherry. I would guess that this wine would have been exactly the same if it had been immaculately cellared. I don’t think it would change or evolve much more with cellar time. The wine will equally offend the sensibilities of AFWEs and Parkerites (the latter because it’s too traditional and weird). Having written these notes, I should probably not like this wine, but I did, for its individuality and interest. Not boring. Near impossible to rate, 89.
Does anyone have any experience with this wine or Verdejo generally?