Saturday 24 November 2012

Amontillado Napoleon 17.5%, Hidalgo La Gitana

Appearance
Deep old burnished gold verging on amber, trace green at rim, legs.
Nose
Elegant and aromatic, toasted almonds and hazelnuts, traces oak and cedar, quite punzante - traces of manzanilla pasada origins. Light hints of old furniture polished with linseed oil and a hint of oxidation, complex and somehow more aromatic than its paler colour would suggest.
Palate
Quite light in weight but compensated by lots of flavour surging through, a gentle trace of acidity, good grip and lots of deep nutty tang, a trace of salinity and bitterness from the flor, clean, quite crisp and very long.
Comments
Delicious. I love it when you can see how a wine has developed. A classic Sanlucar wine. It gets its name from the fact that Hidalgo supplied Napoleon's army with wine during the peninsula War. Be careful, though, because Hidalgo have two wines named Napoleon: this one and a VORS which is much dearer.Without wishing to appear partisan, they also supplied the British army, hence their other wine Palo Cortado Wellington. This solera is from the end of the XVIII century and is filled with Pastrana. Some of this wine, which is close to 20 years old then goes to the VORS solera.


Price
£ 10, 95 (50cl) from Drinkmonger

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