Sunday 1 April 2018

Pedro Ximénez Niños VORS 15%, Valdespino

Appearance
Dense, completely opaque and completely black except for a tiny narrow brown to amber edge. It is viscous and stains the glass for a while.
Nose
Intense, concentrated, serious and super complex, you can immediately tell this is very old. It is not the usual up front fruity raisins which predominate but distinct, almost bitter oak aromas from the long ageing in wood, along with toasted notes like coffee, a trace of volatile acidity, licorice and hints of spice. The dried fruit notes are there of course, intense but less dominant, and it doesn't smell as sweet as most.
Palate
The unctuous, luscious dried fruit - but older and more reduced - presents first and is soon followed by those delicious, ever so slightly bitter toasted notes almost like burned coffee on toast mixed with toffee. Then it all comes together in perfect balance with the richness on one side balanced by the bitterness and decent acidity on the other. It is incredibly nuanced, super long and, well, wonderful.
Comments
This is one of the truly great PX wines. A VORS must have an average age of at least 30 years, but in fact this one is over 60. The solera dates from the end of the XIX century and consists of only 8 butts, so naturally it is not released very often. Selected wine of well over 10 years of age from the firm's PX El Candado solera is used to refresh the youngest criadera of this solera, and the final wine contains some 440 g/l sugars but is well balanced by 5.7 g/l acidity (expressed as tartaric acid) and the subtle notes of oak imparted by age. It is quite magnificent and scored a well deserved 98 Parker points.
Price
95 euros per half bottle, Er Guerrita

 

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