Sunday 15 April 2012

Amontillado Viejo Quo Vadis? 18.5%, Delgado Zuleta

Appearance 
Attractive bright amber with reddy copper tints.
Nose 
Classic amontillado; intensely aromatic, fresh and complex, all the usual hazelnuts but with less usual spicy traces of clove hazelnut and nutmeg. Well-honed saline flor notes still persist, and only this complexity gives away its age.
Palate 
Dry, tangy and quite full yet supremely elegant despite phenolic traces from the wood, very fresh and incredibly long and complex.
Comments 
For a wine of well over 40 years solera age (Carbon 14 tests show it is 48), Quo Vadis is amazingly fresh and youthful but at the same time very complex. Quite delicious and a "must try". The label gives the name Rodriguez- Lacave, a bodega which merged with Delgado Zuleta in 1978, and whose very traditional labels were still used until recently. This wine has an interesting story. It started out with Miraflores grapes which were fermented into Manzanilla in barrel, which was not unusual, but the barrels were new, which was unusual. As a result, the bodega could not sell the wine and it was stored at the Rodriguez house for many years, naturally becoming an Amontillado. It is now one of the best wines in Sanlucar.

Price
Around £48

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